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The Heavens Are Empty
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257 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
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875 people want to read
About the author
Avrom Bendavid-Val
12 books22 followersAvrom Bendavid-Val worked as an expert in economic development and environmental management in America and in poor countries for 45 years. During his career he traveled and worked in many countries in Africa, Asia, East and Central Europe, and the Middle East, and published several books in his field. In 1997, while working in Poland, he decided to visit the site of the vanished town his father and grandfather came from, Trochenbrod. He was gripped by the experience, became an impassioned researcher into the 130-year history of the town, and eventually wrote THE HEAVENS ARE EMPTY: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod to share what he found with a broad audience.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
February 26, 2016
What a compelling and well written account of the Lost Town of Trochenbrod.
This is the true account about a town, a village and a thriving community of proud Jewish people that existed for a little over hundred years, the Jewish town of Trochenbrod in the Ukraine and how this this entire village of 3000 men, women and children were massacred by the Nazis in 1942 . The village itself was totally destroyed by fire and subsequently levelled out after World War II. Now sadly for relatives and decedent’s only fields and a forest can be found there.
I was was appalled by this account of evil and saddened for the decedents or families whose ancestors were part of this community. The book is certainly informative and very well written. I got a very good sense of the lives of the inhabitants of this town from the time of its beginning until this terrible tragedy happened.
This book contains photographs, eye witness accounts and the author’s own thoughts and observations. I loved reading the accounts of the town from its humble beginnings, to the account of the muddy streets, the descriptions of how families lived and the occupations of the inhabitants, very well described and very real in its telling.
A really worthwhile read which was concise and compelling and a book that will stay with me for a long time.
This is the true account about a town, a village and a thriving community of proud Jewish people that existed for a little over hundred years, the Jewish town of Trochenbrod in the Ukraine and how this this entire village of 3000 men, women and children were massacred by the Nazis in 1942 . The village itself was totally destroyed by fire and subsequently levelled out after World War II. Now sadly for relatives and decedent’s only fields and a forest can be found there.
I was was appalled by this account of evil and saddened for the decedents or families whose ancestors were part of this community. The book is certainly informative and very well written. I got a very good sense of the lives of the inhabitants of this town from the time of its beginning until this terrible tragedy happened.
This book contains photographs, eye witness accounts and the author’s own thoughts and observations. I loved reading the accounts of the town from its humble beginnings, to the account of the muddy streets, the descriptions of how families lived and the occupations of the inhabitants, very well described and very real in its telling.
A really worthwhile read which was concise and compelling and a book that will stay with me for a long time.
October 25, 2015
Biography of a destroyed Jewish town - Trochenbrod (1812-1942). What is remarkable about the town is that almost all its inhabitants were Jews. The town was located in what is today Western Ukraine. The author is the son of one who grew up there. It was totally wiped out in 1942 by the Nazis.
Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated is instead a fictional account woven around a grandson of one of the town's survivors.
*******************************
On completion:
I recommend this book. That there existed such a town is amazing! What the book gives you is a record of its history, covering the 130 years of its existence. It explains how the policies, laws and decrees of Catherine the Great and Czars Alexander I and Nicholas I created the prerequisites for the village to come into being. What happened during the First World War, the inter-war period and its total annihilation by the Nazis is covered. How is this done? In two ways. The author summarizes what he has learned through research and through correspondence and interviews with Trochenbrod descendants. They live today all over the world, many in the US, Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Poland and the Ukraine. Much of what is summarized by the author is also repeated in the descendants’ personal firsthand accounts. You do get quite a bit of repetition, but I preferred the simple clear stories told by people who had lived there. Through their tales you get a real feel for the place. Small details make all the difference. One woman speaks of her eighth year birthday presents – a bobby pin, a ribbon, a rubber band – which to her were just wonderful gems! Some of the tales are horrific – experiences of partisans, starving, hiding in the forest. The post mistress was a gentile and her son played with the Jewish children of the village. It is they who were his friends. His Christmas tree, Jewish weddings, Sabbath rituals, school lessons – they are all here. These stories really add to the depth of the facts related. Some are told only in the appendix at the book’s end – don’t miss that! I preferred the descendants’ firsthand accounts over the author’s lines. You hear also what has happened to these people after leaving.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Marc Cashman. The narration is clear but sometimes too fast. There are details and dates I had to glue into my head and I need time to absorb these facts! I had to rewind the audiobbok quite often.
I would recommend reading this book rather than listening to it, not just because the narration is at times too fast, but also because the paper book has pictures and a glossary of Yiddish terms. The Yiddish words are explained each time a new one is used, but the second and third time they are not…….and I sometimes forgot! I would have liked to look at the glossary. I assume the book has maps. It is hard to find the small towns and railroad lines described in the book on internet. It is hard to even guess at the spellings of some of the names.
