Anna Shternshis - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Anna Shternshis

Rutgers University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2022

East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures

Soldiers and officers of the Red Army were among the first military personnel to encounter the de... more Soldiers and officers of the Red Army were among the first military personnel to encounter the destruction of the Ukrainian and Belarussian Jewish communities late in World War II. A significant proportion of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who served in the Red Army between 1943 and 1945 learned of the deaths of their own family members while they were in active duty. By examining the historical details and literary conventions of a small number of autobiographies and oral history interviews, the chapter discusses the range of reactions of these combatants to the destruction of their communities, from immediate retaliation to working with Soviet authorities to identify and convict collaborators. In addition, the chapter examines how a narrator’s current country of residence appears to influence the framing of his memoir.

The New Jewish Diaspora, 2019

Volume 29 of Studies in Contemporary Jewry 2016

Jewish Lives under Communism

East European Jewish Affairs, 2020

In 1900 over five million Jews lived in the Russian empire; today, there are four times as many R... more In 1900 over five million Jews lived in the Russian empire; today, there are four times as many Russian-speaking Jews residing outside the former Soviet Union than there are in that region. The New Jewish Diaspora is the first English-language study of the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora. This migration has made deep marks on the social, cultural, and political terrain of many countries, in particular the United States, Israel, and Germany. The contributors examine the varied ways these immigrants have adapted to new environments, while identifying the common cultural bonds that continue to unite them. Assembling an international array of experts on the Soviet and post-Soviet Jewish diaspora, the book makes room for a wide range of scholarly approaches, allowing readers to appreciate the significance of this migration from many different angles. Some chapters offer data-driven analyses that seek to quantify the impact Russian-speaking Jewish populations are making in their adoptive countries and their adaptations there. Others take a more ethnographic approach, using interviews and observations to determine how these immigrants integrate their old traditions and affiliations into their new identities. Further chapters examine how, despite the oceans separating them, members of this diaspora form imagined communities within cyberspace and through literature, enabling them to keep their shared culture alive. Above all, the scholars in The New Jewish Diaspora place the migration of Russian-speaking Jews in its historical and social contexts, showing where it fits within the larger historic saga of the Jewish diaspora, exploring its dynamic engagement with the contemporary world, and pointing to future paths these immigrants and their descendants might follow. Introduction: Homelands, Diasporas, and the Islands in Between Zvi Gitelman Part I Demography: Who Are the Migrants and Where Have They Gone? Chapter 1 Demography of the Contemporary Russian-Speaking Jewish Diaspora Mark Tolts Chapter 2 The Russian-Speaking Israeli Diaspora in the FSU, Europe, and North America: Jewish Identification and Attachment to Israel Uzi Rebhun Chapter 3 Home in the Diaspora? Jewish Returnees and Transmigrants in Ukraine Marina Sapritsky Part II Transnationalism and Diasporas Chapter 4 Rethinking Boundaries in the Jewish Diaspora from the FSU Jonathan Dekel-Chen Chapter 5 Diaspora from the Inside Out: Litvaks in Lithuania Today Hannah Pollin-Galay Chapter 6 Russian-Speaking Jews and Israeli Emigrants in the United States: A Comparison of Migrant Populations Steven J. Gold Part III Political and Economic Change Chapter 7 Political Newborns: Immigrants in Israel and Germany Olena Bagno-Moldavski Chapter 8 The Move from Russia/the Soviet Union to Israel: A Transformation of Jewish Culture and Identity Yaacov Ro’i Chapter 9 The Economic Integration of Soviet Jewish Immigrants in Israel Gur Ofer Part IV Resocialization and the Malleability of Ethnicity Chapter 10 Russian-Speaking Jews in Germany Eliezer Ben-Rafael Chapter 11 Performing Jewishness and Questioning the Civic Subject among Russian-Jewish Migrants in Germany Sveta Roberman Chapter 12 Inventing a “New Jew”: The Transformation of Jewish Identity in Post-Soviet Russia Elena Nosenko-Shtein Part V Migration and Religious Change Chapter 13 Post-Soviet Immigrant Religiosity: Beyond the Israeli National Religion Nelly Elias and Julia Lerner Chapter 14 Virtual Village in a Real World: The Russian Jewish Diaspora Online Anna Shternshis Part VI Diaspora Russian Literature Chapter 15 Four Voices from the Last Soviet Generation: Evgeny Steiner, Alexander Goldstein, Oleg Yuryev, and Alexander Ilichevsky Mikhail Krutikov Chapter 16 Poets and Poetry in Today’s Diaspora: On Being “Marginally Jewish” Stephanie Sandler Chapter 17 Triple Identities: Russian-Speaking Jews as German, American, and Israeli Writers Adrian Wanner Afterword: The Future of a Diaspora Zvi Gitelman

