Description
Book SynopsisGennady Estraikh's book explores the birth, growth, demise and afterlife of the Birobidzhan Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR).
The History of Birobidzhan looks at how the shtetl was widely used in Soviet propaganda as a perfect solution to the Jewish question', arguing that in reality, while being demographically and culturally insignificant, the JAR played a key, and essentially detrimental, role in determining Jewish rights and entitlements in the Soviet world. Estraikh brings together a broad range of Russian and Yiddish sources, including archival materials, newspaper articles, travelogues, memoirs, belles-letters, and scholarly publications, as he describes and analyses the project and its realization not in isolation, but rather in the context of developments in both domestic and international life. As well as offering an assessment of the Birobidzhan project in the contexts of Soviet and Jewish history, the book also focuses on the contemporary Jewish' role of the region whi
Trade ReviewThe Russian Shorts series by Bloomsbury Academic has been enriched with another title. To the list of such comprehensive works as a brief but extremely fact rich history of Birobidzhan, or the Jewish Autonomous Region within the Russian Federation has been added… Gennady Estraikh’s History of Birobidzhan presents a rich collection of diverse facts from various sources (some of which are rather hard to access), often capable of surprising even seasoned experts in the history of Soviet Jewry in general and Birobidzhan in particular, and pointing to new directions for potential research. * The Russian Review *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Infrastructure of Jewish Life 1. The Spectre of a Jewish Republic 2. Growing Pains 3. The Repression 4. The 1940s: New Hope 5. An Almost-Lost World of Jewish Life 6. A Propaganda Facade 7. Afterlife Bibliography Index