The audiobook isn’t a waste though; the personal firsthand accounts are simple to follow. Maybe that is why I liked them so much? For me they made this a four star book rather than a three star book. Through these stories I got to meet blood and flesh people. I know the town through these people and what they had to tell me.
One more thing, Trochenbrod also goes by the names Sofievk or Zofiówka.
Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated is instead a fictional account woven around a grandson of one of the town's survivors.
*******************************
On completion:
I recommend this book. That there existed such a town is amazing! What the book gives you is a record of its history, covering the 130 years of its existence. It explains how the policies, laws and decrees of Catherine the Great and Czars Alexander I and Nicholas I created the prerequisites for the village to come into being. What happened during the First World War, the inter-war period and its total annihilation by the Nazis is covered. How is this done? In two ways. The author summarizes what he has learned through research and through correspondence and interviews with Trochenbrod descendants. They live today all over the world, many in the US, Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Poland and the Ukraine. Much of what is summarized by the author is also repeated in the descendants’ personal firsthand accounts. You do get quite a bit of repetition, but I preferred the simple clear stories told by people who had lived there. Through their tales you get a real feel for the place. Small details make all the difference. One woman speaks of her eighth year birthday presents – a bobby pin, a ribbon, a rubber band – which to her were just wonderful gems! Some of the tales are horrific – experiences of partisans, starving, hiding in the forest. The post mistress was a gentile and her son played with the Jewish children of the village. It is they who were his friends. His Christmas tree, Jewish weddings, Sabbath rituals, school lessons – they are all here. These stories really add to the depth of the facts related. Some are told only in the appendix at the book’s end – don’t miss that! I preferred the descendants’ firsthand accounts over the author’s lines. You hear also what has happened to these people after leaving.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Marc Cashman. The narration is clear but sometimes too fast. There are details and dates I had to glue into my head and I need time to absorb these facts! I had to rewind the audiobbok quite often.
I would recommend reading this book rather than listening to it, not just because the narration is at times too fast, but also because the paper book has pictures and a glossary of Yiddish terms. The Yiddish words are explained each time a new one is used, but the second and third time they are not…….and I sometimes forgot! I would have liked to look at the glossary. I assume the book has maps. It is hard to find the small towns and railroad lines described in the book on internet. It is hard to even guess at the spellings of some of the names.
The audiobook isn’t a waste though; the personal firsthand accounts are simple to follow. Maybe that is why I liked them so much? For me they made this a four star book rather than a three star book. Through these stories I got to meet blood and flesh people. I know the town through these people and what they had to tell me.
One more thing, Trochenbrod also goes by the names Sofievk or Zofiówka.
May 26, 2011
This book is a non-fiction account of Trochenbrod, based on the research of a son of a man who grew up there, whereas Everything Is Illuminated is the fictionalized account of a grandson of a survivor traveling to Trachimbrod (same town, just different pronunciation). What's special about Trochenbrod/Trachimbrod/Sofievka/Zofiówka is that it was the only entirely Jewish town in Europe, which prospered for over 100 years, until it was destroyed by the Nazis.
Alternately sad and inspiring, as Jonathan Safran Foer promised in his preface, "You might find yourself crying most at the parts that aren't sad."
Alternately sad and inspiring, as Jonathan Safran Foer promised in his preface, "You might find yourself crying most at the parts that aren't sad."
December 4, 2015
I have read numerous accounts of individuals and groups during the Holocaust. The unique aspect of this book is that it involves the history, the growth and the destruction of an entire shtetl (“townlet”), Trochenbrod.
It is well known that Jews have been objects of discriminatory laws, harsh taxes, terrorization and even slaughter for thousands of years. In this accounting, Russia, Poland and Austria had been the objects of power grabs and partitions. This area became Russia's Jewish Pale of Settlement, which extended from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, home to between 5 and 6 million Jews. In the early 1800's Czars Alexander and Nicholas I issued series of decrees, establishing where Jews could, or could not, live. A few families began homesteading in a dense, isolated, marshy spot in what is today the northwest corner of the Ukraine. This was originally owned by a landholder named Trochim, who had viewed this as useless property. A creek, or ford (“brod”) ran through the area, eventually creating the name, Trochim Brod to Trochenbrod. The first baby was born there in 1813.
The thoroughly intriguing history of how this little shtetl developed into a bustling marketplace, with vibrant lives and undauntable spirits is related here. It had been viewed as a muddy, non-arable place, surrounded by forests with difficult accessiblity to larger cities. The amazing aspect of this was that it was inhabited totally by Jews. At a much later point, they traded with and/or employed Polish and Ukranian neighbors. Ben David-Val has painstakingly chronicled the history of the development of this highly successful town, the joys and heartaches of daily existence and finally, the brutal destruction of Trochenbrod and slaughter of the inhabitants. This was a disturbing,intriguing record of events of a flourishing town, its people and a way of life, totally erased, with little evidence of its existence.
