In this edition of Knyzka Corner, we will be discussing Serhii Plokhy’s non-fiction thriller, The Man with the Poison Gun – A Cold War Spy Story. The Man with the Poison Gun, Serhii Plokhy’s first non-fiction thriller, focuses on the life of Bogdan Stashinsky, the assassin who killed Stepan Bandera and Lev Rebet. The very […]
Continue reading
Knyzhka Corner Book Review: The Red Prince by Timothy Snyder
In this edition of Knyzka Corner, we will be discussing Timothy Snyder’s, The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke. Who can resist a romantic Hapsburg hero who openly embraces the cause of Ukrainian nationalism in the early 20th century? Wilhelm von Habsburg was such a man. Although he died in obscurity in […]
Continue readingKnyzhka Corner Book Review: Communism and Hunger
In this edition of Knyzhka Corner: Communism and Hunger – The Ukrainian, Chinese, Kazakh, and Soviet Famines in Comparative Perspective edited by Andrea Graziosi and Frank E. Sysyn. Communism and Hunger is a collection of scholarly articles examining the similarities and differences of the pan-Soviet famine of 1931-1933, the Ukrainian Holodomor, the Kazakh great hunger, and […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Felshtin Society commemoration of 1919 pogroms joined by local church in Ukraine (Part 2)
The Felshtin Society is named after a Ukrainian shtetl called Felshtin, which today is the town of Hvardiiske. The Felshtin Society began as a benevolent society organized in 1905 in New York City and is still active today. In 1919 after 600 Jews perished in a brutal pogrom which took place in Felshtin, the society […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Felshtin Society commemoration of 1919 pogroms joined by local church in Ukraine (Part 1)
The Felshtin Society is named after a Ukrainian shtetl called Felshtin, which today is the Ukrainian town of Hvardii’ske. The Felshtin Society began as a benevolent society organized in 1905 in New York City and it’s still active today. One of the most notable of its ongoing humanitarian efforts over the past 113 years is […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Interview with Ruth Ellen Gruber Part 2
Ruth Ellen Gruber is an American journalist, author, editor and researcher. Her book, Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe, was first published twenty-five years ago and is still considered the most complete Jewish travel guide to the region. We first learned about Ruth and a bit about her work last year […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Interview with Ruth Ellen Gruber Part 1
-An interview with Pawlina, producer & host of Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio Ruth Ellen Gruber is an American journalist, author, editor and researcher. She has published and lectured widely and has won several awards for her work on Jewish heritage and contemporary Jewish issues in Europe. Her book, Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Lost Shtetls of Ukraine
The Jewish population of Ukraine before the Second World War was over 2.5 million. Now the current population is only around 100,000. A whole world with its very own culture, rules, and customs was decimated in the Holocaust. Decades later, descendants of survivors, along with friends and supporters, are working hard to piece together remnants […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Hava Nagila—the song, the story and the movie
Hava Nagila. The words are Hebrew for Let Us Rejoice. They also comprise the title of one of the most recognizable and well-known songs in the world. And little did I know just how appropriate a theme song it would turn out to be for a radio series called Ukrainian Jewish Heritage! This Jewish folk song […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Memoir by Holocaust survivor Jack Glotzer
Rohatyn is a city in western Ukraine with a centuries-old Jewish heritage that was almost completely destroyed by the Holocaust and its aftermath. Like many cities and towns across Ukraine, however, work is being done in Rohatyn to restore the historical memory of its once-vibrant Jewish community. Two people are central to this restoration effort. […]
Continue reading
