Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-211).

"In the 19th century, nearly five million Jews lives in the Pale of Settlement. Most lived in shtetls--Jewish communities connected to larger towns--images of which are ingrained in popular imagination as the shtetl Anatevka from Fiddler on the Roof. Brimming with life and tradition, family and faith, these shtetls existed in the shadow of their town's oppressive anti-Jewish laws. Not Trochenbrod. Trochenbrod was the only freestanding, fully realized Jewish town in history. It began with a few settlers searching for freedom from the Russian Czars' oppressive policies, but over the next 130 years, Trochenbrod grew from a little row of houses to a bustling marketplace. In 1942, Trochenbrod vanished. Her residents slaughtered, her homes and factories razed to the ground. Yet the Nazis could not destroy the spirit of Trochenbrod, which has lived on in stories and legends about a little piece of heaven hidden deep in the forest..."--Dust cover flap.