AJS Review, 2021

Pinhas Kahanovich (1884–1950), better known as Der Nister, remains one of the most enigmatic Yidd... more Pinhas Kahanovich (1884–1950), better known as Der Nister, remains one of the most enigmatic Yiddish writers of the twentieth century. His works—phantasmagoric stories, fables for children, historical novels, and reportages of the Holocaust—have fascinated many Yiddish literary scholars, including Chone Shmeruk, Dan Miron, Gennady Estraikh, David Roskies, Harriet Murav, Avrom Novershtern, Ber Kotlerman, Daniela Motovan, and now Mikhail Krutikov. Among the many questions Krutikov poses in his new book, is how a writer of such caliber, such complexity, and such nonlinear plot lines ended up in the Soviet Union when he had the option to be somewhere else, including Paris, where his brother immigrated. Krutikov challenges previous scholarship that considered 1929 to be the last year of the author’s artistic freedom. Instead, he argues that one should analyze the works that Der Nister produced during the last twentyone years of his life on their artistic merits, and think of his works as “witnessing the people,” rather than concealing from them. The second major innovation of Krutikov’s approach is to think of Der Nister as part of a larger European tradition, rather than its by-product. Just as in his previous book on Meir Weiner, Krutikov chooses to study Der Nister as a European and Russian intellectual, in conversation with Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, and Andrei Bely, as well as Rabbi Nah.man of Bratslav and Y. L. Peretz. In addition, Krutikov sets out to demonstrate that “Der Nister’s position in Soviet literature . . . was not as marginal as assumed” (17). The book is built chronologically: chapter 1 addresses a collection of stories called Gedakht (Imagined), with a special focus on multiple readings of the celebrated story “Under a Fence” (1929). In this chapter, Krutikov situates Der Nister within the context of politics in Ukrainian literary circles, as well as the formation of Soviet Yiddish writing. Two points caught my attention: Der Nister’s attitude toward Zionism and his fight to attract readers. Regarding the latter, Krutikov mentions that while Der Nister’s writing enjoyed quite a bit of popularity among writers, his books were in low demand among general readers, who preferred Yiddish classics. I wonder whether Der Nister’s departure from symbolism can also be explained by his desire for a wider audience. Regarding attitudes to Zionism, Krutikov cites an episode when Der Nister took offence when the Ukrainian writer Yuri Smolich asked him about the nature of Zionism, thinking that Smolich implied his affinity with the movement. Krutikov argues that in his explicit denial of any connection to Zionism, Der Nister possibly betrayed anxiety about being associated with the movement. Chapter 2 is devoted to Der Nister’s first attempts as a realist writer and a detailed analysis of his reportage-style work called Hoypshtet (Capitals), devoted to Moscow, Kharkiv, and Leningrad. Krutikov not only points out silences in Der Nister’s work, such as not mentioning the famine in Ukraine, but also analyzes his use of symbolism in descriptions of weather and nature in relation to stories that he is telling. Krutikov brilliantly juxtaposes his work with the travel Book Reviews

No Small Matter, 2021

The Soviet Jewish poet Moisei Teif, whose young son was murdered during the Holocaust, wrote a nu... more The Soviet Jewish poet Moisei Teif, whose young son was murdered during the Holocaust, wrote a number of poems in Yiddish on the taboo subject of the massive loss of Jewish children during the Second World War—a trauma that almost every Soviet Jewish family experienced, but often lied or kept silent about. This chapter focuses on one poem in particular, “Kikhelekh and Zemelekh,” which was translated into Russian and incorporated into a play, and which, in the course of time, became an emblematic work for Soviet Jews who, for years, had lacked the language (or means) to commemorate their losses.

