A Small Town in Ukraine: The place we came from, the place we went back to

by Bernard Wasserstein

'A fine and deeply affecting work of history and memoir' Philippe Sands

Decades ago, the historian Bernard Wasserstein set out to uncover the hidden past of the town forty miles west of Lviv where his family Krakowiec (Krah-KOV-yets). In this book he recounts its dramatic and traumatic history. 'I want to observe and understand how some of the great forces that determined the shape of our times affected ordinary people.' The result is an exceptional, often moving book.

Wasserstein traces the arc of history across centuries of religious and political conflict, as armies of Cossacks, Turks, Swedes and Muscovites rampaged through the region. In the Age of Enlightenment, the Polish magnate Ignacy Cetner built his palace at Krakowiec and, with his vivacious daughter, Princess Anna, created an arcadia of refinement and serenity. Under the Habsburg emperors after 1772, Krakowiec developed into a typical shtetl, with a jostling population of Poles, Ukrainians and Jews.

In 1914, disaster struck. 'Seven years of terror and carnage' left a legacy of ferocious national antagonisms. During the Second World War the Jews were murdered in circumstances harrowingly described by Wasserstein. After the war the Poles were expelled and the town dwindled into a border outpost. Today, the storm of history once again rains down on Krakowiec as refugees flee for their lives from Ukraine to Poland.

At the beginning and end of the book we encounter Wasserstein's own family, especially his grandfather Berl. In their lives and the many others Wasserstein has rediscovered, the people of Krakowiec become a prism through which we can feel the shocking immediacy of history. Original in conception and brilliantly achieved, A Small Town in Ukraine is a masterpiece of recovery and insight.

Genres: History, Ukraine, Nonfiction, War

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 23, 2023

About the author

Bernard Wasserstein is Allianz Visiting Professor of Modern Jewish History at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität, Munich. He previously held positions at the University of Chicago, the University of Glasgow, Brandeis University, Oxford University, and the University of Sheffield. He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Reviews

[Vicent Flor Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quin llibràs, senyores i senyors! Quan s'ajunta una bona història i una bona escriptura, sorgeix la felicitat de la lectura.

"Un pueblo de Ucrania. Krakovets y las tempestades de la historia" no és ficció. És un llibre d'història, d'història rigorosa. Bernard Wasserstein és catedràtic emèrit de la Universitat de Chicago.

Krakovets és un poble ara ucraïnés a tocar de la frontera polonesa. Ha passat per la dominació polonesa, austríaca, novament polonesa, soviètica, del Govern General nazi, novament soviètica i, finalment, ucraïnesa independent. Va patir epidèmies fortíssimes (del còlera, entre d'altres) el segle XIX i les dues guerres mundials, molt dures, com és conegut, també a Krakovets.

Krakovets tenia tres grans grups ètnics: els ucraïnesos (abans es deien rutens, és a dir, eslaus cristians de ritus catòlic grec, que ara es nomena, després de l'absorció forçosa de l'església ortodoxa russa, ésglésia catòlica ucraïnesa de ritus bizantí); els polonesos (catòlics romans) i els jueus. Per fer-ho ràpid, tot i que la convivència fou centenària les relacions entre les tres ànimes de Krakovets fou molt complicada i va acabar amb la neteja ètnica (brutal, en particular dels jueus), tant dels parlants de polonés com del ídix. Després de la Segona Guerra Mundial esdevingué ètnicament "pura".

Per què Krakovets? Perquè és el lloc de procedència familiar de l'autor. Perquè allà assassinaren, els nazis, amb la delació d'un ucraïnés, al seu iaio, a la seua iaia i a la seua tia. Son pare es fa salvar de miracle de la Shoà. I acaba amb una reflexió inquietant, com a jueu no practicant, sobre la Ucraïna envaïda per Rússia però que reivindica, inquietant, un passat genocida...

És un llibre que, sense referències prèvies, vaig veure en un expositor de la Llibreria Ramon Llull de València i vaig decidir que el volia (per a això aprofiten, entre altres, les llibreries, no?). És cert que tenia el segell de Editorial Galaxia Gutenberg, la qual cosa acostuma a ser una garantia. Me'l vaig dur a casa i l'he devorat. És una història trista i dura. I també serveix per a entendre que en uns altres llocs d'Europa han patit més que nosaltres. No he pogut parar fins que me l'he acabat. Si podeu, doneu-li una oportunitat!

