Marina Kigel

The inscription on Dr. Bat Sheva Yonis-Gutman’s headstone at Trumpeldor Cemetery in downtown Tel Aviv does not cite her date of birth, but only the date of her emigration to Israel. That was common practice among members of the Second Aliyah, who wanted to leave behind every trace of their lives in the Diaspora and[…]

“Tell them in these words: I am a Jew and I refuse.” That is what Captain Leo Skurnik said when he learned that the Germans had recommended that he receive an Iron Cross medal for his heroism on the battlefield. Skurnik, a medical officer in the Finnish army, organized the evacuation of a field hospital[…]

On the spring morning of March 12, 1911, 13-year-old Andrei Yushchinsky left his house to go to school, just like he did every morning. But when he didn’t come home that afternoon, it turned out that he hadn’t made it school either. On March 16, his mother and stepfather contacted the editors of the local[…]

He was barely 4’9″ tall, he arrived in the United States when he was nearly 30 years old, so he spoke English with a heavy accent for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, the entire motion picture industry in Hollywood owes him its existence. His numerous inventions include the forerunner of foundation cream, false eyelashes,[…]

Adolfo Kaminsky, probably the most famous Jewish forger in the world, died earlier this month. For nearly three decades, from 1940 to the end of the 1960’s, he was involved in every important underground movement or revolution across the globe. With the skill of a true artist, he falsified official documents of dozens of countries,[…]

This week 75 years ago, on January 13, 1948, marks the anniversary of the murder of the renowned Soviet-Yiddish actor and director, Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels, who was also the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theatre – GOSET. He was also the undisputed leader of Soviet Jewry in those days. The decision to murder[…]

Mirra (Maria) Sakhnovsky (Sakhnovskaya) was a fascinating, but controversial, figure, who was willing to go to great lengths to spread her ideology. Her short life was replete with secrets and mystery. Born in the Pale of Settlement, she fell in love with the communist revolution, had an impressive military career, and become the first woman[…]

In the first years following the October Revolution, the new Soviet State was suffering from a famine. The attempt to contain a ‘new economic policy’ was a big failure, and people living in cities and villages were forced to stand in line for hours to buy basic commodities such as bread, salt, matches and heating[…]

“In our home, we didn’t talk about anything related to the Holocaust or the pogroms,” recounts Ilana Bar-Gil from Modi’in. “I was in shock when my mother began receiving reparations from Germany. And then, little by little, she started telling us what had happened. In 1945, my mother, Dina, was nine years old, the middle[…]

She had plenty of reasons not to go to Moscow. Israel was less than a month old, the War of Independence was raging, and she was in the middle of a fundraising campaign in the United States. She had left Kiev when it was still part of the Russian Empire. She was 8 years old[…]