Being a Jew in USSR

collection of Memoirs "Being a Jew in USSR"

Memoirs as a genre of personal recollection shed light on the wide gap between official Soviet ideology, its application to the realities of Soviet life and behavioral patterns of Soviet bosses. Many of such books were self published in small quantities, and they are disappearing rapidly. Our goal is to save those valuable insights for future generations. Digitized books will be accessible online.

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This collection started modestly by books donation from the Foundation members and authors. “Soviet” Jews were employed in many industries, in research and engineering, in health care and art. Their recollections contain wealth of interesting information and unknown details how Soviet system was run.
Some books provide fascinated details about Stalin’s purges and the atmosphere of terror, which shaped life in USSR from Revolution years till Stalin death. Authors also convey facts about systemic antisemitism flourishing on all levels of Soviet hierarchy.

Please help us - send copies of published and self-published books and digital files of books and manuscripts.

Location where you can drop off books

Philadelphia: book shop "Knizhnik" call 1-215-969-7082
Fair Lawn NJ: call 201-398-0469 (Leonid)
Norwood MA: call 203-912-2704 (Galina)
Brooklyn NY: call 718-714-1779 (Roza)
Chicago land: call 847 670 8834 (Greg)
Send by mail: call 215-906-2277 (Sofa)

Chazan, Aaron "Deep in Russian night"
Lakewood, NJ 1990 ISBN 1-56062-030-7
Historical record of Jewish life from the time of revolution.
English
Book courtesy of Michael Levin.

Draitser, Emil "Shush! A memoir growing up Jewish under Stalin"
2008 I University of California ISBN 978-0-0520254466
A wonderfully evocative memoir that captures the experience of a Jewish family in Soviet Odessa
(English)

Goldberg, Issai "Journey of self-discovery"
Jerusalem, “Shamir”, 2002 ISBN 965-293-071-7
Short stories about life of Soviet geologist, portraits of the family and its
roots , account of author experience being a Jew in USSR
Book courtesy of Leon Vayn.

Kantsenelinboigen, Aron "Memoirs"
Schuylkill Haven, PA 2006 ISBN 1-55779-160-0
The life of soviet economist
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Michael Levin.

Karlikovsky, Yuri "Small rock on tombstone"
"M+" Tel-Aviv 1999 ISBN 965-7093-11-2
The stories about families from shtetl Faleshty, Moldova
(Russian)
Book courtesy of author.

Index names from this book

Kitayevich, Yuliy "Almost life"
NY "Slovo-Word" 2003 ISBN 1-930308-79-5
Short stories about family, friends in USSR, Israel, and USA
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Leon Vayn.

Kuperman, Iser "The fate of the champion"
Tel-Aviv "Jacob Press" 1983
Memoirs of famous checkers master about his life in USSR. The author provides interesting details about inner working of of Soviet checker field controlled by the State.
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Leon Vayn.

Levenstein, Victor "The story about my father"
Moscow "Argumenty and Fakty" 2001
History and investigation about the persecutions in USSR, including a story about Levenstein family from Novo-Poltavka.
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Victor Levenstein.

Mendelevich, Yosef "Unbroken Spirit"
Jerusalem "Novosti" 2012 ISBN 978-965-229-563-7
The story of an extraordinary man, Prisoner of Zion, teaches, that even under difficult conditions man can overcome all obstacles
Book courtesy of Michael Levin.

Mindlin, Yefim "40 years in Tupolev's firm"
Philadelphia, PA 2008
Stories about life and work of aviators.
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Mindlin's family.

Mirkina, Galina "Captured by memory"
ISBN 9781479175482
Story of Jewish family from Khotimsk, written by victim of Holocaust.
(Russian)

Mulyash, Maria "With love to you"
Moscow "Novosti" 2002
The famous manager of MosConcert collected stories about her family, friends and well known actors.
(Russian)
Book courtesy of David Shenker.

Okunev, Yuri "Saga of the risen from the ashes"
Boston 2007 University of California ISBN 978-1-940220581
Story about lost and discovery Okunev family branch from Vilno
(Russian and English)
Book courtesy of author

Segal, Peter "You shall not make idols"
Tel Aviv 1995
Family stories from shtetl Krasnostav to Israel
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Segal's family.

Read online

Svirsky, Grigory "Hostages"
Paris 1973
The book describe life of particular Jewish family, Svirskiy, in USSR in middle of 20 century. Author telling personal stories about his family and friends deaths and survival during World War II, Stalin repression, and Anti-Semitism after war.
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Leon Vayn.

Talmy, Vladimir "Full circle"
Moscow "Vozvracshenie" 2014 ISBN 978-5-7157-0296-8
The author was born and died in the USA, yet the greater part of his life was spent in the USSR where he observed the worst events of Stalin's reign.
(Russian, English)
Book courtesy of Inna Talmy.

Teperov, Philip "Maraphon on the life"
New York 2005 ISBN 1930308906
Short stories about author's life in different places
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Teperov's family.

Read online

Teplish, Alex "Aron's story"
2015 ISBN 978-09893972-1-6
The story of Aron Rabinovich written by his grandson about the life of typical Jewish-Soviet boy in Ukraine.
(English)
Book courtesy of author

Zigman, Naum "Refuzniks"
Philadelphia, Vital Connection
A story about life in Ladispoli, Italy, a short stop between a run from Russia to USA
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Vera Lerner.

Zilber, Yitzchak "To Remain a Jew: The Life of Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber"
Jerusalem, Toldos Yeshurun Year 2004 ISBN 965-7275-01-6
"Let you continue to be Jew in this cold condition" -the main idea of rabbi's book.
(Russian)
Book courtesy of Gregory Milstein.

Collection of stories

"Children of war"
San Diego "Libes" 2015
Recollections of eyewitnesses of the WWII nicknamed "children of war". Disturbing stories.Unique accounts.
(Russian)

If you know about the other memoirs, enter here