ADDENDUM
A light, but interesting follow-up for this book is Everything Is Illuminated . Although I have not read the book, I did see the film. It certainly did not delve as deeply as the book I have reviewed, it did demonstrate the countryside and the people who live and existed in the area. Safran Foer, who wrote the introduction for The Heavens are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod is the main character in "Illuminated".
It is well known that Jews have been objects of discriminatory laws, harsh taxes, terrorization and even slaughter for thousands of years. In this accounting, Russia, Poland and Austria had been the objects of power grabs and partitions. This area became Russia's Jewish Pale of Settlement, which extended from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, home to between 5 and 6 million Jews. In the early 1800's Czars Alexander and Nicholas I issued series of decrees, establishing where Jews could, or could not, live. A few families began homesteading in a dense, isolated, marshy spot in what is today the northwest corner of the Ukraine. This was originally owned by a landholder named Trochim, who had viewed this as useless property. A creek, or ford (“brod”) ran through the area, eventually creating the name, Trochim Brod to Trochenbrod. The first baby was born there in 1813.
The thoroughly intriguing history of how this little shtetl developed into a bustling marketplace, with vibrant lives and undauntable spirits is related here. It had been viewed as a muddy, non-arable place, surrounded by forests with difficult accessiblity to larger cities. The amazing aspect of this was that it was inhabited totally by Jews. At a much later point, they traded with and/or employed Polish and Ukranian neighbors. Ben David-Val has painstakingly chronicled the history of the development of this highly successful town, the joys and heartaches of daily existence and finally, the brutal destruction of Trochenbrod and slaughter of the inhabitants. This was a disturbing,intriguing record of events of a flourishing town, its people and a way of life, totally erased, with little evidence of its existence.
ADDENDUM
A light, but interesting follow-up for this book is Everything Is Illuminated . Although I have not read the book, I did see the film. It certainly did not delve as deeply as the book I have reviewed, it did demonstrate the countryside and the people who live and existed in the area. Safran Foer, who wrote the introduction for The Heavens are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod is the main character in "Illuminated".
November 12, 2010
Biography of a Jewish town, reportedly unique, in W. Ukraine. Born around 1812, died 1942. Its story is told by the few survivors of WW II, those who migrated before 1942, a few current residents of the surrounding area, supplemented by stories told by offspring of survivors and by historical and current pictures.
It's a beautiful book despite the tragedy of the story. Bendavid-Val, whose father was born there, decided to investigate for himself. He visited the site several time and learned some of the history with the help of Poles and Ukrainians. His own investigations began in 1997. The book was published in 2010.
It's a beautiful book despite the tragedy of the story. Bendavid-Val, whose father was born there, decided to investigate for himself. He visited the site several time and learned some of the history with the help of Poles and Ukrainians. His own investigations began in 1997. The book was published in 2010.
September 24, 2020
Very touching book. It was a bit difficult to get into, despite really liking European history/Holocaust history, but once I got about fifty pages in, I was hooked. The build up to the death of the city was exceptional--though that's weird to say--and it gave the effect that it was impossible for anything to go wrong, which was suddenly shattered in the end of Ch. 3/throughout Ch. 4. Amazing read, and it really opens the eyes to the reality that just because something is here now, it doesn't mean that it will always be here.
July 14, 2016
The village of Trochenbrod in what is now western Ukraine was wiped off the map by the Nazis in 1942, when all the villagers were shot because they were Jews. By 1950 there was no evidence that the town ever existed. A book to be read along with Bloodlands and Ostrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East.
July 5, 2018
While much was lost during the Holocaust, the town of Trochenbrod was completely removed from the map. Most Jewish shtetls were part of another town. Trochenbrod was a uniquely Jewish town on its own. That makes it's demise all the more painful.
This beautifully written account of this one street town will make you feel the depth of loss that was Trochenbrod.
If you've seen the movie Everything is Illuminated, I recommend you read this factual account of the town the movie is based on.
This beautifully written account of this one street town will make you feel the depth of loss that was Trochenbrod.
If you've seen the movie Everything is Illuminated, I recommend you read this factual account of the town the movie is based on.
July 6, 2015
Fiction is fun, but in the end I'm happiest with historical reality. Jonathan Safran Foer based his novel "Everything is Illuminated" on a fictionalized Trochenbrod. This book tells the real history of the place. It is not an easy history to uncover, but BenDavid-Val does an admirable job of fact ordering, gestalt gathering and memory herding.
The early years of Trochenbrod, first settled in 1810, must be surmised from broad political and historical trends in Poland and from legend. Trachenbrod was unusual for being off the main roads, in a forest, and populated almost entirely by Jews, most of whom had come from urban environments and turned to farming. One hundred years before Zionist advocacy of a Jewish return to the land, to agriculture and to labor, some Jews in Trochenbrod were already moving back to agriculture in Poland.
