How did Soviet Jews rebuild their lives after the Holocaust? How did they navigate Stalinist rule, reclaim their place in society, and seek retribution against those responsible for wartime atrocities? This study uncovers the resilience and adaptability of Soviet Jews in postwar Moldavia, a borderland where identities were fluid, loyalties were tested, and survival demanded ingenuity. Using newly accessed archives and oral histories, Diana Dumitru reveals how Jews pursued professional success, resisted discrimination, and sought vengeance on their wrongdoers. Far from passive subjects of repression, they carved out spaces for agency in an era of contradictions – between social mobility and state-imposed limitations, between the Soviet promise of equality and the rising anti-Jewish drive of the early 1950s, and between ideological control and personal ambition. In doing so, this study offers a fresh perspective on a complex, understudied chapter of 20th-century history.

‘In this deeply researched and engaging book, Diana Dumitru mines oral history, archives, and memoirs to uncover the vicissitudes of Jewish life in postwar Soviet Moldavia. With a keen historical and analytical eye, Dumitru vividly narrates how the Jewish community survived and exceled against a backdrop of antisemitism, trauma, and discrimination.’

Jeffrey Veidlinger - University of Michigan