#elsmeusllibres

[Cerisaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

For many reasons reading this book felt timely. With anti-Semitism on the rise, xenophobic nationalism a growing feature of current politics, Putin's war on Ukraine, all give a frightening resonance to Wasserstein's book, part history, part memoir, focused on a Small Town in Western Ukraine, where his antecedents came from before the Second World War and Nazi genocide. Visits to Krakowiec in the 90s and more recently reveal little trace of the town's former Jewish residents, homes and businesses, synagogue etc, only a plaque denoting the site of their cemetery. More disturbing still the apparent glorification of those at least partly responsible, even in nearby woods, a site of mass murder by the SS and their helpers/enablers.

It is a short book but powerful. History in microcosm through focused study of a small corner of a part of Europe with a troubled past and uncertain future. Personal accounts of Wasserstein family history appear sparingly and effectively as a running thread showing how outside events and forces determine real lives that otherwise would pass unknown to posterity. That we are and remain aware of our collective past and learn lessons from it becomes all the more vital as WWII and the Holocaust slip from living memory, while conditions that enabled the rise of Hitler in Germany once again allow the Far Right to seduce popular support.

[Toni Puig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinario relato del autor, nieto de un judío de Krakowiec, que murió durante la II Guerra Mundial asesinado por los nazis. En aquella época, pequeño pueblo perteneciente a Polonia, hoy parte de Ucrania. A través de este pequeño lugar, acerca al lector a la trágica historia del pueblo judío personificado en su propia familia.
Krakowiec, hoy pueblo fronterizo, había pertenecido sucesivamente a la Confederación Polaca-Lituana, a Polonia, al imperio Austro-Húngaro , a Polonia de nuevo, a la Unión Soviética, y ahora a Ucrania. Un pueblo rico en cultura y poblado por polacos, ucranianos, judíos y católicos, que vivió una limpieza étnica , primero por los nazis y después por los nacionalistas extremistas ucranianos.
Un pueblo que vivió años de extrema dureza, con progromos y ataques constantes a la identidad judía. Los acuerdos políticos de Yalta, una vez terminada la II Guerra Mundial, pusieron a Krakowiec y a Lviv en el lado soviético del mapa, para contentar a Stalin, lo que ocasionó una nueva limpieza étnica de polacos, que la consideraban su patria.
Una lección de historia, sobrecogedora por la proximidad de los sucesos trágicos al autor, y que nos enseña el lado más oscuro del hombre. En el epílogo al final del libro el autor se pregunta si no estamos otra vez cometiendo los mismos errores del pasado.

[Rui Torres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Krakowiec é o lugar e, consequentemente, a pequena cidade referida no título do livro. Cidade esta que se situa na fronteira entre a Ucrânia e Polónia.

Apesar de pequena, esta cidade é, paradoxalmente, grande no que aos conflitos que nela se desenrolam diz respeito. Existem muitas filosofias e ideologias que geram e entram em fricção no núcleo desta cidade.

O clima de tensão relatado por Wasserstein entrega-nos o impacto que o mesmo tem na sociedade moderna. As causas para esta situação não se prendem "apenas" às divergências políticas vivenciadas naquele meio. A religião é, também, uma das ignições presentes nesta narrativa.

Podemos testemunhar a evolução de Krakowiec ao longo dos séculos através do estudo levado a cabo pelo autor. As mudanças sociais e políticas são enaltecidas ao longo das páginas, como se fôssemos estudantes atentos à matéria.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be a slim volume but is, in fact, a very powerful, yet remarkably dispassionate, history of the village of Kracowiec in Western Ukraine.
Remarkably dispassionate because Wasserstein is relating the story of his ancestors, with a particular focus on his grandparents, Berl and Czarna. The story he writes is one of horror yet he writes with calm lucidity, rarely allowing anger to intrude into the narrative.
The book focuses on a network of villages and hamlets near to Lwow/Lviv and the tale is one of shifting demographics, borders, allegiances, loyalties and military occupations. Fought over by Swedes, Ukrainians, Poles, Russians, Germans - and, for nearly two centuries, part of the Hapsburg Empire - it's a tale of persecution, rivalry and, above all, quiet endurance.
Some of the details the author unearths are fascinating, not least the chilling amd contradictory role of one Mikola Olanek.
As is expected, the story of Katowiec between the years 1939-45 is particularly horrific and it is the forensic details regarding the consequences of the Nazi-Soviet Pact which really underline the callousness of international 'diplomacy'.
The wanderings of the author's father (and Berl's son) are grippingly told, and the emotional punch of the author's eventual visits to his ancestral home is palpable.
The history of this village, this family (and many others like it) is so packed with incident that the latest ongoing upheaval in its litany of misfortunes is only briefly covered in a brief post-script.
An outstanding work of history and highly recommended.