In interviews with elderly survivors Trachenbrod is recalled with tremendous fondness, a wholly Jewish town (unusual in Poland), a market town, a place of religious observance, communal security and day to day activities of farming and commerce. There were good relations between Jews and the neighboring Poles and Ukranians, but there was also some inter-communal conflict and violence. The position of the Jews was not secure. Even the obscurity of their location in a surrounding forest did not fully protect them.
Then come the narratives of 1942 and the slaughter, the order to gather in the center of town (for transport to the forest killing trenches), people hiding in secret rooms, running through irrigation ditches and fields, the babies torn from their mothers arms, the chaos and the killing, ordered by the Germans, but heavily assisted by Ukranians and Poles. Even though you know it will end this way, the stories in this brief book are overwhelming.
There are also tales of bravery and heroism, a few scattered rescuers and the occasional kindness from non-Jewish neighbors, all the more poignant for their rarity. There was a cruelty that can never be fully comprehended.
But after all that, still, BenDavid-Val returns to memories of a happier time. This is not Sholem Aleichem or Fiddler on the Roof, shtetle life. It's grittier than that, but as more than one interviewee noted, Sholem Aleichem didn't have it entirely wrong either. This is the story of a full place and often a good place, described as it was, as it became, and as it was slaughtered in a ditch.
The author concludes by describing what it was like to wander about the Ukranian countryside, meeting old Ukranians who when stirred, said, yes, once there was a town there in the forest - where we shopped - where you could buy boots - where the Jews lived. They fall silent in their memories. The ghosts of Trachenbrod are fading fast. They live again, briefly, in The Heavens are Empty.
The early years of Trochenbrod, first settled in 1810, must be surmised from broad political and historical trends in Poland and from legend. Trachenbrod was unusual for being off the main roads, in a forest, and populated almost entirely by Jews, most of whom had come from urban environments and turned to farming. One hundred years before Zionist advocacy of a Jewish return to the land, to agriculture and to labor, some Jews in Trochenbrod were already moving back to agriculture in Poland.
In interviews with elderly survivors Trachenbrod is recalled with tremendous fondness, a wholly Jewish town (unusual in Poland), a market town, a place of religious observance, communal security and day to day activities of farming and commerce. There were good relations between Jews and the neighboring Poles and Ukranians, but there was also some inter-communal conflict and violence. The position of the Jews was not secure. Even the obscurity of their location in a surrounding forest did not fully protect them.
Then come the narratives of 1942 and the slaughter, the order to gather in the center of town (for transport to the forest killing trenches), people hiding in secret rooms, running through irrigation ditches and fields, the babies torn from their mothers arms, the chaos and the killing, ordered by the Germans, but heavily assisted by Ukranians and Poles. Even though you know it will end this way, the stories in this brief book are overwhelming.
There are also tales of bravery and heroism, a few scattered rescuers and the occasional kindness from non-Jewish neighbors, all the more poignant for their rarity. There was a cruelty that can never be fully comprehended.
But after all that, still, BenDavid-Val returns to memories of a happier time. This is not Sholem Aleichem or Fiddler on the Roof, shtetle life. It's grittier than that, but as more than one interviewee noted, Sholem Aleichem didn't have it entirely wrong either. This is the story of a full place and often a good place, described as it was, as it became, and as it was slaughtered in a ditch.
The author concludes by describing what it was like to wander about the Ukranian countryside, meeting old Ukranians who when stirred, said, yes, once there was a town there in the forest - where we shopped - where you could buy boots - where the Jews lived. They fall silent in their memories. The ghosts of Trachenbrod are fading fast. They live again, briefly, in The Heavens are Empty.
March 29, 2014
The Heavens Are Empty is a compelling nonfiction read. Avrom Bendavid-Val has approached the subject matter with care and attention. This book is about a town--a village--that existed for a little over hundred years, the Jewish town of Trochenbrod.
Trochenbrod did not vanish slowly but surely over decades, it's death was not natural at all. After sharing his personal story, his behind-the-scenes look at his research process, his motivation for wanting--needing--to know more, he presents his findings in four chapters. The first chapter focuses on "the first hundred years." This is a look, a glimpse, at what life was like in Trochenbrod in the nineteenth century and a little beyond. If this book has a "happy" section, this would be it. The second chapter focuses on the decades between the first world war and the start of the second world war. Again, there are no great indicators of what is to come. The third chapter covers the years 1939-1942, readers see Trochenbrod under Soviet rule and under German rule. The fourth chapter is perhaps the most haunting, the most horrific. The fourth chapter focuses on how an entire village was massacred by the Nazis. This chapter includes three incredible accounts of survivor-witnesses.
