The Yiddish Policemen's Union

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union grounds its alternate history in real historical proposals for Jewish resettlement, imagining how different historical circumstances might have reshaped the social conditions of its characters. Chabon’s inspiration for the novel came from a Yiddish phrasebook, which led him to imagine a country in which the citizens spoke Yiddish. He also drew inspiration from the historical proposal to create a Jewish refugee settlement in Alaska during World War II. Known as the Slattery Report, it was formally titled The Problem of Alaskan Development.

Produced between 1939 and 1940, the Slattery Report was devised in response to escalating violence conducted by Nazi Germany against European Jews, most notably the Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass pogrom of 1938. United States Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes proposed opening four designated zones in Alaska that corresponded to Sitka to Jewish refugees from Austria and Germany. Since Alaska was not yet a state at the time, Ickes argued that he could modify immigration quotas to allow refugee passage into the territory. Beyond the plan’s humanitarian aims, it was also seen as an opportunity to bolster the fledgling economy of Alaska, as well as strengthen its defense against Imperial Japan.

The Slattery Report was introduced in Congress as a bill but faced strong opposition from lawmakers and lobbyists alike.