Dakota Diaspora: Memoirs of a Jewish Homesteader [Paperback]

Sophie Trupin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1988

To most Jewish immigrants New York was America. Not many ventured as far as North Dakota at the turn of the century. Sophie Trupin writes of her father and other Jewish farmers who came to the northern plains: "Each was a Moses in his own right, leading his people out of the land of bondage—out of czarist Russia, out of anti-Semitic Poland, out of Romania and Galicia. Each was leading his family to a promised land; only this was no land flowing with milk and honey—no land of olive trees and vineyards."

Dakota Diaspora adds a little-known chapter to the saga of the settlement of America. In a series of vignettes Sophie Tmpin recalls her childhood in "Nordokota," where her father built a sod house and farmed a quarter-section of rocky land before opening a butcher shop in the town of Wing. Against that background plays out the perennial conflict between her father; who had escaped the violent anti-Semitism of his native Russia and found here a man's freedom and dignity, and her mother; who felt "trapped, betrayed and helpless in this desolate land," far from her roots in the Old Country. But out of the struggle to bring in the harvest, survive the blizzards, and maintain a kosher home, a warm family life developed, as well as a sense of community with Jewish neighbors on scattered homesteads.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (November 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080329414X
• ISBN-13: 978-0803294141
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Huh! Jews in North Dakota?, May 14, 2000

By 

SewSwim - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dakota Diaspora: Memoirs of a Jewish Homesteader (Paperback)

Dakota Diaspora is a lovely book which tells of the author's experiences as a child growing up Jewish on the prairie. From Russia to "Nordakota" Ms. Trupin attempts to understand her parents and their motivations for leaving the "known" for such a great "unknown." She draws mostly upon her own childhood memories, rather than gathering first-hand accounts from her parents. I found the ending somewhat disappointing because we don't find out if the author was able to maintain her Yiddishkeit, which her mother was so concerned that the children would lose without a strong Jewish community. A great book for those looking for a good biography. As a Torah-seeking Kansan, I appreciated reading about a turn-of-the-century Jewish family who departed from the well trodden paths to New York and Chicago in order to live on the land AND maintain a Torah lifestyle.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Effort, March 22, 2005

By 

W. Harwood "willyl" (Burlington, VT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dakota Diaspora: Memoirs of a Jewish Homesteader (Paperback)

Having spent 15 years in North Dakota, I was looking forward to some insights into the lives of Jewish migrants to a difficult world. This book describes some aspects of their experience, mainly fascinating domestic incidents well worth preserving. Unfortunately, the book lacks a scene-setting introduction or epilogue to place her story in Eastern European and Midwestern history. What happeened to Sopie and her family after these events? Who are the others mentioned in the acknowledgements? The Rachel Calof memoir, which closely parallels this one, is a model of its kind and can be highly recommended.