The Miracle of Hanukkah and Other Orthodox Tales of Survival in Soviet Exile During World War II. Issue 3 (2nd September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Adler, Eliyana R.
• Is Part Of: Dapim. Volume 32:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 155
• Page End: 171
• Publication Date: 2018-09-02
• Subjects: Holocaust -- USSR -- Poland -- Judaism; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 940.5318
• DOI: 10.1080/23256249.2018.1525109
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2325-6249

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Religious praxis is an area of life impossible to document without the use of testimonial literature, and yet many historians are reluctant to rely on any ego-documents, particularly those that emanate from the Orthodox community. This paper seeks to analyze Orthodox testimonies and memoirs of Polish Jews who survived World War II in the un-occupied regions of the USSR. Orthodox survivors of flight to the Soviet Union displayed a particular interest in efforts to observe the Sabbath and holidays, Soviet Jews, and divine intervention in their depictions of their experiences. Close attention to the aspects that distinguish the Orthodox testimonies, and how scholars can nonetheless use them, has the potential to alert us to subjective framing of other testimonies, along with how it should inform our reading of them.