Here Where We Live Is Our Country

A vivid, human and radical history of one of the most powerful revolutionary movements of the twentieth century - told through the lives and in the voices of countless forgotten men and women

‘A gripping, human story of love, idealism and betrayal - and an immense, rigorous contribution to the historical record. Reading it feels revolutionary’ Naomi Klein

Here Where Live Is Our Country is the story of a revolutionary movement – the Jewish Bund – which played a part in nearly every major conflict in Eastern Europe from 1900-1945, but still remains an almost unknown part of twentieth-century history.

The movement’s central philosophy of “herenes” – the belief that Jews had a right to freedom and dignity in the countries where they lived – led them to fight the Tsar, reject Zionism, resist the Nazis, and ultimately help lead the Warsaw ghetto revolt. It is also a philosophy that immediately resonates with the political situation all over the world today.

In this book, Molly Crabapple tells the story of the Bund through the lives of the bold and brilliant individuals who were pivotal to carrying out the doctrine, including her own great-grandfather, through whom she first discovered the movement.