Overview

Described by theater critics as one of the twentieth century’s greatest talents, Benjamin Zuskin (1899–1952) was a star of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. In writing The Travels of Benjamin Zuskin, his daughter, Ala Zuskin Perelman, has rescued from oblivion his story and that of the theater in which he served as performer and, for a period, artistic director. Against the backdrop of the Soviet regime’s effort to stifle any expression of Jewish identity, the Moscow State Jewish Theater - throughout its thirty years of existence (1919–49) - maintained a high level of artistic excellence while also becoming a center of Jewish life and culture. A member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Zuskin was arrested under fabricated charges and eventually executed on August 12, 1952, along with twelve other eminent Soviet Jews and committee members. Zuskin Perelman’s fascinating chronicle, more than just a personal memoir, conveys the vibrancy and energy of Jewish theater, celebrates the cultural achievements of Soviet Jews, and calls attention to the tragic fate that awaited them. The Travels of Benjamin Zuskin sheds light on Soviet Jewish history through the lens of one of the period’s most influential cultural icons.

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9780815610502

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Reviews

In telling the theatrical story of her father, Perelman recreates Jewish cultural life as it evolved from shtetl traditions into the urbane Soviet modernism of the 1920s and 30s, only to be extinguished by Stalin during the 1940s and early 50s. She also shines a light on the important role of GOSET in this cultural evolution and its unique blend of Yiddish theatrical traditions with twentieth-century modernism. Perhaps the most striking feature in this book for an American reader in the twenty-first century is Perelman s dramatic rendering of the political danger under which USSR theatre artists worked.--Beate Hein Bennett Theatre Journal

Author Information

Ala Zuskin Perelman was born in Moscow to Benjamin Zuskin and Eda Berkovsky, both actors in the Moscow State Jewish Theater. She was trained as an engineer, translator, and expert in scientific and technological information. In 1975, with her husband, Yuri Perelman, and their two sons, she immigrated to Israel, where she directed the Information Center at the Standards Institution and at the same time initiated or took part in projects commemorating Benjamin Zuskin and his milieu.

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