Botchki: When Doomsday Was Still Tomorrow

With the humor and clearsightedness of one who loved the shtetl, but who worked hard to escape from it, Zagier records the rhythms and texture of everyday life in Botchki, a small town northeast of Warsaw, from the early years of the century until 1927. The author glories in the details of growing up and explores every irony, every twist of fate, every historical fact, as history rushed past this shtetl, sometimes affecting it, sometimes just passing it by. Life was ruled by religion, and he recounts his growing rebelliousness against God, who gives his life meaning and yet allows so much suffering. First set down on the eve of World War II, finished fifty years later, and now published for the first time, Botchki is a testament to a vanished world. This important and moving memoir is essential reading for everyone interested in issues of Jewish life, identity, and exile, as seen through the lens of life in an Eastern European shtetl in the early twentieth century. 9 black-and-white illustrations.

David Zagier escaped from Botchki in 1927. He worked as a journalist in South Africa, Paris, and London. During the war, he made his way to New York, where he again worked as a journalist until he was drafted into the US Army. He later became a college professor and eventually settled in Switzerland. He completed this memoir shortly before his death in 1998.