Gennady Estraikh
New York University, Arts and Humanities, Faculty Member
- Professor, Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York Universityedit
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The article focuses on the rise and demise of Chaim Gildin (1883/4-1943), one of the most vociferous Soviet Yiddish writers, a pioneer of proletarian poetry and prose. It is also aimed at providing a broader perspective on the perilous... more
The article focuses on the rise and demise of Chaim Gildin (1883/4-1943), one of the most vociferous Soviet Yiddish writers, a pioneer of proletarian poetry and prose. It is also aimed at providing a broader perspective on the perilous Soviet Yiddish literary terrain, especially during the Stalinist repressions. In 1936, Gildin lost his Communist Party membership but was spared from arrest. Nevertheless, the secret police came after him in 1940, generally considered as a "quiet year. " His attempts to organize a collective protest-to compel the authorities to reverse the process of closing down Yiddish institutions-might have played a fatal role in his fate. It seems that Yiddish writers of proletarian persuasion generally tended to be more prone to activism than their former "bourgeois" counterparts, and this-rather than their writings-made them more vulnerable during the purges aimed to make the population fully obedient. Although Gildin' s secret police file is full of diligently collected information about his "harmful" prose and poetry, his oeuvre clearly played a secondary role in the decision to prosecute him. It seems that this was the pattern for the entire period of Stalinist repressions: while Yiddish literati were not prosecuted specifically for literary motives, investigators would pay much attention to their writings, whose ideological "defects" helped them to make the indictment look more convincing.
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... 7 although Yiddishism was something of a dirty word among Communists who condemned too much attention to Yiddish as a ... In various countries such as argentina, australia, Belgium, Brazil, denmark, France, germany, great Britain,... more
... 7 although Yiddishism was something of a dirty word among Communists who condemned too much attention to Yiddish as a ... In various countries such as argentina, australia, Belgium, Brazil, denmark, France, germany, great Britain, Holland, latvia, lithuania, South africa ...
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By 1945, Soviet Yiddish literary circles grouped around the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC) and the Yiddish sections at the Writers Union. In the 1940s, the poets, prose writers, and literary critics had several publishing outlets,... more
By 1945, Soviet Yiddish literary circles grouped around the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC) and the Yiddish sections at the Writers Union. In the 1940s, the poets, prose writers, and literary critics had several publishing
outlets, most notably the Moscow newspaper Eynikayt (Unity, 1942–1948), two literary periodicals—Heymland (Homeland, 1947–1948) in Moscow and Shtern (Star, 1947–1948) in Kyiv—and the Moscow publishing house Der
Emes (Truth, 1928–1948). Four Yiddish state theatres and other professional and amateur troupes performed works by Soviet and other authors. These all came to an end in 1948–1950, when the Soviet authorities liquidated the
entire infrastructure of Yiddish cultural, including literary, life. Scores of Yiddish literati were incarcerated on spurious sedition charges as part of repressions in the last years of Joseph Stalin’s rule. On August 12, 1952, five
leading writers—David Bergelson, Itsik Fefer, David Hofshteyn, Leyb Kvitko, and Peretz Markish—were among the executed figures of the JAFC. Following Stalin’s death in 1953, the surviving writers could return to “normality,” but Yiddish publishing was renewed as late as 1959. The Moscow journal Sovetish Heymland (Soviet Homeland), launched in 1961, became the center for Yiddish literary activity during the last three decades of the Soviet era. In the heyday of the Cold War, the journal, a forum for a broad variety of publications, was nevertheless better known as an instrument of Soviet propaganda than as a Yiddish literary periodical. Its editor, Aron Vergelis, whose anti-Zionist writings had eclipsed his poetry, acted as a globe-trotting champion of Soviet policies. Meanwhile, the journal, staffed by writers and editors of the older generation, trained a group of authors born after the Nazi Holocaust.
