Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish Jews [Hardcover]

Eva Hoffman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 1997

Today the word "shtetl" (Yiddish for "small town") summons only hazy associations: images of Chagall-like crooked streets and glowing Sabbath dinners on one hand, of pogroms and brutal Cossacks on the other. In the artful hands of Eva Hoffman, Shtetl brings this lost world back to life, mining the deep rifts in Polish-Jewish relations in the small town of Bransk. With penetrating intelligence and a compassionate eye, Hoffman describes the culture and conflicts that influenced Christian villagers' decisions to conceal or betray Jewish neighbors when the Nazis invaded.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Relations between Jews and Poles were troubled even before World War II began, writes Eva Hoffman in this powerful memoir of life under Nazi occupation. Dealings between the groups were no easier with the arrival of a common enemy, who exploited longstanding anti-Semitism to destroy the inhabitants of both city and shtetl, the rural Eastern European small town that stood as "the site of the Jewish soul." This extraordinary account of cultures in conflict has led to much discussion--even controversy--in Europe. Hoffman's vigorously defended view of Poland's role in the Holocaust will doubtless generate debate elsewhere.

From Kirkus Reviews

Hoffman, author of the much-admired memoir Lost in Translation (1989), here returns to her dual roots, Jewish and Polish--and her history of the intertwined fates of the two peoples shows that they can indeed be complementary, not oppositional. Hoffman's goal is larger than her distillation of history- -acute and pointed, but a bit too schematic--can fully support. But her thesis is a fascinating one: that Poland, with historically large populations of Germans, Ukrainians, Jews, and other ethnic groups, was truly a multicultural society that can serve as an object lesson in how to achieve (or not achieve) a balance between minority group identity and ``a sense of mutual belonging.'' Where she does succeed fully is in her attempt to ``complicate and historicize the picture'' of Jewish-Polish relations in order to get beyond stereotyped views of Poles as congenitally anti-Semitic and of Jews as economic exploiters. Hoffman offers a nuanced view that excuses no act of hatred or violence yet considers, for instance, the difference between peasants' superstitious belief that Jews were lucky and genuine anti-Semitism, or how the endless conquering and division of Poland increased tensions and mistrust between Poles and Jews. Hoffman traces the history of Jews in Poland back to its origins in medieval times, before fervent Polish nationalism was born and the country was a beneficent refuge for Jews. She then focuses in on one shtetl, or village, Brask, as a microcosm of the waxing and waning of relations between the two peoples. In Brask, Polish peasants and Jewish craftsmen and merchants lived side by side: Poles attended cantorial concerts, and Jewish musicians played at Polish weddings; Poles incorporated Yiddish phrases into their speech, and Jews adopted the dress of Polish gentry. And yet, Hoffman concludes, each was seen as fundamentally ``Other.'' But Hoffman is optimistic that the gulf can be--and is being- -crossed. This insightful overview points out how we can begin to understand a complex past and apply those lessons in the future. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First Edition edition (October 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395822955
• ISBN-13: 978-0395822951
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #828,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars detailed, unbiased analysis of complex subject, October 1, 2000

By 

lisatheratgirl "lisatheratgirl" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish Jews (Paperback)

I give this book 5 stars. The author has rejected myths, generalizations, and prejudiced thinking to give a fascinating history of Polish Christians and Polish Jews. She is careful to give the viewpoints of both groups, beginning in the Middle Ages and continuing to the present. When she quotes a source, she reminds us that this is that person's opinion, not necessarily a universal truth. She cites to references in Polish, Yiddish, and Hebrew. She does not condemn or defend either group, and realistically argues that neither was right or wrong; some people helped each other, some people harmed each other. She gives a detailed account of the history of Poland that is not widely available in this country. The author is both Polish and Jewish, and grew up in Poland. Her ability to abjectively at her subject is convincing and admirable.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deeply moving and personal look, September 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish Jews (Paperback)

This book filled me with hope, despair, joy, sorrow and finally, at the end, a disquieting and lingering sadness. Though not always complete in itstelling of political events, I strongly recommend this to anyone interested in learning about his Polish Jewish past. A good first look.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth is never simple, August 15, 2003

By 

Theodore C. Jonas (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish Jews (Paperback)

Shtetl is an excellent work of social history, although it is also a good outline of Polish history at the political level over the 8 centuries it covers. It is well written and an easy read.

The author has a clear agenda, which is to be more balanced in her treatment of Poles than Jewish writers have usuually been and to be more balanced in her treatment of Jews than Poles have been. The book digs deeply into the sources of Polish perceptions of Jews and vice versa. It gives a deep feel for what life was like in Jewish communities in Poland. The chapter on the period between World Wars I and II is particularly good for showing the political, cultural and economic vibrancy that had come even to the rural shtetls. It must be one of the most "objective" books written about the historical relationship between Jews and Poles. A sympathetic portrait of both peoples that celebrates their virtues and describes their shortcomings as perceived by the other.