Journal of Genocide Research, 2019

East European Jewish Affairs, 2018

Slavic Review, 2015

science [I]t provided an excellent set of instructions for what semiskilled workers could d o . .... more science [I]t provided an excellent set of instructions for what semiskilled workers could d o . . . with limited resources" (148). To place Soviet agriculture in broader context, Smith notes that many other countries also struggled to introduce industrialized farming systems. What made Soviet collectivized agriculture's setbacks more glaring was the fact that Soviet leaders— Nikita Khrushchev in particular—repeatedly launched high-profile agricultural initiatives to prove the superiority of the Soviet system. When these initiatives flopped, Soviet agriculture's deficiencies were spotlighted to a far greater degree than periodic crop failures in other countries. Smith calls Soviet collective farms "a flawed but fundamentally functional agricultural system that was inefficient, vulnerable, chaotic, and frustratingly reliant on the natural environment. In other words, Soviet agriculture had much in common with its counterparts in capitalist countries around the world" (20). As mentioned above, the research for this book is somewhat thin. Greater use of archival materials would have enriched Smith's work considerably. Nonetheless, the author has made an important contribution to Soviet agrarian history. In particular, her agro-ecological perspective raises many innovative questions that historians would do well to consider.

A Club of Their Own, 2016

2016 International Symposium and Annual Meeting of the KSEA • 95 the study area. After, it is jud... more 2016 International Symposium and Annual Meeting of the KSEA • 95 the study area. After, it is judged that a comprehensive and detailed result could be gained about Gotjawal ecology by performing systematic and long term analysis about these regions.

East European Jewish Affairs, 2016

Rutgers University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2022

East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures

Soldiers and officers of the Red Army were among the first military personnel to encounter the de... more Soldiers and officers of the Red Army were among the first military personnel to encounter the destruction of the Ukrainian and Belarussian Jewish communities late in World War II. A significant proportion of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who served in the Red Army between 1943 and 1945 learned of the deaths of their own family members while they were in active duty. By examining the historical details and literary conventions of a small number of autobiographies and oral history interviews, the chapter discusses the range of reactions of these combatants to the destruction of their communities, from immediate retaliation to working with Soviet authorities to identify and convict collaborators. In addition, the chapter examines how a narrator’s current country of residence appears to influence the framing of his memoir.

