A hole in the heart of the world: being Jewish in Eastern Europe

Focusing on "the lives of 5 families, 4 Jewish and 1 Catholic, Kaufman examines the status of Jews in Eastern Europe since WWII. Part 1 traces the prewar history of the families and their experiences from the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 to the descent of the Iron Curtain and the triumph of Communist rule by 1948. Part 2 looks at the fate of these families and Jewish life under Communist rule from 1948-68. In Part 3, the focus shifts to the sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors and Part 4 looks at the fate of these families after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989