A Hole in the Heart of the World: The Jewish Experience in Eastern Europe After World War II

by Jonathan Kaufman

Release Date: February, 1998

Edition: Paperback

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a nice little book . . .

about how a few people experienced life after the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. Probably the most interesting things I learned were (1) that the decline of the Jewish population in Eastern Europe didn't just all happen during the Holocuast -- instead it kept declining even after 1945 as the Communists made Jews' life more and more miserable, and (2) how vibrant some Jewish communities still are - for example, I had no idea that there were still 100,000 Jews in Hungary. Short, easy to read, not too deep, in short beach reading.

Haunting story of Judiasm under the Communists

Jonathan is first a journalist. He gives you a penetrating view of what it was like to be in Europe under communism as told by people that lived it. He makes you identify with these people and feel their stories. This is no simplistic story of good and evil. This is the story of real and complex people dealing in their different ways with an impossible situation. Some rebelled, some hid, and some joined the enemy. The only common thread is that they were all alive to tell Jonathan their stories when the Berlin Wall fell. Fortunately Jonathan was there at this unique point in time to listen to their stories and tell them to us.