historical background

UNDER JAKOB'S LADDER is based on historical events. The movie is set in 1940 in the early days of the Soviet Union. It looks at how communism impacted real-life families, like that of Jakob Seel in Ukraine. Here are the historical events that lead up to Jakob's story... Timeline... 1763 - Catherine the Great of Russia invites Germans to settle in the Russian Empire. Jakob's ancestors would come as part of the mass migration in the years that followed (most likely c.1804 when her grandson Alexander I invited settlers to Ukraine; they eventually settled near the Dnieper River, south of the city of Dnepropetrovsk.) 1871 - October 29 - Jakob Seel is born (in Ukraine) 1879 - Louise Muench is born 1894 - Nicholas II becomes tsar of Russia. c.1900 - Jakob and Louise are married. 1903 - Trans-Siberian Railroad completed.   - Social Democratic Party splits into Bolsheviks (Reds) and Mensheviks (Whites).   - October - Daughter Rahel is born. 1905 - "Bloody Sunday" in St. Petersburg brings political turmoil to Russia.   - Tsar issues October Manifesto, which promised constitutional change.   - the Duma (elected parliament) is established. 1914 - August 1 - Beginning of World War I - Germany declares war on Russia.   - Jakob becomes secretary to a Russian officer somewhere around this time. 1915 - Tsar takes charge of army as commander-in-chief.   - Tsarina Alexandra is in charge of governing the homefront. 1917 - First Revolution forces the Tsar to abdicate.   - The Provisional Government is set up under Kerensky   - November - The Bolsheviks (the Reds) take over Petrograd   - Lenin establishes the Cheka (the secret police, later called the KGB). 1918 - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed with Germans to get Russia out of WWI.   - July - Tsar Nicholas and his family are executed.   - Civil War begins between the Reds (Bolsheviks) and the Whites (coalition of     royalists and those who supported the parliamentary government from 1917).   - Ukraine declares its independence from Russia. 1921 - The Civil War ends. The Reds are victorious under Lenin.   - New Economic Policy (NEP) is the re-introduction by Lenin of limited and     private trading that followed the Civil War.   - Famine spreads across Russia.   - Lenin’s health deteriorates.   - Communist Army takes control over Ukraine to become part of Soviet Union 1923 - February - Rahel is married.   - December - Grandson Emil is born. 1924 - January 21 - Lenin dies at age 53. c.1927 - Jakob is forced out of his teaching position. 1927 - May - Granddaughter Marta is born.   - Stalin rises to power as new leader of Soviet Union. 1928 - Stalin introduces the 5-Year Plan. c.1929 - Jakob and family are prevented from leaving to immigrate to Canada. 1929 - Stalin enforces collective farming. Ukrainians are not happy with this. 1932 - Holodomor (Forced Famine)   - Fall - Stalin orders grain withheld from Ukrainians to break their independent spirit   - Jakob and family live through this time of starvation. 1934 - Secret Police now called NKVD. 1937-1938 - "The Great Terror"   - The NKVD (the Secret Police) make many arrests of supposed "Enemies of     the People".   - Jakob finds himself in prison due to this climate of fear (in 1938).   - The official Soviet records note that 1,575,259 people were arrested during     these two years.  1939 - Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Germany and Russia.   - World War 2 begins.
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