The Heavens Are Empty is rich in witness accounts. It's a difficult subject to read about, but important in my opinion.
Trochenbrod did not vanish slowly but surely over decades, it's death was not natural at all. After sharing his personal story, his behind-the-scenes look at his research process, his motivation for wanting--needing--to know more, he presents his findings in four chapters. The first chapter focuses on "the first hundred years." This is a look, a glimpse, at what life was like in Trochenbrod in the nineteenth century and a little beyond. If this book has a "happy" section, this would be it. The second chapter focuses on the decades between the first world war and the start of the second world war. Again, there are no great indicators of what is to come. The third chapter covers the years 1939-1942, readers see Trochenbrod under Soviet rule and under German rule. The fourth chapter is perhaps the most haunting, the most horrific. The fourth chapter focuses on how an entire village was massacred by the Nazis. This chapter includes three incredible accounts of survivor-witnesses.
The Heavens Are Empty is rich in witness accounts. It's a difficult subject to read about, but important in my opinion.
January 11, 2011
If you are interested in reading about the Holocaust, this is an interesting and well-written book about the former town of Trochenbrod in the Ukraine and how it survived as a Jewish town until World War II. The author is a relative of people who lived in the town. He interviewed relatives of the townspeople who are still living, including a woman who lives in Cleveland.
December 15, 2011
The story of a Jewish town that survived for 130 years in Poland, in the middle of nowhere. In 1941, in two days all 6,000 residents were gunned down by the Nazzis and buried in graves they were forced to dig for themselves. Then the houses and the roads were blown up and today nothing stands there.
December 27, 2011
Wonderful story, it broke my heart. Amazing to think of this entire town - gone. All the people, animals, homes, stores.... vanished. But not the memories. A really great experience to read this one.
Want to read
December 18, 2010More reading for the family quest.
June 13, 2011
A lovely, enchanting and poignant book. My full review is here: http://cineastesbookshelf.blogspot.co...
August 24, 2011
Very different holocaust story that I have never heard before.Very interesting and shocking at same time.Well written.Highly recommend!
November 15, 2011
This book looks like 'my kind' of book. It certainly looks interesting!
July 26, 2019
If you're looking for a book that reaffirms the idea that maybe there is no master plan to explain all the suffering that occurs on this planet, this book is for you. Trochenbrod, which was the basis for Anatevka, was a community similar to many of the communities that existed throughout history: a town brought about by pograms intent on eliminating Jewish populations. Trochenbrod was created by the Russians when they "allowed" Jewish Russians to leave their homes and resettle in a far western land that was isolated, and not good for much at all. The Jewish Community, however, flourished and figured out how to successfully farm the lands as well as develop other trades making it an economic center for the region. Unlike the resettled shtetls in Poland, Trochenbrod was almost entirely Jewish with almost no exposure (except through commerce) to non-Jewish communities.
As all stories like this end, enter the nazis. Like my father's community of Krasnobrod, the nazis arrived, kept some of the people as slave laborers, and killed everyone else, usually by lining them up near a pit the people had dug as their own graves. The nazis would march men, women, children, grandparents alike to the pits, make them take off their clothes and shoot them so they fell into the pits. Nazis had a special propensity for hurling babies and locking people in synagogues before setting the synagogue on fire. After the people were gone, the nazis would simply destroy the community, looting homes, sending building materials back to Germany, and using things like headstones for road paving.
Some of the Trochenbrodians survived by living in the forest. A few others survived because they had the good fortune of leaving before the worst happened. Otherwise, Trochenbrod no longer exists, except in the form of a tree-lined semi-street in the middle of nowhere (and two monuments). One wonders how the nazis even found the place, but if the nazis were anything at all, they were thorough.
Despite understanding the nature of the cruelty that takes place on this planet, one cannot read books like this without wondering how God can possibly exist. Not only that, but after hearing what it is that allegedly God-fearing, Christian people did to places like Trochenbrod (and Krasnobrod), one has to wonder how it is possible to think that this world is mostly good as opposed to mostly evil and nonsensical.
As all stories like this end, enter the nazis. Like my father's community of Krasnobrod, the nazis arrived, kept some of the people as slave laborers, and killed everyone else, usually by lining them up near a pit the people had dug as their own graves. The nazis would march men, women, children, grandparents alike to the pits, make them take off their clothes and shoot them so they fell into the pits. Nazis had a special propensity for hurling babies and locking people in synagogues before setting the synagogue on fire. After the people were gone, the nazis would simply destroy the community, looting homes, sending building materials back to Germany, and using things like headstones for road paving.
Some of the Trochenbrodians survived by living in the forest. A few others survived because they had the good fortune of leaving before the worst happened. Otherwise, Trochenbrod no longer exists, except in the form of a tree-lined semi-street in the middle of nowhere (and two monuments). One wonders how the nazis even found the place, but if the nazis were anything at all, they were thorough.
