Shush! Growing Up Jewish under Stalin: A Memoir

Shush! Growing Up Jewish under Stalin: A Memoir by Draitser, Emil. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780520254466.

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 conversation―he 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.