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Shtetl Days
Professional actors Veit Harlan and his wife Kristi are happy citizens of the prosperous, triumphant Reich. It's been over a century since the War of Retribution cleaned up Europe, long enough that now curious tourists flock to the painstakingly recreated "village" of Wawolnice, where--along with dozens of colleagues--Veit and Kristi re-enact the daily life of the long-exterminated but still frightening "Jews."
Veit and Kristi are true professionals, proud of their craft. They've learned all there is to know about this vanished way of life. They know the dead languages, the turns of phrase, the prayers, the manners, the food. But now they're beginning to learn what happens when you immerse yourself long enough in something real...
Veit and Kristi are true professionals, proud of their craft. They've learned all there is to know about this vanished way of life. They know the dead languages, the turns of phrase, the prayers, the manners, the food. But now they're beginning to learn what happens when you immerse yourself long enough in something real...
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 14, 2011
4 people are currently reading
217 people want to read
About the author
Harry Turtledove
569 books1,987 followersDr Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced a sizeable number of works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
Harry Turtledove attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History". Within this genre he is known both for creating original scenarios: such as survival of the Byzantine Empire; an alien invasion in the middle of the World War II; and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by other authors, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War; and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
July 18, 2025
I absolutely loved this. Dystopian, yet optimistic, and with a completely ironic message. It reminded me conceptually of The Stanford Prison Experiment, which was a study designed to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power and powerlessness in a prison setting. It involved randomly assigning college students to play the roles of either prisoners or guards in a simulated prison. The situation described in the story creates a similar dichotomy which also comes to have a deep psychological, as well as social impact.
July 16, 2018
A really great and enjoyable read. Not what I expected. Initially it didn't really have much of my attention but as it went on it hit me and I couldn't not read it.
January 26, 2021
This is another of tor.com free original short stories. This one can be found here I don't think I can put in words how moved I was by this short story. At first I thought I knew what was going on, and then I had a very strong WTF moment when the plot took a huge left turn. I have never been so grateful for Google search, since I was looking up both German and Yiddish translations to several words, including the title (which according to Goggle means "a small Jewish town or village in eastern Europe" Days.) It still amazes me at times that stories which are so very short can be so impactful. I could wax for days about how wonderful I found this story, but instead, I'll just say Go read it.
P.S. - I really should be reading some of Mr. Turtledove's full length works.
P.S. - I really should be reading some of Mr. Turtledove's full length works.
December 15, 2019
Not at all what it seems to be at first ... chilling and hopeful at the same time. So many issues, questions and truths are brought up in so few words - such a cleverly put-together story.
November 5, 2017
Read as a part of Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2011 Edition
To start with, this made me feel very uncomfortable, but that was the point of it. By the end, I wanted more.
To start with, this made me feel very uncomfortable, but that was the point of it. By the end, I wanted more.
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August 17, 2013
Powerful. Moving. Subtle. Alternate-history like I've never read before, with an emphasis on the loss of personal privacy and the conflict between the performed and the lived. I've never really given Harry Turtledove a chance before, but I will be after reading this.
February 3, 2024
After a ten-year break from Turtledove, I decided to give one of his novellas a try, and -- was very much surprised.
“We will do, and we will hear”. Such was the people’s reply when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai and presented the Ten Commandments to the Hebrews. There’s an inversion in that statement, alien to our modern age: imagine doing a thing before understanding why But, as Shtetl Days indicates, sometimes the beauty of a thing cannot be appreciate until it is engaged with. This is a novella set in roughly the present day, but in a world where Nazi Germany was victorious in what it calls the War of Retribution, and apparently successful in destroying most of the Jewish people. It is so successful, in fact, that it’s created a living-history village where tourists can come see how mid-20th century Poles and Jews lived, populated by method actors living as though they really are Poles and Jews. Veit Harlan, for instances, spends the majority of his time living as Jakub Shlayfer, an observant Jewish tinkerer. He talks in Yiddish to his fellow actors in the village, he argues Talmud, he says his prayers before every meal. Some actors are so committed to the part that they have themselves circumcised. Most of the actors are so immersed in their parts that they tend to live in a shadow of them even in their offtime, defaulting to Yiddish, thinking about and discussing Torah, and even saying a prayer over their food reflexively. The story follows Veit/Jakub as he rests after the annual pogram reenactment — in which the Polish actors begin rioting and beating the Jewish actors and even burning the Jewish quarter, although the only ‘actors’ who are killed are convicts who are introduced into the act for the purposes of being executed – and begins reflecting on the strange way he relates to being Jakub, on how what we think about and do shapes us. More interestingly, he admits to himself that he likes being Jakub more than he likes being himself: he likes living in a cozy, tight-knit community, likes living in a constant attitude of mindfulness and thankfulness, likes the dancing order of liturgy. What does it say of the Reich, that it had to destroy such things, such a people? His ‘life’ as Jakob isn’t clean and orderly as his life as Veit — he’s poorer in many ways — and yet there is a richness in this little village that surpasses those of the best of the Reich’s cities.
