In his tale entitled 'Geschichte eines jüdischen Soldaten (The History of a Jewish Soldier',' written during World War I, Simon Dubnow effectively created the collective biography of Russian Judaism. Representing 35 years of repression, persecution and humiliation as well as the struggles and hopes of a whole generation of Russian Jews, the life of this nameless Jewish soldier is told with gripping words. The author concentrates the story on the years between 1881, which marks the beginning of the pogroms, and 1915, during the war. This work is available here for the first time in German and is complemented by an extensive commentary and previously unavailable documents.

Simon Dubnow, geboren 1860 im weißrussischen Mstislawl, 1941 unter deutscher Besatzung im Rigaer Ghetto ermordet, lebte in Odessa, St. Petersburg, Berlin und Riga.