'Women’s Matters' in Postwar Stalinist Moldavia

• In Event: (Forgotten) Lives of Jewish Women in Stalin’s Soviet Union

Abstract

This paper examines postwar Stalinist society through the experiences of Jewish women. Returning from Transnistrian camps or evacuation in the East, Jewish survivors – both men and women – were confronted with a host of daunting challenges. Yet it was women in particular whose postwar struggles shed a unique light on the changing social and cultural landscape. From everyday concerns like cooking matzah or finding a bridal gown amid a devastated economy, alongside attempts to enter higher education or the workforce, to grappling with arrests and accusations of Zionist activity, this study shows how (not so) ordinary Jewish women navigated life in Stalin’s Soviet Union after the war.

Author

• Diana V. Dumitru, Georgetown U