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Books by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern

In the middle of the seventeenth century, Bohdan Khmelnytsky was the legendary Cossack general wh... more In the middle of the seventeenth century, Bohdan Khmelnytsky was the legendary Cossack general who organized a rebellion that liberated the Eastern Ukraine from Polish rule. Consequently, he has been memorialized in the Ukraine as a God-given nation builder, cut in the model of George Washington. But in this campaign, the massacre of thousands of Jews perceived as Polish intermediaries was the collateral damage, and in order to secure the tentative independence, Khmelnytsky signed a treaty with Moscow, ultimately ceding the territory to the Russian tsar. So, was he a liberator or a villain? This volume examines drastically different narratives, from Ukrainian, Jewish, Russian, and Polish literature, that have sought to animate, deify, and vilify the seventeenth-century Cossack. Khmelnytsky's legacy, either as nation builder or as antagonist, has inhibited inter-ethnic and political rapprochement at key moments throughout history and, as we see in recent conflicts, continues to affect Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, and Russian national identity.

Book Chapters by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern

Rutgers University Press, 2019

Ab Imperio, 2009

“Moshko the Imperial” is a chapter from the book Lenin’s Jews (Yale University Press). The book d... more “Moshko the Imperial” is a chapter from the book Lenin’s Jews (Yale University Press). The book discusses urban culture in the towns where Moshko Blank lived in the first half of the nineteenth century (ch. 1, “From Nowhere to Zhitomir”); contextualizes Lenin’s attitude to Jews in his milieu and his conceptualization of Jews in general and in the Russian Empire in particular (ch. 3, “Lenin, Power, and Jews”); reconstructs consistent attempts of the Bolsheviks to suppress any mention of Lenin’s Jewish roots in the Soviet historical discourse (ch. 4, “Glue for the Vertebrae”); and sheds light on the questions of the Judaization of Lenin and the Bolsheviks in the writings of the Russian far right (ch. 5, “How Lenin Became Blank”). The second chapter of the book, “Moshko the Imperial,” offered to the readers of Ab Imperio in the authorized translation, utilizes the existing narratives about Lenin’s maternal grandfather from Starokonstantinov and introduces a number of recently uncovered primary documents. It seeks to contextualize Moshko Blank against the broad backdrop of contemporary political, cultural, and ideological trends among East European Jews. Moshko is portrayed as an ingratiating individual who hated his brethren and a Jew in himself and who achieved notoriety among Russian administration as the author of claims, appeals, protests, and denunciations. A master of denunciations, Moshko bowed down before imperial power: the Russian imperial authorities, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian state symbols were his utmost values. As a close analysis of his letters to Tsar Nicholas I has proved, Moshko was neither a harbinger of Jewish religious reform nor a champion of the Haskalah. He planned to uproot Judaism, not to modify it. Ultimately, he should be placed among other Jewish informers of his time – individuals who sought to solve their personal financial or social problems, to be remunerated by the administration, or to achieve upward mobility by denouncing the Jews to the Russian authorities. “Moshko the Imperial” tells the story of the romance of Moshko Blank with the Russian imperial “vertical of power,” a romance that had both a happy and unsettling end.

Indiana University Press, 2003

University Press of Maryland, 2008

an interdisciplinary conversation/ edited by p. cm. --(Studies and texts in Jewish history and cu... more an interdisciplinary conversation/ edited by p. cm. --(Studies and texts in Jewish history and culture; 15) ISBN 978-1-934309-13-l R. Adler l. Jev,,ish literature----History and criticism -Congresses. 2. Hcbrevv literature--History and criticism --Congresses. L Adler, Eliyana R. IL Jelen, Sheila E. PN842.J46 2008 809'.88924-ck22 2007047841 ISBN 978-1-934309-13-l

Review Essays by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern

Jewish Quarterly Review, 2005

Papers by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern

In the middle of the seventeenth century, Bohdan Khmelnytsky was the legendary Cossack general wh... more In the middle of the seventeenth century, Bohdan Khmelnytsky was the legendary Cossack general who organized a rebellion that liberated the Eastern Ukraine from Polish rule. Consequently, he has been memorialized in the Ukraine as a God-given nation builder, cut in the model of George Washington. But in this campaign, the massacre of thousands of Jews perceived as Polish intermediaries was the collateral damage, and in order to secure the tentative independence, Khmelnytsky signed a treaty with Moscow, ultimately ceding the territory to the Russian tsar. So, was he a liberator or a villain? This volume examines drastically different narratives, from Ukrainian, Jewish, Russian, and Polish literature, that have sought to animate, deify, and vilify the seventeenth-century Cossack. Khmelnytsky's legacy, either as nation builder or as antagonist, has inhibited inter-ethnic and political rapprochement at key moments throughout history and, as we see in recent conflicts, continues to affect Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, and Russian national identity.

Rutgers University Press, 2019

Ab Imperio, 2009

“Moshko the Imperial” is a chapter from the book Lenin’s Jews (Yale University Press). The book d... more “Moshko the Imperial” is a chapter from the book Lenin’s Jews (Yale University Press). The book discusses urban culture in the towns where Moshko Blank lived in the first half of the nineteenth century (ch. 1, “From Nowhere to Zhitomir”); contextualizes Lenin’s attitude to Jews in his milieu and his conceptualization of Jews in general and in the Russian Empire in particular (ch. 3, “Lenin, Power, and Jews”); reconstructs consistent attempts of the Bolsheviks to suppress any mention of Lenin’s Jewish roots in the Soviet historical discourse (ch. 4, “Glue for the Vertebrae”); and sheds light on the questions of the Judaization of Lenin and the Bolsheviks in the writings of the Russian far right (ch. 5, “How Lenin Became Blank”). The second chapter of the book, “Moshko the Imperial,” offered to the readers of Ab Imperio in the authorized translation, utilizes the existing narratives about Lenin’s maternal grandfather from Starokonstantinov and introduces a number of recently uncovered primary documents. It seeks to contextualize Moshko Blank against the broad backdrop of contemporary political, cultural, and ideological trends among East European Jews. Moshko is portrayed as an ingratiating individual who hated his brethren and a Jew in himself and who achieved notoriety among Russian administration as the author of claims, appeals, protests, and denunciations. A master of denunciations, Moshko bowed down before imperial power: the Russian imperial authorities, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian state symbols were his utmost values. As a close analysis of his letters to Tsar Nicholas I has proved, Moshko was neither a harbinger of Jewish religious reform nor a champion of the Haskalah. He planned to uproot Judaism, not to modify it. Ultimately, he should be placed among other Jewish informers of his time – individuals who sought to solve their personal financial or social problems, to be remunerated by the administration, or to achieve upward mobility by denouncing the Jews to the Russian authorities. “Moshko the Imperial” tells the story of the romance of Moshko Blank with the Russian imperial “vertical of power,” a romance that had both a happy and unsettling end.

Indiana University Press, 2003

University Press of Maryland, 2008

an interdisciplinary conversation/ edited by p. cm. --(Studies and texts in Jewish history and cu... more an interdisciplinary conversation/ edited by p. cm. --(Studies and texts in Jewish history and culture; 15) ISBN 978-1-934309-13-l R. Adler l. Jev,,ish literature----History and criticism -Congresses. 2. Hcbrevv literature--History and criticism --Congresses. L Adler, Eliyana R. IL Jelen, Sheila E. PN842.J46 2008 809'.88924-ck22 2007047841 ISBN 978-1-934309-13-l

Jewish Quarterly Review, 2005