Jews in the Soviet Union: A History

Offers a compelling account of how Soviet Jews rebuilt their lives amid postwar devastation, rising hostility, discrimination and the repressive final years of Stalin’s rule

At the beginning of the twentieth century, more Jews lived in the Russian Empire than anywhere else in the world. After the Holocaust, the USSR remained one of the world’s three key centers of Jewish population, along with the United States and Israel. While a great deal is known about the history and experiences of the Jewish people in the US and in Israel in the twentieth century, much less is known about the experiences of Soviet Jews. Understanding the history of Jewish communities under Soviet rule is essential to comprehending the dynamics of Jewish history in the modern world. Only a small number of scholars and the last generation of Soviet Jews who lived during this period hold a deep knowledge of this history. Jews in the Soviet Union, a new multi-volume history, is an unprecedented undertaking. Publishing over the next few years, this groundbreaking work draws on rare access to documents from the Soviet archives, allowing for the presentation of a sweeping history of Jewish life in the Soviet Union from 1917 through the early 1990s.

Focusing on the final eight years of Stalin’s rule, Volume 4 offers a gripping account of the complex realities of Soviet Jewish life in the aftermath of World War II. Soviet Jews emerged from the devastation of the Holocaust and the battlefield to face new struggles. The volume traces the lives of key figures and ordinary citizens as they returned to hometowns emptied of their communities, facing the rising tide of hostilities, exclusion, persecution of Jewish cultural leaders, and state-led crackdowns.

The book highlights elements of thriving Jewish life despite official repression, from the unprecedented growth of Yiddish theatres to Jewish successes in science, literature, and the arts. It uncovers the deep contradictions of Soviet life– at once enabling and at times even celebrating Jewish achievements in industries and public sphere, while systemically repressing Yiddish culture and identity. With unparalleled depth and insight, historian Anna Shternshis brings to light the resilience and survival strategies of Soviet Jews during one of the most challenging periods in their history.