A backpack, a bear, and eight crates of vodka

Description:

Recounts the author's experiences as a young boy fleeing persecution in the late eighties Soviet Union, and his later return to Austria and Eastern Europe as an American adult to track down those who helped his family escape and thank them.

subjects: Jewish refugees,  Russian Jews,  Biography,  Jews, russian,  United states, emigration and immigration,  New York Times reviewed,  Juifs russes,  Biographies,  Réfugiés juifs

People: Lev Golinkin

Places: Ukraine,  United States,  Kharkiv