Shores of Refuge: A Hundred Years of Jewish Emigration

In 1880, the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe made up four-fifths of the world's Jewish population. But Russian pogroms and Nazi persecution triggered a mass exodus, largely to the U.S., Israel and Western Europe. Tracing this enormous shift is the goal of Sanders's massive, harrowing saga. He unearths a worldwide system of care and placement for Jewish refugees but notes that escapees from Hitler had most often to fend for themselves in a largely unreceptive world. Chapters illuminate dark episodes such as the Ukrainian massacre of Jews and, later, the effects of the 1968 Eastern European campaign against ""Zionists.'' Digging deep into the archives, Sanders (The Downtown Jews) recreates Jewish emigration as a personal drama that took freedom-seekers to places ranging from the Argentine wilderness to Colorado. (February)