Yasha

In this bonus episode, host Jeremy Gendelman sits down with Buzzsprout to talk about how a 2008 camcorder interview with his grandfather became a narrative documentary podcast. Learn what spurred him to rediscover the recordings more than a decade later, what went into transforming his family history into narrative audio, and how other independent creators can use podcasting to tell a story they care about.

Learn more about the show and Yasha's story at www.yashashow.com. Part II is coming soon. Follow the show so you don’t miss it.

EPISODE 5 -- Yasha’s family shelters in an abandoned circus while enduring hard labor in the dead of winter. When his mother resolves to leave once more, another arduous journey is punctuated by the unexpected kindness of strangers and the harsh new realities that lay ahead.

Learn more about the show and Yasha's story at www.yashashow.com, or follow us on Instagram and Facebook @yashapodcast. If you're enjoying the series, a rating or review helps others discover it.

Written and produced by Jeremy Gendelman, with sound design by Carter Wogahn.

Questions or your own family story to share? Reach out at [email protected].

EPISODE 4 -- As the Nazis close in on the Caucasus, Yasha’s family joins thousands of evacuees at the Caspian Sea before enduring a harrowing three-month transport north. Stripped of their passports and packed into cattle cars, they grapple with hunger, separation, and their own humanity on their way to the frozen Urals.

Learn more about the show and Yasha's story at www.yashashow.com, or follow us on Instagram and Facebook @yashapodcast. If you're enjoying the series, a rating or review helps others discover it.

Written and produced by Jeremy Gendelman, with sound design by Carter Wogahn.

Questions or your own family story to share? Reach out at [email protected].

EPISODE 3 -- Displaced to a Soviet collective farm in the Caucasus, eleven-year-old Yasha is forced into farm labor while we contend with the absurdities of Stalin’s “utopian” system. When the family breaks from the farm in search of autonomy, Yasha confronts both culture shock and the reality that nowhere is safe.

Learn more about the show and Yasha's story at www.yashashow.com, or follow us on Instagram and Facebook @yashapodcast. If you're enjoying the series, a rating or review helps others discover it.

Written and produced by Jeremy Gendelman, with sound design by Carter Wogahn.

Questions or your own family story to share? Reach out at [email protected].

EPISODE 2 -- Reunited with his family in Petrikov, Yasha witnesses the power of rumors — Nazi massacres that compel his mother to choose to flee by barge down the Pripyat River. As their exodus begins, the last echoes of home are overshadowed by German bombers and the brutality that would soon consume those left behind.

Learn more about the show and Yasha's story at www.yashashow.com, or follow us on Instagram and Facebook @yashapodcast. If you're enjoying the series, a rating or review helps others discover it.

Written and produced by Jeremy Gendelman, with sound design by Carter Wogahn.

Questions or your own family story to share? Reach out at [email protected].

EPISODE 1 -- Jeremy introduces his grandfather, Yasha, and his childhood in 1930s Belarus shaped by Stalin’s famine and the sudden death of his father. We witness the moment Hitler’s invasion reaches Yasha’s world, forcing him from the streets into the forest where, briefly, the chaos of war gives way to the fragile innocence of childhood.

Learn more about the show and Yasha's story at www.yashashow.com, or follow us on Instagram and Facebook @yashapodcast. If you're enjoying the series, a rating or review helps others discover it.

Written and produced by Jeremy Gendelman, with sound design by Carter Wogahn.

Questions or your own family story to share? Reach out at [email protected].

TRAILER -- When Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union during World War II, eleven-year-old Yasha and his Jewish family must flee to survive. Built from testimony recorded by his grandson on an old camcorder, Yasha brings to life a childhood in the shadow of Hitler and Stalin, where growing up meant never standing still.

Follow the limited series podcast today. All five episodes of Part I premiere September 1st. Written and produced by Jeremy Gendelman, with sound design by Carter Wogahn.

Learn more about the show and Yasha's story at www.yashashow.com, or follow us on Instagram and Facebook @yashapodcast.