Tears Over Russia: A Search for Family and the Legacy of Ukraine's Pogroms

(Hardback)

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A sweepingsaga of a Jewish family and community fighting forsurvival against the ravages of history.

Set between events depicted inFiddler on the RoofandSchindlers List, Lisa BrahinsTears over Russiabrings to life a piece of Jewish history that has never before been told.

Between 1917 and 1921,twenty years before the Holocaust began, an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 Jews were murdered in anti-Jewish pogroms across Ukraine. Lisa grew up transfixed by her grandmother Channas stories about her family being forced to flee their hometown of Stavishche, as armies and bandit groups raided village after village, killing Jewish residents. Channa described aperilous three-year journey throughRussiaand Romania, led at first by a gallant American who had snuck into Ukraine to save his immediate family and ended up leading an exodus of nearly eighty to safety.

With almost no published sources to validate her grandmothers tales,Lisa embarked on her incredible journey to tell Channas story, forging connections with archivistsaround the world to find elusive documents to fill in the gaps of what happened in Stavishche. She also tapped into connections closer to home, gathering testimonies from her grandmothers relatives, childhood friends and neighbors.

The result is a moving historical family narrative that speaks to universal human themesthe resilience and hope of ordinary people surviving the ravages of history and human cruelty.With the growing passage of time, it is unlikely that we will see another family saga emerge so richly detailing this forgotten time period.Tears Over Russiaeloquently proves that true life is sometimes more compelling than fiction.

Reviews

"This is the kind of book one wont want to put down, even as it could be written in blood as well as tears."
* George Washington University Magazine *
A remarkably vivid account of life in the Old Country that reads at times like a novelor a series of Sholem Aleichem stories. Aspects of Tears Over Russia have a mythic quality, with larger-than-life characters surmounting impossible circumstances. Riveting. * The Forward *
"Overall,Tears Over Russiais illuminating, well researched, and thoroughly sourced. It will be a boon for genealogists of Jewish ancestry and is a good example of how family lore can be placed in a broader historical context."



* Washington Independent Review of Books *
"While certainly an elegy to Jews dead, first by pogroms and later the Nazis, it is also a celebration of the essential work of librarians, archivists and genealogists. The bibliography alone makes this a valuable resource. This family history of Kyiv is especially potent in this season of Russian-Ukrainian strife, ironically with a Ukrainian Jew now at the helm...A timely and essential reading." * Library Journal, starred review *
An evocative and distressing account of her grandmothers experiences during the wave of anti-Jewish pogroms that swept across Russia and Ukraine in the early 20thcentury. A vital personal record of Ukraines turbulent past. * Publishers Weekly *
"Struggle and resilience take center stage in Lisa Brahins Tears Over Russia, a meticulous attempt to reconstruct not only a familys roots in present-day Ukraine and their travails on their way to America, but also the intricacies of the world they left behind....At a time of a record refugee crisis in Ukraine and the prospect of further mass migration, Brahin offers us an opportunity to reflect on the possibilities and limitations of the American Dream, and the dreams our forefathers saw extinguished in pursuit of it."

* Jewish Book Council *
"This meticulously researched book tells the story not only of the authors family during the anti-Jewish pogroms, from 1917 until their escape to America in 1923, but also the brutalization of Jewish communities throughout Ukraine. [Tears Over Russia] gives the reader insight into the immigrant experience and the terrors that often force them to leave the land they love, losing everything, but gaining freedom." * Historical Novel Society *
"The author has done a service to her grandmother and society by recording the stories of Channa and other Stavishche residents...InTears Over Russia,Brahin has ensured that the light will stay on." * New York Journal of Books *
"Not only are the stories gripping, and the narrative history easy to read, but the historical timeline is right-on. There are appendices that provide historical detail, and the extensive footnoting provide is evidence of the careful scholarship that Brahin put into this book.May a careful look at this story be an inspiration for us to help those who are right now experiencing the same realities, and who right now are looking for safe havens somewhere in the world so that theycan contribute their creativity, their energy, and their loveto the rest of the world."

* Englewood Reviews of Books *

Author Bio

Lisa Brahin is an accomplishedJewish genealogist and researcher. In 2003, she helped rediscover the lost location of the original hand-written manuscriptMegilatHaTevah(Scroll of the Slaughter), which she considers one of the most important documents ever recorded on the Russian pogroms.A graduate of George Washington University's Columbian College, she is a two-town project coordinator for Jewishgen.org's international Yizkor Book Project (Holocaust Memorial Book Project).