In Russia’s Far East, along the border with China, sits Birobidzhan, the Jewish Autonomous Region, originally created by Stalin in the 1920’s as a Jewish homeland. It is a bizarre and fascinating place, where school-children of all backgrounds still learn the Yiddish language and citizens converse in a tongue that is mostly alien to the rest of the world.
In Birobidzhan! Birobidzhan!, respected French novelist Marek Halter explores the region, interviewing residents about their past as well as their continued use of the Yiddish language.