In Lubiankas Shadow

In Lubiankas Shadow chronicles the extraordinary life of a young American Catholic priest, Father Lopold Braun, who, as pastor of a small Catholic church near the Lubianka political prison in the heart of Moscow, witnessed Stalins purges, the Soviet governments campaign against organized religion, and the destruction of World War II. These memoirs, recently discovered in the archive of Fr. Bruans Assumptionist order by Soviet scholar Gary Hamburg, offer an intimate account of Fr. Brauns valiant effort to uphold Christian worship in the only Catholic church allowed to operate in Stalins Moscow. Posted to Moscow in 1934 as chaplain of the United States embassy, Father Braun served the embassy staff and local parishioners in the Saint Louis des Franais Church at a moment when Stalins anti-religious campaign was reaching a crescendo. He describes the Soviet governments intimidation and arrest of his parishioners, police surveillance of the church building, and personal harassment designed to force him out of the country. Father Brauns responses to these pressuressometimes amusing, sometimes heart-rending, but always intelligent and soulfultell us much about the capacity of ordinary people to respond to extraordinary circumstances. Under his pen, Soviet society comes alive, with its citizens poverty, cynicism, humor, and courage on full display. Accompanying the memoirs is an introductory, historical essay by G. M. Hamburg. In Lubiankas Shadow is required reading for anyone interested in modern Russian history and for those concerned about the survival of religious faith under political assault.