The Yiddish Policemen's Union: An Analysis

Upon escaping the wrath of Hitler and the gruesome Nazi regime, the Jewish settlers who resettled in Alaska are faced with an all too similar situation, resettlement. Michael Chabon’s novel The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is the fictional story of a large Jewish community living in Sitka, Alaska and how they are told that control of their place of refuge is being shifted back to a group Native Americans. Combining elements of history such as the Cuban Revolution and the fall of the Berlin wall to World War II and the Holocaust, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union takes a fictional perspective of a major historical event. Fearing displacement and uncertainty after believing that their current situation was one of stability and security, the Jewish …show more content…
After decades of life under the security blanket of the United States and re-creation of lives that embrace their culture, the Jews of Sitka are shocked, scared, and nervous when they hear their new concrete lives are in jeopardy. Upon responding to the scene of a homicide, police detective Meyer Landsman saw a chessboard with an active game beside the victim. The chessboard’s significance is its relation to the reversion of control over the territory that the Jewish community lives on. Detective Landsman’s case that is underway to determine the murderer of the chess player is just as complex as a game of chess. Faced with little evidence leading him, detective Landsman’s case is just like the game of chess in that it is difficult to predict the opposing players next move, just like detective Landsman has little to base his next move in his investigation on. Having been almost completely exterminated after World War II and essentially kicked out of the state of Israel, the Jewish community of Sitka is traumatized by the thought of having to move again, after believing they finally had created a stable and secure life in Sitka, Alaska. As Detective Landsman investigates his homicide case, the path he follows