Abyss of Despair

Nathan Hanover

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351534154
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

Providing a gripping, first-hand account of the Chmielnicki massacres in 1648-58, in which tens of thousands of Jews perished in Poland and the Ukraine, Rabbi Nathan Hanover describes the events themselves and their effect on European Jewry. Hanover's description of the atrocities commited* by Chmielnicki and his hordes makes it clear that they set the precedent for Hitler's torture chambers. Hanover's account of the events understood in their historical context 'shows how humans can transcend tragedy and rebuild their lives, developing new ways to express their heritage and culture. Professor Helmreich, in his new introduction, describes the- period of relative peace and prosperity for the Jews immediately preceding the massacres. He traces some of the important effects the massacre had on later Jewish history, such as the rise of Messianic and Hasidic movements in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the migration of Jews back toward the west, where they were situated when the Enlightenment swept through Europe.

NOTES TO TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION

¹ There is considerable controversy among chroniclers and historians with regard to the number of communities that were devastated and also with regard to the number slain. Rabbi Sabbathai Cohen in his brief account of the massacres records that approximately 300 communities were destroyed and a little more than 100,000 people slain. Most likely his figures represent a minimum. According to another record, 744 communities were destroyed and 650 thousand persons were slain. See Jacob Schatzki’s introduction to the Yiddish translation of Yeven Metzulah, Yivo Wilno, 1938, 83 ff.

² Shatzky, ibid., 45 ff.

³ See Di Yidn in Ukraine by I. S. Hertz, New York, 1949, 197. Following the massacres of 1648 and 1649 a number of accusations against the Jews became current among the people which attempted to justify the slaughter. Foremost among these was the one which stated that the Jews leased Christian churches thereby offending the religious sensibilities of the Ukrainians and arousing their anger. Hertz discusses fully these accusations and concludes that they have no historical basis and that no conscientious historian will subscribe to them. They were originally written for propaganda purposes. Shatzky maintains that such procedure was quite normal in those days, and disagrees with Hertz that the accusations were unfounded. See Shatzky’s article in the “Zukunft,” New York, December, 1949.

⁴ From the German, Hauptmann.

⁵ See Hertz’ Di Yidn in Ukraine, New York, 1949, 104.

⁶ From the Russian word Za porogi, meaning, “beyond the Falls.”

⁷ The “Three Weeks” beginning with the 17th day of Tammuz and concluding with 9th day of Av are observed as a period of mourning commemorating the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple.

⁸ Hanover gives the date of the Pawliuk rebellion as 1639. Actually it started in 1637.

⁹ See Abyss of Despair, p. 28.

¹⁰ Shatzky’s introduction to Yeven Metzulah, Yivo Wilno, 1938.

¹¹ Sholem Asch’s Kiddush Hashem.

AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION

¹ Lamentations 3:1.

² Ps. 48:3.

³ Lamentations 2:2.

⁴ Deut. 32:9.

⁵ Lamentations 2:1.

⁶ The term Yavan, Yevanim-Greeks, Greeks is used by Hanover throughout his chronicle to identify the Ukrainians who were followers of the Greek Orthodox Church.

⁷ Zoth is numerically equal to 408, namely, the year 5408 of the era of Creation or 1648, of the Common Era.

⁸ Ps. 32:6.

⁹ Ps. 69:3.

¹⁰ The virus of both is fatal.

¹¹ Aboth 1:2, Torah, worship and benevolence: Aboth 1:18, Truth, Judgment and Peace.

¹² This book was never published.

¹³ Sou...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Translator’s Note
• Foreword to the Transaction Edition
• Translator’s Introduction
• The Life and Work of Nathan Hanover
• Author’s Introduction
• I. Abyss of Despair
• II. The Massacres of Nalevaiko
• III. The Massacres of Pawliuk
• IV. The Brutal Oppressions of Chmiel
• V. The Massacres of Nemirow
• VI. The Massacres of Tulczyn
• VII. The Massacres by Polannoe
• VIII. The Massacres of Ostrog and Zaslaw
• IX. The Massacres of Konstantynow
• X. The Massacres of Lithuania
• XI. The Massacres of Bar
• XII. The Massacres of Lwow
• XIII. The Massacres of Narol
• XIV. The Massacres of Zamosc
• XV. The Second Massacre of Ostrog
• XVI. The Inner Life of the Jews in the Kingdom of Poland
• XVII. Notes