Despite understanding the nature of the cruelty that takes place on this planet, one cannot read books like this without wondering how God can possibly exist. Not only that, but after hearing what it is that allegedly God-fearing, Christian people did to places like Trochenbrod (and Krasnobrod), one has to wonder how it is possible to think that this world is mostly good as opposed to mostly evil and nonsensical.
November 17, 2022
I chose this book because of my ongoing genealogical research and a desire to know more about the town of Trochenbrod (in Ukraine), where my grandfather was born in the 1880s. THE HEAVENS ARE EMPTY is a non-fiction account of the history of this town from its founding in the early 1800s to its complete destruction during World War II. The author’s father was also born in Trochenbrod (aka Sofievka).
Trochenbrod was an unique place. In most cities, Jews traditionally lived in segregated sections in an otherwise non-Jewish city. Trochenbrod was the ONLY ALL-Jewish town in the world, outside of Palestine/Israel. And that's because of the unique way it was founded.
It was founded in the Pale of Settlement after Tsar Alexander I issued an exemption from 25 years of military service to any Jew who would farm previously unsettled land. Because Jews in many countries were forbidden from owning land, these were not experienced farmers and the land they chose was far from ideal. But a small group of Jews decided to try it to avoid the military.
Eventually Trochenbrod grew into a prosperous town of more than five thousand residents, offering a variety of crafts and industries to people in surrounding smaller nearby towns. Working with documents, research, photos, and survivor accounts, author Avrom Bendavid-Val writes about many warm, happy and peaceful years experienced by residents, living side-by-side with Ukrainians and nearby Poles. But the most powerful sections of the book, not surprisingly, detail the Anti-Semitic violence residents suffered at the hands of Ukrainians, Poles, Soviets, and ultimately Germans. The first-hand accounts of the wholesale slaughter of men, women, and children and the callous, cold, and calculating way Nazis approached what they called an “action” makes for chilling reading. It’s difficult, even today, to believe that humans could be so blasé about perpetrating widespread genocide.
If you can remember that Trochenbrod represents many hundreds of small Jewish settlements in Europe obliterated by Nazis during the Holocaust, this book will given you a genuine understanding of what that terror was like for the victims who simply couldn't believe the warnings they heard. Not an easy book to read. But SO VERY important!
Trochenbrod was an unique place. In most cities, Jews traditionally lived in segregated sections in an otherwise non-Jewish city. Trochenbrod was the ONLY ALL-Jewish town in the world, outside of Palestine/Israel. And that's because of the unique way it was founded.
It was founded in the Pale of Settlement after Tsar Alexander I issued an exemption from 25 years of military service to any Jew who would farm previously unsettled land. Because Jews in many countries were forbidden from owning land, these were not experienced farmers and the land they chose was far from ideal. But a small group of Jews decided to try it to avoid the military.
Eventually Trochenbrod grew into a prosperous town of more than five thousand residents, offering a variety of crafts and industries to people in surrounding smaller nearby towns. Working with documents, research, photos, and survivor accounts, author Avrom Bendavid-Val writes about many warm, happy and peaceful years experienced by residents, living side-by-side with Ukrainians and nearby Poles. But the most powerful sections of the book, not surprisingly, detail the Anti-Semitic violence residents suffered at the hands of Ukrainians, Poles, Soviets, and ultimately Germans. The first-hand accounts of the wholesale slaughter of men, women, and children and the callous, cold, and calculating way Nazis approached what they called an “action” makes for chilling reading. It’s difficult, even today, to believe that humans could be so blasé about perpetrating widespread genocide.
If you can remember that Trochenbrod represents many hundreds of small Jewish settlements in Europe obliterated by Nazis during the Holocaust, this book will given you a genuine understanding of what that terror was like for the victims who simply couldn't believe the warnings they heard. Not an easy book to read. But SO VERY important!
July 1, 2018
Trochenbrod. .....a town which no longer exists, once situated on the eastern side of Ukraine......It was once a prosperous town of merchants, farmers, bakery, and more...Primarily of Jewish population. They cared for each other, helped each other, respected each other. ...one dirt road to travel on...later paved in 1939.......Then things changed.......WWII erupted....the Germans targeted the Jews.....2 mass killings in the woods, babies were thrown in a truck by their arms and legs, in front of their mothers....some hid in the woods , survived. ...but everything DESTROYED, homes, businesses, buildings.....Nothing left.....not a trace. ..Trochenbrod, a name to remember. The auther's father had lived there, mentioning Trochenbrod, from time to time...So he made it a mission to find out and went there himself.....The book includes interviews of people who lived there....well researched. Trochenbrod, a name to remember...