“We will do, and we will hear”. Such was the people’s reply when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai and presented the Ten Commandments to the Hebrews. There’s an inversion in that statement, alien to our modern age: imagine doing a thing before understanding why But, as Shtetl Days indicates, sometimes the beauty of a thing cannot be appreciate until it is engaged with. This is a novella set in roughly the present day, but in a world where Nazi Germany was victorious in what it calls the War of Retribution, and apparently successful in destroying most of the Jewish people. It is so successful, in fact, that it’s created a living-history village where tourists can come see how mid-20th century Poles and Jews lived, populated by method actors living as though they really are Poles and Jews. Veit Harlan, for instances, spends the majority of his time living as Jakub Shlayfer, an observant Jewish tinkerer. He talks in Yiddish to his fellow actors in the village, he argues Talmud, he says his prayers before every meal. Some actors are so committed to the part that they have themselves circumcised. Most of the actors are so immersed in their parts that they tend to live in a shadow of them even in their offtime, defaulting to Yiddish, thinking about and discussing Torah, and even saying a prayer over their food reflexively. The story follows Veit/Jakub as he rests after the annual pogram reenactment — in which the Polish actors begin rioting and beating the Jewish actors and even burning the Jewish quarter, although the only ‘actors’ who are killed are convicts who are introduced into the act for the purposes of being executed – and begins reflecting on the strange way he relates to being Jakub, on how what we think about and do shapes us. More interestingly, he admits to himself that he likes being Jakub more than he likes being himself: he likes living in a cozy, tight-knit community, likes living in a constant attitude of mindfulness and thankfulness, likes the dancing order of liturgy. What does it say of the Reich, that it had to destroy such things, such a people? His ‘life’ as Jakob isn’t clean and orderly as his life as Veit — he’s poorer in many ways — and yet there is a richness in this little village that surpasses those of the best of the Reich’s cities.
July 15, 2025
Veit Harlan and his wife Kristi are actors in the model village of Wawolnice, where Poles and Jews from before the glorious War of Retribution are brought back to life for a new generation of the Great Reich.
Turtledove's skill as a writer of alternate history comes from painting on a very plausible canvas. The situation makes a certain sense while reading that allows the plot to develop in a refreshing way. There is a sense of transcendence and overwhelming hope against the odds that makes "Shtetl Days" a great story.
Turtledove's skill as a writer of alternate history comes from painting on a very plausible canvas. The situation makes a certain sense while reading that allows the plot to develop in a refreshing way. There is a sense of transcendence and overwhelming hope against the odds that makes "Shtetl Days" a great story.
August 21, 2017
I didn't know what to expect when I got this Novella or Short story. It was just by an author that I like so I decided to read it.
At first I thought it was kind slow and boring. Lots of foreign language words (Yiddish primarily I think) that was difficult for me to read which slowed me way down. But I plowed on, and wondered where this story was going. Then towards the last half of the book it started to take shape and I got interested in how this was going to go.
Overall, I think it's a pretty good read and it's very short so give it a whirl. The ending I thought was kinda ironic as well.
At first I thought it was kind slow and boring. Lots of foreign language words (Yiddish primarily I think) that was difficult for me to read which slowed me way down. But I plowed on, and wondered where this story was going. Then towards the last half of the book it started to take shape and I got interested in how this was going to go.
Overall, I think it's a pretty good read and it's very short so give it a whirl. The ending I thought was kinda ironic as well.
