Stepchildren of Mother Russia (Paperback)

The story of a Jewish family living under Communism in the USSR through the 20th century, and how the Communist regime consistently marginalized Jewish life to the point where it became unlivable. In this fascinating family memoir, Draznin reconstructs the experiences of his and his wife's families under Soviet rule. It's a dramatic, event-filled history that exemplifies many of the experiences of Soviet Jews throughout the 20th century. Draznin's paternal grandfather, Moshe, was a Communist Party aide--but that didn't save him from eventual arrest on the charge of being a spy for the West. The horrors of growing up Soviet are exemplified by Draznin's father, Nahum, who saw a schoolmate praised for turning in his father as an enemy of the state. And during WWII, Nahum was sent to a military penal colony as a deserter. For anyone whose family, like Draznin's, survived life in the U.S.S.R., or anyone interested in how Jews lived there for seven decades, this is an enlightening and moving personal history.