outlets, most notably the Moscow newspaper Eynikayt (Unity, 1942–1948), two literary periodicals—Heymland (Homeland, 1947–1948) in Moscow and Shtern (Star, 1947–1948) in Kyiv—and the Moscow publishing house Der
Emes (Truth, 1928–1948). Four Yiddish state theatres and other professional and amateur troupes performed works by Soviet and other authors. These all came to an end in 1948–1950, when the Soviet authorities liquidated the
entire infrastructure of Yiddish cultural, including literary, life. Scores of Yiddish literati were incarcerated on spurious sedition charges as part of repressions in the last years of Joseph Stalin’s rule. On August 12, 1952, five
leading writers—David Bergelson, Itsik Fefer, David Hofshteyn, Leyb Kvitko, and Peretz Markish—were among the executed figures of the JAFC. Following Stalin’s death in 1953, the surviving writers could return to “normality,” but Yiddish publishing was renewed as late as 1959. The Moscow journal Sovetish Heymland (Soviet Homeland), launched in 1961, became the center for Yiddish literary activity during the last three decades of the Soviet era. In the heyday of the Cold War, the journal, a forum for a broad variety of publications, was nevertheless better known as an instrument of Soviet propaganda than as a Yiddish literary periodical. Its editor, Aron Vergelis, whose anti-Zionist writings had eclipsed his poetry, acted as a globe-trotting champion of Soviet policies. Meanwhile, the journal, staffed by writers and editors of the older generation, trained a group of authors born after the Nazi Holocaust.
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On March 28, 1928, the Central Executive Committee, which acted as the country's governing body in the interims of the sessions of the All-Union Congress of Soviets, constitutionally the highest organ of state power, announced its... more
On March 28, 1928, the Central Executive Committee, which acted as the country's governing body in the interims of the sessions of the All-Union Congress of Soviets, constitutionally the highest organ of state power, announced its decision to start a campaign of Jewish resettlement to the Russian Far East.
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This article focuses on two journalists who in the early 1930s wrote in the Yiddish-language newspaper Forverts (Forward) about the famine on 1932-33 in Ukraine. Both Mendel Osherowitch and Harry (Herts) Lang were born in the Russian... more
This article focuses on two journalists who in the early 1930s wrote in the Yiddish-language newspaper Forverts (Forward) about the famine on 1932-33 in Ukraine. Both Mendel Osherowitch and Harry (Herts) Lang were born in the Russian empire and emigrated to the United States as young men. Forverts was established in 1897 as a voice of the socialist labour movement and later became a bitter critic of the Soviet regime and of communism. The majority of Forverts readers were immigrants from the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union was a focus of its coverage. Osherowitch in the spring of 1932 and Lang in the fall of 1933 traveled to Ukraine during trips to the USSR. While the life of Soviet Jews was their primary interest, both described starvation in the villages of Ukraine. Osherowitch's articles were serialized in Forverts from April to August 1932 and appeared in book form in January 1933. Lang's account was published in twenty-five instalments in the winter of 1932-33. It would cause a stir in April 1935 after being reprinted in English translation in revised form in the New York Evening Journal, whose publisher, William Randolph Hearst, sought to use these revelations to attack Roosevelt's policy.
https://uamoderna.com/arkhiv/30-2021-dokumentuvannya-golodomoru-1932-1933-v-ukraini-arxivni-kolekczii-za-mezhami-radyanskogo-soyuzu
https://uamoderna.com/arkhiv/30-2021-dokumentuvannya-golodomoru-1932-1933-v-ukraini-arxivni-kolekczii-za-mezhami-radyanskogo-soyuzu
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A strict ban on organized Jewish activities apart from those of a limited number of religious bodies, coupled with the state monopoly on all publishing, simplified the Soviet Union's control over Holocaust-related publication. The... more
A strict ban on organized Jewish activities apart from those of a limited number of religious bodies, coupled with the state monopoly on all publishing, simplified the Soviet Union's control over Holocaust-related publication. The appearance of any such work was an idiosyncratic event, associated with concurrent political and cultural contexts and official agendas. The relatively liberal climate of the first post-Stalinist decade raised the possibility of such events. Soviet publication of both the diary of Anne Frank and Masha Rolnikaite's I Must Tell reflected in part foreign policy considerations, but each played a rather different role in the Soviet cultural sphere. Anne Frank's diary-not reprinted for three decades-would be referred to as, and possibly read only as, an important anti-fascist narrative with distant relevance to wartime events in the Soviet Union. Masha Rolnikaite (Rolnik), a survivor of the Vilnius ghetto, would become a widely published belletrist "Soviet Anne Frank.