September 5, 2020
I loved this one. I noticed it because Jo Walton (a great author) gave it a 5-star rating.
It's a short story that takes place in an alternate future where the Nazi's won World War II. And it's about a group of actors who are tasked with reenacting a Jewish village so that Nazis can come see the supposedly vile creatures they exterminated.
I have two quibbles. First, the actors are supposed to accurately recreate a real Jewish village. You'd think they'd be asked by their Nazi overlords to act out vile or evil things, but they aren't. I'm not sure how viewing a real human village would not humanize the villagers in the eyes of the people watching. So I don't quite get it. It's almost as if we need to believe in the merits of racism to believe in the plausibility of the premise itself.
The other quibble is that the grand reveal is obvious partway through the story, but then gets presented as a twist at the end, but there's nothing left to twist.
But these are minor quibbles. The story is well-written and engaging, and the message behind it is fantastic.
It's a short story that takes place in an alternate future where the Nazi's won World War II. And it's about a group of actors who are tasked with reenacting a Jewish village so that Nazis can come see the supposedly vile creatures they exterminated.
I have two quibbles. First, the actors are supposed to accurately recreate a real Jewish village. You'd think they'd be asked by their Nazi overlords to act out vile or evil things, but they aren't. I'm not sure how viewing a real human village would not humanize the villagers in the eyes of the people watching. So I don't quite get it. It's almost as if we need to believe in the merits of racism to believe in the plausibility of the premise itself.
The other quibble is that the grand reveal is obvious partway through the story, but then gets presented as a twist at the end, but there's nothing left to twist.
But these are minor quibbles. The story is well-written and engaging, and the message behind it is fantastic.
February 21, 2020
I really enjoyed reading this. The core of it really revolves around basic human ethics. What can be taught? What do we have intrinsically? What does it mean to have faith?
The premise (that Nazis would create a living village akin to colonial WIlliamsburg with a Polish and Jewish pre-WWII community) is interesting and the world Turtledove (who is Jewish) creates is fascinating. I'd say that I find the barbarity that is presented here to be unrealistic, but we know that what happened in the pogroms was barbaric so...
Anyway, if you want a thought-provoking story on what it means to develop faith and to grow in belief, this is the one. (https://www.tor.com/2011/04/14/shtetl...)
The premise (that Nazis would create a living village akin to colonial WIlliamsburg with a Polish and Jewish pre-WWII community) is interesting and the world Turtledove (who is Jewish) creates is fascinating. I'd say that I find the barbarity that is presented here to be unrealistic, but we know that what happened in the pogroms was barbaric so...
Anyway, if you want a thought-provoking story on what it means to develop faith and to grow in belief, this is the one. (https://www.tor.com/2011/04/14/shtetl...)
May 28, 2019
Interesting idea, powerful, quick read.
I like Turtledoves ability to put on the shoes of his characters. This novella is very culturally steeped in European Judaism but somehow speaks to a universal truth in a world beyond horror. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt but worked very well.
I like Turtledoves ability to put on the shoes of his characters. This novella is very culturally steeped in European Judaism but somehow speaks to a universal truth in a world beyond horror. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt but worked very well.
November 23, 2016
At first I wasn't impressed. It seemed like a complete copycat of an Isaac Bashevis Singer novel. But then, when the twist came, and there were plenty, it turned into something I didn't want to end. I was blown away. I am now completely invested in reading more of Harry Turtledove's work.
March 8, 2018
Thought-provoking: http://www.sosayethallie.com/blog/har...
April 29, 2018
"They wouldn’t have needed to invent us. For some reason, that fragment of a sentence stuck in Veit’s mind. "
October 22, 2018
Oh boy. This was intense
September 7, 2020
Well worth a read, a thoughtful spin on the brutality of the Holocaust. To write more probably would mean giving spoilers.
April 17, 2024
Shetl Days
This novella provides much thought-provoking material. It takes place in an alternative that results from a Nazi victory in the war.
This novella provides much thought-provoking material. It takes place in an alternative that results from a Nazi victory in the war.
March 30, 2025
A thought-provoking short story about people experiencing life in an old Jewish shtetl. It’s more f an experience than one might think.
August 13, 2014
An intriguing "alternative history" short novel, set in a world where Hitler won the second world war. It is a moving story of survival of "Jews" in a world where every single one of them has been killed.
