Siberian Odyssey

Book excerpt: The history of the author’s maternal ancestors in early Siberia provides the focus of this wide ranging book. From unjustly exiled Russians to Polish immigrants, the cavalcade of characters comes together in far eastern Siberia. Each person’s unique experience and personality illuminates the travels and meetings that produced this particular family line. They were all part of the diverse group of people who settled there before 1885, known as Old Settlers or Siberiaks. The book provides a fascinating insight into those times, as well as depicting the hardships that were part of being Jewish in 19th century Russia. Part One of Siberian Odyssey, subtitled The Exiles, begins when Joseph Sadovitch, a rabbi turned wine clerk, is exiled to Siberia for striking a policeman who ignores looters during a fire in a Jewish home. He is arrested, tried and sentenced to permanent exile in Siberia. From then on he will be considered as one dead. He faces a grim future, leaving home, wife and children, to join a band of other exiles for a two-year march to the far east, a distance of over 4,000 miles. A widowed tailor from Zhitomir, a young fur trapper, son of an exile, and others intersect and connect with Joseph’s story.