March 19, 2022
4 stars for Bendavid-Val's 12 years of research to tell the story of his father's birthplace, Trochenbrod. Trochenbrod was located in what today is western Ukraine. Some believe it to be the Jewish shtetl upon which Fiddler on the Roof is based. It was completely destroyed in the Holocaust. It no longer exists and yet it exists still.
Bendavid-Val records the memories of the survivors--children, grandchildren, neighbors, and others who remember Trochenbrod. 4 stars for the telling.
Jonathan Safron Foer writes the profoundly moving Preface. Foer made his own journey to the area as a young man hoping to find the woman who saved his grandfather, Louis Safron, from the Nazis. He wrote the fictionalized version of his trip in his novel, Everything is Illuminated.
My heart is full with the story of Trochenbrod, especially now with Russia's diabolical war on Ukraine.
Bendavid-Val records the memories of the survivors--children, grandchildren, neighbors, and others who remember Trochenbrod. 4 stars for the telling.
Jonathan Safron Foer writes the profoundly moving Preface. Foer made his own journey to the area as a young man hoping to find the woman who saved his grandfather, Louis Safron, from the Nazis. He wrote the fictionalized version of his trip in his novel, Everything is Illuminated.
My heart is full with the story of Trochenbrod, especially now with Russia's diabolical war on Ukraine.
February 21, 2021
The story of a largely unknown village/town near the border of Poland and Ukraine, as told by the son of a man who was born and raised there. His father had told him nothing of the place, but the son later spent years researching and collecting data and interviews from the few people who survived, their descendents, and from non-jews who were living in the area at the time of the town's destruction.
If you are interested in some of the untold stories involving the holocaust and its victims and survivors, this is a very interesting read; not for the writing, but for the history it imparts.
If you are interested in some of the untold stories involving the holocaust and its victims and survivors, this is a very interesting read; not for the writing, but for the history it imparts.
March 3, 2022
Trochenbrod je takovou zvláštní knihou, kde hlavním hrdinou je město. Je to příběh města. Jak vzniklo, žilo i bylo a jak a proč zaniklo. Je to zajímavé, netradiční a celkem dost věcí to říká. O chování Židů, Poláků, Ukrajinců i Rusů. O jejich mentalitě a jak se k sobě měli a tak...
Spousta věcí zůstalo zapomenuto. Celkem rychle, když se vezme, kdy se to stalo. A opomenuto by to být nemělo. Zvláště dnes.
Spousta věcí zůstalo zapomenuto. Celkem rychle, když se vezme, kdy se to stalo. A opomenuto by to být nemělo. Zvláště dnes.
September 3, 2018
What a heart breaking book. Well written and well researched.
June 14, 2025
No matter how much I read and study about the Holocaust, I am always finding something new. This is a great read on a village in WW2 Poland that completely disappears after the invasion of the Nazis.
August 9, 2021
As the title suggests, this book is about the town of Tochenbrod. Trochenbod was founded by Jewish settlers escaping from the oppression of Russian Czars. Unfortunately, like many places throughout Europe, Tochenbod was hit by the anti Jewish laws of Hitler's regime. In 1941, the town was effectively erased from the map. The homes and businesses were burned or razed. The people were executed. Luckily, some people had emigrated prior to these events, and the author was able to paint an accurate picture of this town and the people that once lived there. The author himself was a descendant of one of the families of this town. It is to sad to read about all these lost towns and lives and historical moments. I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it for anyone interested in this subject matter.
May 28, 2016
The Heavens Are Empty addresses a similar topic to that of Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost, and unfolds in the same geography, a strip of Galicia currently in Ukraine, where the borders between nations shifted five or six times during the 20th century. Both books report essentially the same details in how Aktions were carried out by the Nazis - first via a psychological war of terror, which involved stripping the Jewish population of property, integrity, expectation, and often health - and then in a series of planned steps, herding these people to the pits where they were murdered.
You would think we have heard these stories enough that they would lose their power to appall. But The Heavens Are Empty is a deeply shocking book, with the ability to involve readers emotionally, to get them to experience empathetically at least a shadow of this suffering. Furthermore, the author assembles documentary sources - more important than ever in a climate of Holocaust denial - evidence the town of Trochenbod existed - it's now a dirt path through the marsh, every building burnt or dismantled brick by brick - its 200+ year life, culture and economics before the demise - and its passing into the memories of a handful of survivors.
The two books, Bendavid-Val's and Mendelsohn's, of course have a number of differences in purpose, structure, scope, development, and, most important, narrative voice. In The Lost, you are engaging with an enormously talented, brilliant professional writer whose every sentence is tested and honed. In The Heavens Are Empty, you are dealing with an educated speaker whose primary skill is not really writing. As often happens when I read books like this, I find myself unable to get past certain collapses in sentences. I will share a single example, a noun referencing error that happens twice in the same paragraph, disturbing enough I had to re-read the first instance 3 times to get what the writer meant to say:
"Her childhood suddenly took a downward turn at the age of nine ... Her story of triumph begins at age twelve" (p. 109).