[Jaime Valle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnífico. Um relato iluminador, sem sombra de sentimentalismo mas comovente, da vida e morte dos antepassados próximos do autor, historiador conceituado, apresentado no contexto alargado do seu tempo e dos lugares, sobretudo Krakovets, que habitaram, e das limitações penosas da nossa capacidade para tentar compreender, ou sequer, apreender, os contornos desse passado. Como diz a Sr.ª Szymborska, no final de um dos seus poemas, "só o grego pétreo tem palavras para lidar com isto: kósmos makros, chrónos parádoksos".

[Todd Honig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I, too, have a Jewish grandfather,born the same year as the author's grandfather, who was also from a small town in Ukraine (Austria Hungary at the time) that was also in the Lvov Oblast ,who as fate would have it, emigrated to America as a child of 9 about 10 years before the First World War and didn't have the same tragedies as the author's family.So although our family historys are very different we both share the same heritage. And , through my own research a few years ago, I had a very unexpected emotional reaction to finding a photo of a modern highway sign for my grandfather's town on a website. It was as if I had found home.

[Roopa Prabhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just 220 pages of this book revealed so much of Germany, Poland, Ukraine and the life and plight of Jews, poles and Ukrainians in these countries across all the wars. Especially Poland and Ukraine. This is the first time I got an opportunity to read about these countries. It just made me realise how complicated humans are! And how macabre and evil we can get, the cherry on top is how easily we forget the inconvenient part of our deeds.

[Alla Kovalenko · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is full of family trauma and resentment, about which one should read to understand, not to agree.

«Comparative, or rather competitive, martyrology is a depressingly common feature of relations among peoples in our world».

[Ignacio Cristóbal Fernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

he hecho match con este libro

[Tony Lawrence]

Sub-title, 'The place we came from, the place we went back to.'

This place is a small town is Krakowiets in East Galicia, now Krakovets in the far south west of Ukraine since its independence in 1991. When the authors paternal grandfather Bernhard ‘Berl’ was born in the town there was a large (if not majority) Jewish population. To jump to the end of the book and Bernard Jnr. and his brother’s visits in the 1990’s and 00’s, the synagogue is in ruins and there are no native Jewish families left. This is not just the result of the Shoah (holocaust) but a succession of pogroms over hundreds of years by Austro-Hungarians, Poles, Russians, Nazis and Ukrainians, in fact any and all anti-semites in this poor and ravaged God-forsaken corner of East Central Europe. Worse than this, if possible, is the apparent desire to forget the Jewish past, to wash the area clean of its history, to glorify a C20th [Ukrainian] nationalistic narrative at the expense of the true history and rich past of Galacia.

Wasserstein embarked on this incredible feat of research, in an attempt to catalogue nothing less than a full forensic history of a little place “… you won’t have heard of”. His desire it to find out what happened to his grandparents and other family, and to plot his father Abraham Abbi’s improbable journey to safety as the doors were closing in 1930’s Germany. At the time Berl, his wife Czarna and their 2 children Addi & Lotte were living in Berlin, fully committed to their adopted nation, progressive and successful, that is until their Polish passports and ‘Ostjuden’ heritage caught up with them. Bernard Wasserstein has achieved an incredible feat, to make a broad sweep of history also local and personal. He didn’t have the spiritual connection that he may have expected on returning to this land of his fathers, but he paid tribute and bore witness to the 4,000 Jews massacred in a forest outside Lwow (Lviv), and his grandparents and aunt who escaped into hiding but were betrayed a year later and shot by the Nazis. This book will stay with me a long time; I might write more later.

[Karen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a number of books in this vein. It may be, it is, because my Great Grandfather cam from Lithuania.

Tracing the background has been difficult, not the least the fluid borders, the way the territory and the countries have been ravished by war, fighting and politocs over the past few centuries.

I have sought a range of ways to understand, how life was, what made people leave, ahout how it was for those who stayed.

It's a story filled with terror, prejudice, hardship, suffereing, and betrayal.

This book contains immaculate rsearch, well written and crafted narrative. The footnotes and appendices are as fascinating as the story of Wasserstein's family.

How anyone is left standing in Eastern Europe, how they had the resilience and tenacity to survive is beyond comprehension.

Thank you for the taking the time crafting this amazing story, not only for the story itself, but also for the lesson in writng non-fiction.

[Matěj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleak, tragic and downright depressing. Also, fuck Roman Shukhevych and anyone who glorifies him.