The New Jewish Diaspora, 2019

Volume 29 of Studies in Contemporary Jewry 2016

Jewish Lives under Communism

East European Jewish Affairs, 2020

In 1900 over five million Jews lived in the Russian empire; today, there are four times as many R... more In 1900 over five million Jews lived in the Russian empire; today, there are four times as many Russian-speaking Jews residing outside the former Soviet Union than there are in that region. The New Jewish Diaspora is the first English-language study of the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora. This migration has made deep marks on the social, cultural, and political terrain of many countries, in particular the United States, Israel, and Germany. The contributors examine the varied ways these immigrants have adapted to new environments, while identifying the common cultural bonds that continue to unite them. Assembling an international array of experts on the Soviet and post-Soviet Jewish diaspora, the book makes room for a wide range of scholarly approaches, allowing readers to appreciate the significance of this migration from many different angles. Some chapters offer data-driven analyses that seek to quantify the impact Russian-speaking Jewish populations are making in their adoptive countries and their adaptations there. Others take a more ethnographic approach, using interviews and observations to determine how these immigrants integrate their old traditions and affiliations into their new identities. Further chapters examine how, despite the oceans separating them, members of this diaspora form imagined communities within cyberspace and through literature, enabling them to keep their shared culture alive. Above all, the scholars in The New Jewish Diaspora place the migration of Russian-speaking Jews in its historical and social contexts, showing where it fits within the larger historic saga of the Jewish diaspora, exploring its dynamic engagement with the contemporary world, and pointing to future paths these immigrants and their descendants might follow. Introduction: Homelands, Diasporas, and the Islands in Between Zvi Gitelman Part I Demography: Who Are the Migrants and Where Have They Gone? Chapter 1 Demography of the Contemporary Russian-Speaking Jewish Diaspora Mark Tolts Chapter 2 The Russian-Speaking Israeli Diaspora in the FSU, Europe, and North America: Jewish Identification and Attachment to Israel Uzi Rebhun Chapter 3 Home in the Diaspora? Jewish Returnees and Transmigrants in Ukraine Marina Sapritsky Part II Transnationalism and Diasporas Chapter 4 Rethinking Boundaries in the Jewish Diaspora from the FSU Jonathan Dekel-Chen Chapter 5 Diaspora from the Inside Out: Litvaks in Lithuania Today Hannah Pollin-Galay Chapter 6 Russian-Speaking Jews and Israeli Emigrants in the United States: A Comparison of Migrant Populations Steven J. Gold Part III Political and Economic Change Chapter 7 Political Newborns: Immigrants in Israel and Germany Olena Bagno-Moldavski Chapter 8 The Move from Russia/the Soviet Union to Israel: A Transformation of Jewish Culture and Identity Yaacov Ro’i Chapter 9 The Economic Integration of Soviet Jewish Immigrants in Israel Gur Ofer Part IV Resocialization and the Malleability of Ethnicity Chapter 10 Russian-Speaking Jews in Germany Eliezer Ben-Rafael Chapter 11 Performing Jewishness and Questioning the Civic Subject among Russian-Jewish Migrants in Germany Sveta Roberman Chapter 12 Inventing a “New Jew”: The Transformation of Jewish Identity in Post-Soviet Russia Elena Nosenko-Shtein Part V Migration and Religious Change Chapter 13 Post-Soviet Immigrant Religiosity: Beyond the Israeli National Religion Nelly Elias and Julia Lerner Chapter 14 Virtual Village in a Real World: The Russian Jewish Diaspora Online Anna Shternshis Part VI Diaspora Russian Literature Chapter 15 Four Voices from the Last Soviet Generation: Evgeny Steiner, Alexander Goldstein, Oleg Yuryev, and Alexander Ilichevsky Mikhail Krutikov Chapter 16 Poets and Poetry in Today’s Diaspora: On Being “Marginally Jewish” Stephanie Sandler Chapter 17 Triple Identities: Russian-Speaking Jews as German, American, and Israeli Writers Adrian Wanner Afterword: The Future of a Diaspora Zvi Gitelman

AJS Review, 2021

Pinhas Kahanovich (1884–1950), better known as Der Nister, remains one of the most enigmatic Yidd... more Pinhas Kahanovich (1884–1950), better known as Der Nister, remains one of the most enigmatic Yiddish writers of the twentieth century. His works—phantasmagoric stories, fables for children, historical novels, and reportages of the Holocaust—have fascinated many Yiddish literary scholars, including Chone Shmeruk, Dan Miron, Gennady Estraikh, David Roskies, Harriet Murav, Avrom Novershtern, Ber Kotlerman, Daniela Motovan, and now Mikhail Krutikov. Among the many questions Krutikov poses in his new book, is how a writer of such caliber, such complexity, and such nonlinear plot lines ended up in the Soviet Union when he had the option to be somewhere else, including Paris, where his brother immigrated. Krutikov challenges previous scholarship that considered 1929 to be the last year of the author’s artistic freedom. Instead, he argues that one should analyze the works that Der Nister produced during the last twentyone years of his life on their artistic merits, and think of his works as “witnessing the people,” rather than concealing from them. The second major innovation of Krutikov’s approach is to think of Der Nister as part of a larger European tradition, rather than its by-product. Just as in his previous book on Meir Weiner, Krutikov chooses to study Der Nister as a European and Russian intellectual, in conversation with Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, and Andrei Bely, as well as Rabbi Nah.man of Bratslav and Y. L. Peretz. In addition, Krutikov sets out to demonstrate that “Der Nister’s position in Soviet literature . . . was not as marginal as assumed” (17). The book is built chronologically: chapter 1 addresses a collection of stories called Gedakht (Imagined), with a special focus on multiple readings of the celebrated story “Under a Fence” (1929). In this chapter, Krutikov situates Der Nister within the context of politics in Ukrainian literary circles, as well as the formation of Soviet Yiddish writing. Two points caught my attention: Der Nister’s attitude toward Zionism and his fight to attract readers. Regarding the latter, Krutikov mentions that while Der Nister’s writing enjoyed quite a bit of popularity among writers, his books were in low demand among general readers, who preferred Yiddish classics. I wonder whether Der Nister’s departure from symbolism can also be explained by his desire for a wider audience. Regarding attitudes to Zionism, Krutikov cites an episode when Der Nister took offence when the Ukrainian writer Yuri Smolich asked him about the nature of Zionism, thinking that Smolich implied his affinity with the movement. Krutikov argues that in his explicit denial of any connection to Zionism, Der Nister possibly betrayed anxiety about being associated with the movement. Chapter 2 is devoted to Der Nister’s first attempts as a realist writer and a detailed analysis of his reportage-style work called Hoypshtet (Capitals), devoted to Moscow, Kharkiv, and Leningrad. Krutikov not only points out silences in Der Nister’s work, such as not mentioning the famine in Ukraine, but also analyzes his use of symbolism in descriptions of weather and nature in relation to stories that he is telling. Krutikov brilliantly juxtaposes his work with the travel Book Reviews

