Shush! Growing Up Jewish under Stalin: A Memoir

Many years after making his way to America from Odessa in Soviet Ukraine Emil Draitser made a startling discovery: every time he uttered the word "Jewish"even in casual conversationhe lowered his voice. This behavior was a natural by-product he realized of growing up in the anti-Semitic post-Holocaust Soviet Union when "Shush!" was the most frequent word he heard: "Dont use your Jewish name in public. Dont speak a word of Yiddish. And dont cry over your murdered relatives." This compelling memoir conveys the reader back to Draitsers childhood and provides a unique account of midtwentieth-century life in Russia as the young Draitser struggles to reconcile the harsh values of Soviet society with the values of his working-class Jewish family. Lively evocative and rich with humor this unforgettable story ends with the death of Stalin and through life stories of the authors ancestors presents a sweeping panorama of two centuries of Jewish history in Russia.