Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Central and Eastern Europe [Paperback]

Ruth Ellen Gruber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1992

A combination travel guide and history book to Jewish culture in Central and Eastern Europe, it is written in a lively style. The author takes readers into a ghostly, multidimensional shadow land of ``Then, Now and What Might Have Been''. Besides providing invaluable tips on getting around, locating historical sights, what to bring and wear, etc., it also includes numerous references, historical and fictional works that will futher aid readers in preparation for their trip.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This most unusual travel guide will be of special interest to Jews and gentiles alike who have witnessed, survived, or otherwise been affected by the Holocaust. There are six countries covered: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. Historical accounts of pre-World War II thriving Jewish communities and cultures are followed by detailed descriptions and locations of remains of synagogues, homes, towns, cemeteries, and death camps. Rudimentary travel information on climate, transportation, language, kosher cuisine, and money is included, along with native phrases and lists of active Jewish communities. Look elsewhere for hotel, restaurant, and entertainment information. The book is intended for travelers intent on seeking out their pasts. This excellent, fascinating, and sobering guide is highly recommended for appropriate public and special library travel collections.
-Ann E. Cohen, Rochester P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

A combination travel guide and history book to Jewish culture in Central and Eastern Europe, it is written in a lively style. The author takes readers into a ghostly, multidimensional shadow land of ``Then, Now and What Might Have Been''. Besides providing invaluable tips on getting around, locating historical sights, what to bring and wear, etc., it also includes numerous references, historical and fictional works that will futher aid readers in preparation for their trip.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471546127
• ISBN-13: 978-0471546122
• Product Dimensions: 22.5 x 15 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,106,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ruth Ellen Gruber is an award-winning American writer, editor and photographer who has long been based on Europe. She has chronicled European Jewish issues for more than twenty years and works on cultural topics including an ongoing project called "Sauerkraut Cowboys" documenting how Europeans embrace the mythology of the American Wild West.

She coined the term "Virtually Jewish" to describe the way the so-called "Jewish space" in Europe is often filled by non-Jews: klezmer music, culture festivals, museums, tourism, and kitsch as well as serious and sensitive study and involvement.

Her books include National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe, (2007), Letters from Europe (and Elsewhere) (2008), Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe (2002), and Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central Europe, Yesterday and Today (1994).

A former correspondent in Eastern Europe for United Press International, she is Senior European correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency JTA. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Tablet Magazine, The Forward, Hadassah Magazine, the New Leader, the London Independent and many other publications. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Hadassah Brandeis Institute, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and others.