Глибокий мул. Хроніка Натана Гановера

by Nathan Hanover, Натан Гановер, Majer Balaban (Translator)

Providing a gripping, first-hand account of the Chmielnicki massacres in 1648-58, in which tens of thousands of Jews perished in Poland and the Ukraine, Rabbi Nathan Hanover describes the events themselves and their effect on European Jewry. Hanover's description of the atrocities commited* by Chmielnicki and his hordes makes it clear that they set the precedent for Hitler's torture chambers. Hanover's account of the events understood in their historical context 'shows how humans can transcend tragedy and rebuild their lives, developing new ways to express their heritage and culture.

Professor Helmreich, in his new introduction, describes the- period of relative peace and prosperity for the Jews immediately preceding the massacres. He traces some of the important effects the massacre had on later Jewish history, such as the rise of Messianic and Hasidic movements in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the migration of Jews back toward the west, where they were situated when the Enlightenment swept through Europe.

Genres: Jewish, Judaism

180 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Галина Степанюк · Rating 3 out of 5]

Цікаво читати для розуміння відношення євреїв до українських визвольних змагань. Без приміток Наталі Яковенко читання не мало б сенсу, бо надто відірваний опис від історичних фактів

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book describes a revolt by Ukrainians against their Polish overlords; this rebellion is most infamous because the Ukranians massacred tens of thousands of Jews (if not more). And because the rebellion involved siege warfare, many more people perished of starvation and disease during sieges. Hanover wrote only a few years after the massacres, and spoke to survivors in fashioning his book.

Before reading this book, I was already familiar with the basic outlines of the story. I don't think I was aware that Poland was a feudal society rather than a centralized monarchy. This meant that the Ukranians were able to play one Polish noble or town off against another, enabling the rebellion to spread. On the other hand, the Ukranians were decentralized too, which meant that not every army was equally ruthless: some were genocidal, while others merely enslaved Jews or despoiled them.

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Хронікі паўстання Багдана Хмельніцкага, паказныя з боку яўрэйскага насельніцства, якое вельмі пацярпела ад дзейнасці казакоў у 17-ым стагоддзі. Твор вельмі цікавы не столькі зместам, колькі мовай - час, у якім напісаны твор, і культурныя асаблівасці вельмі паўплывалі на стыль. Ну і яшчэ гэта добры прыклад калі нацыянальны герой адной краіны можа быць паказаны як злачынец і забойца для іншага боку, прычым у дастаткова нечаканай манеры.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally written c.1650 and translated to English 300 years later, Nathan provides a contemporary account of the devastating pogroms of 1648-9 conducted by the Ukrainian Cossacks led by Bogdan Chmielnicki against the Jews as part of his revolt against the Polish ruling class. The title literally translates to "[sunk in] The Deep Mire", and either way this is clearly not going to be a happy story.

I'd never heard of Nathan until yesterday when I read Bari Weiss's book on anti-semitism in which she references one of the most horrific accounts of torture I'd ever seen*, and felt the need to learn more about it.

While not up to the modern standards of a historical account, we get a clear and concise account of the harrowing ordeal of the Jews as the Cossacks swept through the countryside, laying waste to the towns along the way, demanding ransoms and generally behaving as most rampaging armies did throughout the middle ages, raping and pillaging and reaping havoc in the most brutal manner imaginable. Several towns where my own ancestors came from were mentioned (these were mostly spared from the destruction) which was chilling to behold how lucky I am that they survived.

Although the writing is remarkably accessible, it is sprinkled with Biblical references, and it helps to have at least a basic understanding of the politics of the region at the time. I watched this lecture first: https://www.torahcafe.com/dr-henry-ab...
which provided great context to Poland & Ukraine and the rebellion, and was a lot easier to follow than the rather dry written introduction to the text.

*WARNING: Extremely graphic violence They slashed the bellies of pregnant women, removed their infants and tossed them in their faces.
Some women had their bellies torn open and live cats placed in them. The bellies were then sewed up with the live cats remaining within. They chopped off the hands of the victims so that they would not be able to remove the cats from the bellies.

[Taras Polunenko · Rating 1 out of 5]

Highly laconic and emotive. The text renders itself unreliable and historically inaccurate through its clear overestimation of Jewish casualties, as the eminent historians Shaul Stampfer, Edward Fram, Paul Robert Magocsi and Petro Mirchuk all testify. The text neglects to acknowledge the role of Jewish leaseholders, who collected duties, administered estates and revenue-producing establishments and acted as an intermediary for the oppressive Polish feudal system in Ukraine. The text seems preoccupied with slandering the Ukrainian nation and using the writing as a sort of bawdy retort/revenge. The reliability of historiography relating to the Khmelnytsky Uprising and the Ukrainian National Liberation of the 17th century has been contingent on the group from which it derives. Polish Rawita-Gawroński's work on the topic is almost unusable, testifying that Bohdan was himself Jewish, the work is better utilised for the study of Polish nationalism. Likewise, 'The Abyss of Despair' condemned itself to yet another one sided version of the events determined by the feelings and emotions of those that wrote it. The work of Velychko and Hrabianka are the most reliable on the event, neither over glorifying the heroism of the Ukrainian Cossacks or ignoring the sufferings of the Jewish nation. They are inspired and in some ways copies of the Ukrainian Hetmanate's Archives destroyed on the order of Catherine II and so can be considered contemporaneous with the events. Despite its focus on martyrdom and its attempts to ignore the context of the Insurrection and the suffering of the Ukrainian people, I suppose its literary qualities and passionate language are the only commendable aspect of the book.