About this episode

Alisa interviews Dr. Gennady Estraikh about his book on the history and significance of Birobidzhan as a Soviet Jewish homeland.

In this episode, Alisa interviews Dr. Gennady Estraikh. His book titled, The History of Birobidzhan: Building a Soviet Jewish Homeland in Siberia (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023) was published as a part of the "Russian Shorts" series. Gennady Estraikh's book explores the birth, growth, demise and afterlife of the Birobidzhan Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR). The History of Birobidzhan looks at how the shtetl was widely used in Soviet propaganda as a perfect solution to the 'Jewish question', arguing that in reality, while being demographically and culturally insignificant, the JAR played a key, and essentially detrimental, role in determining Jewish rights and entitlements in the Soviet world. Estraikh brings together a broad range of Russian and Yiddish sources, including archival materials, newspaper articles, travelogues, memoirs, belles-letters, and scholarly publications, as he describes and analyses the project and its realization not in isolation, but rather in the context of developments in both domestic and international life. As well as offering an assessment of the Birobidzhan project in the contexts of Soviet and Jewish history, the book also focuses on the contemporary…

People in this episode

Host: Alisa

Guest: Dr. Gennady Estraikh

Topics covered

• Soviet history
• Jewish history
• Birobidzhan
• cultural studies
• propaganda
• autonomous regions

Keywords

• Birobidzhan
• Soviet Jewish homeland
• Gennady Estraikh
• Jewish Autonomous Region
• Soviet propaganda
• Russian history
• Yiddish sources

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bloomsbury Academic

Books & works: The History of Birobidzhan: Building a Soviet Jewish Homeland in Siberia

Places: Birobidzhan, Siberia, Soviet Union

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