Memoirs of a Jewish District Attorney from Soviet Ukraine - Immigrant Worlds & Texts by Mikhail Goldis Paperback

About the Book

Mikhail Goldis (1926-2020) worked as a detective and district attorney for 30 years in Soviet Ukraine and wrote his memoirs after immigrating to the US in 1993. Translated by Marat Grinberg, the memoirs tell the fascinating story of what it took for a Jew to survive in the halls of Soviet power.

Book Synopsis

Mikhail Goldis (1926-2020) worked as a detective and district attorney for 30 years in Soviet Ukraine and wrote his memoirs after immigrating to the US in 1993. Translated by Marat Grinberg, the memoirs tell the fascinating story of what it took for a Jew to survive in the halls of Soviet power.

Review Quotes

"Originally written in Russian after Goldis immigrated to the United States, Memoirs of a Jewish District Attorney from Soviet Ukraine is his account of working as a detective and district attorney in the post-war years, first in Krasyliv and then in Kamyanets-Podilskyi... [T]his book will appeal to fans of true crime, as well as to those interested in Soviet-Jewish experience(s)."

- Yelena Furman, Punctured lines

"The book is an easy read, flowing effortlessly; its intricately twisted detective plot makes it impossible to put down. And the simple, accessible narrative style -- focused mostly on events and facts, without unnecessary embellishments, emotions, or epithets -- helps you stay focused on what matters most, without getting distracted by minor details."

-- Yana Lyubarskaya, STMEGI.com (translated from Russian)

"Marat Grinberg, a scholar of Russian and Jewish literature, culture and film at Reed College, has expertly translated the memoirs of his grandfather, Mikhail Goldis (1926-2020), who worked as a district attorney and detective in Ukraine for three decades and wrote his memoirs in the U.S. in the early 1990s. Each story is quickly engaging and often makes a profound or revelatory comment on the nature of being Jewish not only in the Soviet Union but also in the world in general."

--Monica Osborne, Jewish Journal

"Mikhail Goldis' biography is far from typical for Soviet Jews...In his memoirs, Goldis reveals a side of Soviet Jewish history that is different from the usual narrative of persecution and discrimination."

--Michael Krutikov, Yiddish Forward

"There are so many layers to this book that I have barely begun to unravel them. A thriller. An autobiography. An intimate history of Jew-hatred in post-Tsarist Russia. A portrait of Soviet Jewry. A grandson's tribute. A primer on the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. A gem of immigrant nonfiction."
-- David G. Roskies, The Jewish Theological Seminary

"A compelling new book shows post-Holocaust life in Ukraine through the day-to-day struggles of one Jewish lawyer...Many modern readers have no idea the constant threat someone in his position was under and will thrill at the suspense and danger... Mikhail Goldis' amazing story has finally reached the English-speaking world, and it's astounding."

--Valerie Estelle Frankel, Bookishly Jewish

"Mikhail Goldis' memoirs, superbly translated by his grandson Marat Grinberg, provide a gripping account of the life of a Jewish prosecutor and detective in the former Soviet Ukraine. Goldis' many insights into the complexity of the Soviet Jewish experience make this book especially rewarding."

-- Samuel D. Kassow, Professor of History, Trinity College

"Seemingly straightforward and unpretentious, Mikhail Goldis's memoir is packed with intriguing characters, psychological insights, and

About the Author

Mikhail Goldis (1926-2020) fought in the Red Army during World War II, graduated from the Law faculty of the Kyiv State University, and worked as a detective and district attorney for more than 30 years in Soviet Ukraine. He immigrated to the US in 1993.

Marat Grinberg is Professor of Russian and Humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he also teaches in the Comparative Literature and Film and Media Studies programs. A prolific author, among Grinberg's books are "I am to Be Read not from Left to Right, but in Jewish: from Right to Left" The Poetics of Boris Slutsky (2011), Aleksandr Askoldov: The Commissar (2016), and The Soviet Jewish Bookshelf: Jewish Culture and Identity Between the Lines (2023). Grinberg's essays have appeared in Tablet Magazine, Mosaic, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Jewish Journal. He lectures widely on topics ranging from Shoah literature and film to Jewish-Russian poetry. Grinberg is currently working on a large study of Jewishness and the Holocaust in Russian, Ukrainian, and East European speculative fiction of the Soviet era.