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When the Menorah Fades is a fictionalized account of the town of Hadiach, Ukraine, a small Jewish community destroyed by Nazi occupation during World War II. Based on interviews with the surviving residents of Hadiach, Zvi Preigerzon imagines the everyday experiences of ordinary Jewish people during the war. Interweaved with Hebrew and Yiddish expressions and songs, biblical metaphors, and Kabbalistic spiritual elements, a story emerges: resistance in the face of unimaginable cruelty.
A former prisoner of Stalin’s Gulag, Preigerzon wrote this book in complete secrecy, even hiding its existence from his own family. It was originally published under a pen name in Hebrew in 1966 and now appears in English with an introduction by the author’s grandson.
“A prolific writer in Hebrew, Preigerzon’s novels like When the Menorah Fades capture in great detail what life was like for Jewish communities in small Ukrainian towns like Hadiach. …[T]he novel is not merely an extremely detailed account of the intricacies and intimacies of community members’ lives and households. Ultimately, it is an exploration of Hadiach itself. …The novel possesses a narrative poesy and clever structural techniques that quickly envelop readers. …[T]he English translation of this novel is an important contribution to both the Jewish literature and Ukrainian literature canons.”
— Nicole Yurcaba, New Eastern Europe
“When the Menorah Fades is a fictionalized account of daily life in the town of Hadiach, Ukraine. The Nazis destroyed this small Jewish community, but Priegerzon interviewed some of the survivors. His tales depict devout women visiting the grave of Schneur Zalman, the Alter Rebbe, who founded Chabad. They leave slips of paper with prayers and wishes, hoping for miracles... Readers interested in shtetl life and the history of Jews in Ukraine will find this book interesting.”
– Barbara Bibel, Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley, CA, AJL Reviews
Zvi Preigerzon (1900–1969) was born in the village of Shepetovka, Ukraine. He was a prolific writer in Hebrew and was imprisoned in the Gulag for writing about the suffering of Jews during the Holocaust. He is the author of Memoirs of a Gulag Prisoner, When the Menorah Fades, and several other books, stories and poems.