Reviews for From Exodus to Freedom: The History of the Soviet Jewry Movement

The average rating for From Exodus to Freedom: The History of the Soviet Jewry Movement based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-02-22 00:00:00 John Mix This is a fascinating book on the relationship between Jews, Germans, and Allies (mostly Americans with some Russians) in the earliest years of occupied Germany (1945-1947, with the conclusion discussing 1948 and the "future of Judaism" in Germany). Grossmann responsibly covers topics as wide-ranging as rape and "fraternization" by Russian and American soldiers, displaced persons camps, the Jewish baby boom, and the hot debates (which quickly became taboo) over complicity and retribution. Not only does Grossmann probe into these lesser-discussed subjects (which have become more discussed in recent years), but her book is quite readable as well. Highly recommend.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-11-20 00:00:00 Jon Alve Most of this book is about post World War II "D.P." (displaced persons) camps in Germany. I had always thought most D.Ps were Jews, but in fact many of them where non-Jewish refugees from newly Communist Eastern Europe. This book focuses on Jewish D.Ps. Some of the surprisin things I learned were: 1. I had always thought that most Jewish D.Ps had been in concentration camps; the author thinks, however, that many of them fled to the Soviet Union to avoid Nazism, survived the war in the Soviet Union, discovered after the war that their Eastern European hometowns were unwelcoming or dangerous, and then fled to the D.P. camps. 2. I had always thought of D.P. camps as sealed off from their German neighbors; but in fact they needed Germans in a wide variety of service jobs (e.g. plumbers, doctors etc). About 20 percent of D.Ps lived on their own in German towns, where they interacted even more with local Germans. 3. I was vaguely aware that Jews in the D.P. camps were eager to make up for lost time by getting married and having children- but I had no idea how eager. One estimate was that Jewish D.Ps had 50 births per 1000 people in 1947- roughly seven times the German birth rate at the time. Jews also had about ten times as many weddings as Germans. The book also discusses Germans (who were very traumatized by the war in Berlin, but often were unaffected if they lived in rural areas far from combat) and surviving Berlin Jews (most of whom were elderly and highly assimilated).