"When, in 1964, for family reasons, I became interested in Judaic postcards, I was stupefied by the abundance and wealth of my discoveries. I was immediately swept into an exploration which was as exhausting as it was exalting." These are the words of Gerard Silvain, and this moving book is the result of his painstaking and fruitful 'journey' into the heart of Yiddishland.
Silvain's collection brings to life the immutable rhythm of the shtetl with its busy streets and markets, professional marriage brokers, itinerant water carriers, bright-eyed yeshivot students, porters, politicians, and celebrated intellectuals. A whole chapter is devoted to synagogues, the majority of which were razed by the Nazis as they advanced into the Soviet Union, and throughout the book the humble trades that kept entire populations from starving to death are shown in compelling detail.
Yiddishland disappeared with the Shoah and the Yiddish language, common to eleven million people on the eve of the Second World War, is spoken by barely one million today.
Touching, truthful and sometimes alarming these fleeting moments frozen in time enable us to relieve the past, incite us to remember and record for eternity the history and the legend that is Yiddishland.
Silvain's collection brings to life the immutable rhythm of the shtetl with its busy streets and markets, professional marriage brokers, itinerant water carriers, bright-eyed yeshivot students, porters, politicians, and celebrated intellectuals. A whole chapter is devoted to synagogues, the majority of which were razed by the Nazis as they advanced into the Soviet Union, and throughout the book the humble trades that kept entire populations from starving to death are shown in compelling detail.
Yiddishland disappeared with the Shoah and the Yiddish language, common to eleven million people on the eve of the Second World War, is spoken by barely one million today.
Touching, truthful and sometimes alarming these fleeting moments frozen in time enable us to relieve the past, incite us to remember and record for eternity the history and the legend that is Yiddishland.