It is the story of two professional actors, Veit Harlan and his wife Kristi, two happy citizens of the prosperous, triumphant Reich. It's been over a century since the War of Retribution cleaned up Europe, long enough that now curious tourists flock to the painstakingly recreated "village" of Wawolnice, whee, along with dozens of colleagues, Veit and Kristi re-enact the daily life of the long-exterminated but still frightening "Jews". Veit and Kristi are true professionals, proud of their craft. They've learned all there is to know about this vanished way of life. They know the dead languages, the turns of phrase, the prayers, the manners, the food. But now they're beginning to learn what happens when you immerse yourself long enough in something real...
It is the story of two professional actors, Veit Harlan and his wife Kristi, two happy citizens of the prosperous, triumphant Reich. It's been over a century since the War of Retribution cleaned up Europe, long enough that now curious tourists flock to the painstakingly recreated "village" of Wawolnice, whee, along with dozens of colleagues, Veit and Kristi re-enact the daily life of the long-exterminated but still frightening "Jews". Veit and Kristi are true professionals, proud of their craft. They've learned all there is to know about this vanished way of life. They know the dead languages, the turns of phrase, the prayers, the manners, the food. But now they're beginning to learn what happens when you immerse yourself long enough in something real...
May 3, 2012
Another gem from Harry Turtledove. I can't seem to be drawn into his more fantasy based series, but I love his alternate history ones. This was a short story (took me far longer to read than it should have) but it was amazing and left me wanting to see more of this world he created.
The basis for the story was a Nazi victory in WWII and after the fact they created shtetls filled with actors who immerse themselves in the life and culture that the Nazis had destroyed- think modern day King's Landing or Sturbridge Village type of place. I don't want to say more. I don't want to spoil the story for you. I highly suggest this short story and it can be picked up in ebook form for .99 at Barnes and Noble but can be read online for free here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/04/sh...
The basis for the story was a Nazi victory in WWII and after the fact they created shtetls filled with actors who immerse themselves in the life and culture that the Nazis had destroyed- think modern day King's Landing or Sturbridge Village type of place. I don't want to say more. I don't want to spoil the story for you. I highly suggest this short story and it can be picked up in ebook form for .99 at Barnes and Noble but can be read online for free here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/04/sh...
September 23, 2014
Harry Turtledove's best writing are his short stories. He pulps out his novelizations, but puts his sweat and blood into his short stories, which are overlooked. Shtetl Days explores the following: if the Judea God exists, and the Nazis had won, and had completed global genocide of the Jews, what would have happened? The backdrop, 100 years after Hitler won, is a kind of Disneyland recreation of a Polish village from the early 20th century, complete with a Jewish community. Actors fill the roles, but over time, in a kind of mystical way, the roles fill the actors. This is one of the best science fiction stories I have read in years. Should have won a Nebula.
July 26, 2017
Don't read the summary before reading this story — it gives away too much.
(Read it online here.)
This was amazing in its twists and turns, and pulls you in so deeply that it feels strange to emerge from its world on the other side.
(Read it online here.)
This was amazing in its twists and turns, and pulls you in so deeply that it feels strange to emerge from its world on the other side.
September 3, 2024
Li aqui, marquei lido aqui: Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2011 edition.
May 10, 2011
A very disturbing novella set in a century after WWII -- the War of Retribution -- where Hitler and the Germans won. Caution, not for the sensitive but the more about Judaism or Yiddish that you know, the more this story will bother you.
December 22, 2013
This was quite an interesting book. I love the idea that Aryan actors, paid by the Third Reich to be enactors and keep alive the history of the vanquished Jews, start adapting the life of Jews. Very descriptive and a good read.
July 29, 2014
There is little I can say without being spoilery. A nice spin on the holocaust. Nevertheless, reading this story during a period in which Israel is bombing Gaza, as I have, gives it a whole new dimension.
May 8, 2011
A clever alternate history short story. Not much to say that wouldn't spoil the story, but liked a lot.
September 11, 2014
This is a short story, or a short novel. A quick read. Very moving.
Don't read the other GoodReads reviews because some of them contain spoilers without a warning.
Don't read the other GoodReads reviews because some of them contain spoilers without a warning.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews