This book is centered around the memoir Looking Back, written in 1928 by 20 year old Isadore Weiss, only six years after coming to the United States. Isadore provides a fascinating insight into Jewish life in the Ukrainian village of Minkovitz before, during and after World War One. As the war reaches Minkovitz, the reader experiences the rare insight of the community’s reaction to the fighting, the first cars, first motorcycles and first airplanes ever seen by people in that region. Contrary to popular current thought, we also see the excellent relationship between the Jewish community of Minkovitz and the German occupying troops, who made toys and gathered firewood for the homes of the people where they were housed during the winter. Isadore also recounts the artillery and the hand-to-hand combat between the forces of Simon Petlura, leader of the pogroms, and the Bolsheviks. We get to see how the new Communist regime establishes itself in Ukraine. Isadore’s wife, Sylvia, rounds out the story of how they built a life together in the United States. The story continues of how Isadore graduated with honors from the University of Pittsburgh, and then worked as a Federal investigator as he overcame the barriers of a new language and anti-Semitism. Contributing authors provide background on the contemporary social, demographic and political environment in Ukraine to help the reader put Looking Back into context.
