MANDELBAUM FAMILY LECTURE SERIES: Why Jewish Women Plotted to Assassinate the Czar in Russia in 1881 with Deborah Hertz

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 | 10:30 am
Coronado Public Library
640 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118

On March 1, 1881, a small band of radicals, including several Jewish activists, assassinated Czar Alexander II of Russia. Gesia Gelfman, then a 26 year old recruit, was one of the leading figures in the plot. In this talk Deborah Hertz brings Gesia Gelfman to life, exploring her upbringing in a wealthy family and her decision to run away from family and hometown the night before an arranged marriage. Her life story illuminates the quandary of semi-educated young women in Russia at the close of the nineteenth century and how joining a dangerous left sect seemed to them more attractive than the traditional wife and mother roles in Jewish society at the time..

Price: Free

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