No Small Matter, 2021

The Soviet Jewish poet Moisei Teif, whose young son was murdered during the Holocaust, wrote a nu... more The Soviet Jewish poet Moisei Teif, whose young son was murdered during the Holocaust, wrote a number of poems in Yiddish on the taboo subject of the massive loss of Jewish children during the Second World War—a trauma that almost every Soviet Jewish family experienced, but often lied or kept silent about. This chapter focuses on one poem in particular, “Kikhelekh and Zemelekh,” which was translated into Russian and incorporated into a play, and which, in the course of time, became an emblematic work for Soviet Jews who, for years, had lacked the language (or means) to commemorate their losses.

Journal of Genocide Research, 2019

East European Jewish Affairs, 2018

Slavic Review, 2015

science [I]t provided an excellent set of instructions for what semiskilled workers could d o . .... more science [I]t provided an excellent set of instructions for what semiskilled workers could d o . . . with limited resources" (148). To place Soviet agriculture in broader context, Smith notes that many other countries also struggled to introduce industrialized farming systems. What made Soviet collectivized agriculture's setbacks more glaring was the fact that Soviet leaders— Nikita Khrushchev in particular—repeatedly launched high-profile agricultural initiatives to prove the superiority of the Soviet system. When these initiatives flopped, Soviet agriculture's deficiencies were spotlighted to a far greater degree than periodic crop failures in other countries. Smith calls Soviet collective farms "a flawed but fundamentally functional agricultural system that was inefficient, vulnerable, chaotic, and frustratingly reliant on the natural environment. In other words, Soviet agriculture had much in common with its counterparts in capitalist countries around the world" (20). As mentioned above, the research for this book is somewhat thin. Greater use of archival materials would have enriched Smith's work considerably. Nonetheless, the author has made an important contribution to Soviet agrarian history. In particular, her agro-ecological perspective raises many innovative questions that historians would do well to consider.

A Club of Their Own, 2016

2016 International Symposium and Annual Meeting of the KSEA • 95 the study area. After, it is jud... more 2016 International Symposium and Annual Meeting of the KSEA • 95 the study area. After, it is judged that a comprehensive and detailed result could be gained about Gotjawal ecology by performing systematic and long term analysis about these regions.

East European Jewish Affairs, 2016

Chapter in a volume: A Club of Their Own: Jewish humorists and the contemporary World. Studies in... more Chapter in a volume: A Club of Their Own: Jewish humorists and the contemporary World. Studies in Contemporary Jewry. An Annual XXIX. 2016
edited by Eli Lederhendler. Guest symposium editor: Gabriel N. Finder

Guest Editor: Jews in the Soviet Union during World War II: German occupation, Soviet evacuation,... more Guest Editor: Jews in the Soviet Union during World War II: German occupation, Soviet evacuation, and the imagined relationship between these two experiences.