“Forgotten Hollywood”- Anatevka…
Manny P. here…
“`Villagers from a Ukraine hamlet are forced to escape by a rising Russian military presence. These unhappy wanderers eventually find themselves throughout Europe, Israel and even the United States. Is this a story ripped from the headlines… possibly! It is also the basis for the conclusion of Fiddler on the Roof. Plus, twenty miles outside of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, there is a little village inspired by the musical. It is called Anatevka.
“`Pogroms in the Russian Empire were large-scale, targeted, and repeated anti-Jewish rioting that began in the nineteenth century. Two million Jews fled the Russian Empire between 1880 and 1920, with many going to the United Kingdom and United States. An event that triggered vicious pogroms in the twentieth century was the assassination of Tsar Alexander II for which some blamed agents of foreign influence, implying that Jews were at fault.
“`In the animated film An American Tail, set during and after the 1880s pogroms, Fievel and his village is destroyed by a pogrom (Fievel and his family are mice, the Cossack attackers are cats). A pogrom is one of the central scenes in Fiddler on the Roof. The story adapted from Russian author Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye the Dairyman tales. The famous stage play and film highlighted the cruelty of the Russian pogroms on the Jews in fictional Anatevka.
“`For context, a comparison of Putin’s attack on the Ukraine to Hitler’s blitzkrieg during World War II is admirable. However, a more accurate assessment is this historical Eastern European atrocity known as the pogrom. Fiddler on the Roof poignantly offers a comparative tableau of real victims at the turn of the last century. Today’s victims of the current attack, all striving to maintain a democratic Ukraine, should be in our prayers, and eventually, remembered and honored.
Anatevka, Anatevka.
Underfed, overworked Anatevka.
Where else could Sabbath be so sweet?
Anatevka, Anatevka.
Intimate, obstinate Anatevka,
Where I know everyone I meet.
Soon I’ll be a stranger in a strange new place,
Searching for an old familiar face
From Anatevka.
I belong in Anatevka,
Tumble-down, work-a-day Anatevka.
Dear little village, little town of mine
`
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Saturday, February 26th, 2022 at 11:47 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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