In Lubianka's Shadow: The Memoirs of an American Priest in Stalin's Moscow, 1934-1945 Book

In Lubianka's Shadow chronicles the extraordinary life of a young American Catholic priest, Father Léopold Braun, who, as pastor of a Catholic church near the Lubianka political prison in the heart of Moscow, witnessed Stalin's purges, the Soviet government's campaign against organized religion, and the destruction of World War II. These memoirs, recently discovered in the archive of Father Braun's Assumptionist order by Soviet scholar G. M. Hamburg, offer an intimate account of Father Braun's valiant effort to uphold Christian worship in the only Catholic church allowed to operate in Stalin's 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 Français Church at a moment when Stalin's anti-religious campaign was reaching a crescendo. He describes the Soviet government's intimidation and arrest of his parishioners, police surveillance of the church building, and personal harassment designed to force him out of the country. Father Braun's responses to these pressures?sometimes amusing, sometimes heart-rending, but always intelligent and soulful?tell us much about the capacity of ordinary people to respond to extraordinary circumstances. Braun also gives us a touching perspective on the harsh daily lives of Muscovites. 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 Hamburg, who reveals additional details of Soviet religious and political life.Read More