As always, I wonder how mistakes like this make it through editing. Jonathan Safran Foer writes the introduction to this book, but he simply cannot have read it thoroughly or he would have caught this one, and others. He's just too good a writer to have missed them.
It bothers me. It bothers me that Safran Foer didn't read the book closely, but wrote the introduction anyway. Did Bendavid-Val, the writer, realize Safran Foer didn't really read his book, or am I the first person, if not to notice, to speak up about it? And - really more important than this somewhat personal betrayal - if there are small errors even I can detect, what others are there beyond my skill to discern?
I don't want to make too big a deal of all this because it is not really related to the book's mission or achievement - both full realized. I say so without reservation. But it would be dishonest not to mention that the language is flawed. Perhaps if enough people complain about this kind of thing, writers will be more attentive, and their famous friends more consistent in their reviews.
You would think we have heard these stories enough that they would lose their power to appall. But The Heavens Are Empty is a deeply shocking book, with the ability to involve readers emotionally, to get them to experience empathetically at least a shadow of this suffering. Furthermore, the author assembles documentary sources - more important than ever in a climate of Holocaust denial - evidence the town of Trochenbod existed - it's now a dirt path through the marsh, every building burnt or dismantled brick by brick - its 200+ year life, culture and economics before the demise - and its passing into the memories of a handful of survivors.
The two books, Bendavid-Val's and Mendelsohn's, of course have a number of differences in purpose, structure, scope, development, and, most important, narrative voice. In The Lost, you are engaging with an enormously talented, brilliant professional writer whose every sentence is tested and honed. In The Heavens Are Empty, you are dealing with an educated speaker whose primary skill is not really writing. As often happens when I read books like this, I find myself unable to get past certain collapses in sentences. I will share a single example, a noun referencing error that happens twice in the same paragraph, disturbing enough I had to re-read the first instance 3 times to get what the writer meant to say:
"Her childhood suddenly took a downward turn at the age of nine ... Her story of triumph begins at age twelve" (p. 109).
As always, I wonder how mistakes like this make it through editing. Jonathan Safran Foer writes the introduction to this book, but he simply cannot have read it thoroughly or he would have caught this one, and others. He's just too good a writer to have missed them.
It bothers me. It bothers me that Safran Foer didn't read the book closely, but wrote the introduction anyway. Did Bendavid-Val, the writer, realize Safran Foer didn't really read his book, or am I the first person, if not to notice, to speak up about it? And - really more important than this somewhat personal betrayal - if there are small errors even I can detect, what others are there beyond my skill to discern?
I don't want to make too big a deal of all this because it is not really related to the book's mission or achievement - both full realized. I say so without reservation. But it would be dishonest not to mention that the language is flawed. Perhaps if enough people complain about this kind of thing, writers will be more attentive, and their famous friends more consistent in their reviews.
June 3, 2013
Trochenbrod was a unique city in Poland,because it was created as an all Jewish city (the only one) in a marshy area which was unsuitable for agriculture and had not attracted other settlers. It grew and, in it's way, thrived, until the Nazis, with Ukranian help, totally destroyed it, murdering virtually all of its residents. But many from Trochenbrod had left before the war, scattering around the world, with a sizeable number in the DC area. The book, written by a descendant of residents of the town, tells the story well - the story of Trochenbrod's life...and its death. Its organization could be a little better, but that is a quibble; I knocked off one star.
November 18, 2014
Avrom Bendavid-Val has written a concise, compelling and historically relevant book, regarding the town of Trochenbrod.
From documents and data, to witness statements, the foundation of Trochenbrod is detailed with information that needed to be told.
For those of you that wish to understand the history of what once was, and no longer is, this is the perfect book to educate yourself regarding the events that unfolded. Not only were the events horrific and filled with contempt and the murderous rage of thousands of Jews, but they led to the obliteration of Trochenbrod off of the face of the planet, literally.
From documents and data, to witness statements, the foundation of Trochenbrod is detailed with information that needed to be told.
For those of you that wish to understand the history of what once was, and no longer is, this is the perfect book to educate yourself regarding the events that unfolded. Not only were the events horrific and filled with contempt and the murderous rage of thousands of Jews, but they led to the obliteration of Trochenbrod off of the face of the planet, literally.
February 7, 2015
Although i wasn't thrilled by the writing style, this is surely a must-read story about Trochenbrod, which was ""the only freestanding, fully realized Jewish town in history." My close friend, Toni Pollin - shared this story with me as her maternal grandmother, emigrated to the US from there. The town no longer exists being totally destroyed in WW II. If you have read "Everything in Illuminated," then this will give you more of an understanding of where that fictionalized town based on.
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