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1. Yiddish in late Imperial Russia 2. Yiddish proletarian language 3. Language-planning of the 1930s 4. Soviet Yiddish in the 1940s80s 5. Soviet Yiddish orthography 6. Soviet Yiddish word-formation Conclusion Bibliography Index of Yiddish... more
1. Yiddish in late Imperial Russia 2. Yiddish proletarian language 3. Language-planning of the 1930s 4. Soviet Yiddish in the 1940s80s 5. Soviet Yiddish orthography 6. Soviet Yiddish word-formation Conclusion Bibliography Index of Yiddish lexical items Index of names and subjects
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Soviet ideological overseers did not consider the Warsaw Ghetto uprising an utterly taboo topic. However, on their general scale of notable events of the Second World War, the uprising belonged to the category of relatively minor... more
Soviet ideological overseers did not consider the Warsaw Ghetto uprising an utterly taboo topic. However, on their general scale of notable events of the Second World War, the uprising belonged to the category of relatively minor episodes, worth mentioning mainly in the context of 'more important' themes, such as the presence of former Nazis in state institutions of West Germany or the collaboration of some Jews, most notably Zionists, with the Nazis. At the same time, the Soviet Yiddish periodicals, fi rst Eynikayt [Unity, 1942-8] and then Sovetish Heymland [Soviet Homeland, 1961-91] did not treat the uprising as an event of secondary importance. Instead, they emphasise the heroism of the ghetto fi ghters.
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Front matter of Vol 31 Jewish culture places a great deal of emphasis on texts and their means of transmission. At various points in Jewish history, the primary mode of transmission has changed in response to political, geographical,... more
Front matter of Vol 31
Jewish culture places a great deal of emphasis on texts and their means of transmission. At various points in Jewish history, the primary mode of transmission has changed in response to political, geographical, technological, and cultural shifts. Contemporary textual transmission in Jewish culture has been influenced by secularization, the return to Hebrew and the emergence of modern Yiddish, and the new centers of Jewish life in the United States and in Israel, as well as by advancements in print technology and the invention of the Internet. Volume XXXI of Studies in Contemporary Jewry deals with various aspects of textual transmission in Jewish culture in the last two centuries.
Jewish culture places a great deal of emphasis on texts and their means of transmission. At various points in Jewish history, the primary mode of transmission has changed in response to political, geographical, technological, and cultural shifts. Contemporary textual transmission in Jewish culture has been influenced by secularization, the return to Hebrew and the emergence of modern Yiddish, and the new centers of Jewish life in the United States and in Israel, as well as by advancements in print technology and the invention of the Internet. Volume XXXI of Studies in Contemporary Jewry deals with various aspects of textual transmission in Jewish culture in the last two centuries.
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Written by historians, political scientists and activists from a number of countries, the collection of papers in this book deals with the many different ways in which the Jewish Left has contested Zionism and the State of Israel. The... more
Written by historians, political scientists and activists from a number of countries, the collection of papers in this book deals with the many different ways in which the Jewish Left has contested Zionism and the State of Israel.
The book includes articles which illustrate how Zionism has been criticised by Communists, Trotskyists, Bundists, anarchists and other leftist radicals. These political trends were all minority currents in Jewish communities, and so too in Israel as well.
The decline over time of Jewish left anti-Zionism does not justify coming to a verdict on whether its rich traditions have already reached the limits of their power to inspire new generations of activists and thinkers in Jewish communities, or whether it will eventually decline into nothingness. Reaching a verdict on this question becomes even more difficult given that, despite the current weakness of Jewish left anti-Zionist organisations, it is precisely the intellectual tradition of those organisations that has dominated the way in which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perceived by considerable segments of the international anti-globalisation movement and by organisations and movements to the left of the mainstream social-democratic parties.
The book includes articles which illustrate how Zionism has been criticised by Communists, Trotskyists, Bundists, anarchists and other leftist radicals. These political trends were all minority currents in Jewish communities, and so too in Israel as well.
The decline over time of Jewish left anti-Zionism does not justify coming to a verdict on whether its rich traditions have already reached the limits of their power to inspire new generations of activists and thinkers in Jewish communities, or whether it will eventually decline into nothingness. Reaching a verdict on this question becomes even more difficult given that, despite the current weakness of Jewish left anti-Zionist organisations, it is precisely the intellectual tradition of those organisations that has dominated the way in which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perceived by considerable segments of the international anti-globalisation movement and by organisations and movements to the left of the mainstream social-democratic parties.
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Slavic Review 77.1 2018