(2020). Introduction: Looking Back Towards the Future: Fifty Years of Soviet Jewish Affairs/East European Jewish Affairs. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 273-274.

(2020). Fifty Years After the Refusenik Movement: How Post-Soviet Jews Have Proven Triumphant. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 275-280.

(2020). US Cold War Immigration Policy, Human Rights, and the Soviet Jewry Movement: Reflections on William Korey’s “The Right to Leave for Soviet Jews – Legal and Moral Aspects.”. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 281-283.

(2020). Commentary on William Korey’s “the ‘Right to Leave’ for Soviet Jews: Legal and Moral Aspects”. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 284-286.

(2020). William Korey’s “The Right to Leave for Soviet Jews: The Legal and Moral Aspects”. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 287-288.

(2020). Taking Yiddish to Court. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 289-291.

ABSTRACT The article focuses on the repressions against Minsk Yiddish writers in 1936-41 and analyzes them in context of, first, the status of Yiddish in Soviet Belorussia and, second, the general policy of purges under the Stalinist regime. The majority of the arrests and executions took place during the final months of 1937. However, also in 1941, on the eve of the Soviet-German phase of World War

(2020). Notes on East European Jewish Studies thirty years after 1989. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 309-311.

(2020). Fifty Years Later: A Response to Rene Beermann, “The 1970–71 Soviet Trials of Zionists: Some Legal Aspects”. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 312-314.

(2020). In Conversation with Borya Penson. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 315-321.

(2020). Stepchildren of the Shtetl: The Destitute, Disabled, and Mad of Jewish Eastern Europe, 1800–1939. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 339-341.

(2020). Židé v českých zemích po šoa: identita poraněné paměti (Jews in the Bohemian Lands after the Shoah: The Identity of Wounded Memory) East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 341-344.

(2020). The Jewish revolution in Belorussia: economy, race, and Bolshevik power. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 344-346.

(2020). Russian Language Listings Compiled by Alexander Ivanov, Center “Petersburg Judaica” at European University-St. Petersburg Russia. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 346-353.

(2020). Listings. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 354-360.

(2020). In Memoriam: David Sheer z”l. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 361-362.

(2020). EEJA in Action: Excerpt from Sh. An-sky’s In shtrom, pages 54–56. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, Yiddish in the City, pp. 21-23.

(2020). EEJA in Action: “The Development of the Jewish People Over the Last 100 Years” by Yakov Leshchinsky. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, Yiddish in the City, pp. 157-242.

(2020). Hasidic art and the Kabbalah. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, Yiddish in the City, pp. 244-246.

(2020). Hasidic Commentary on the Torah. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, Yiddish in the City, pp. 246-248.

(2020). Hasidism: key questions / Historical Atlas of Hasidism, cartography by Waldemar Spallek. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, Yiddish in the City, pp. 252-255.

(2020). How Should Hasidism be Studied? Contemporary Answers to an Old Question. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, Yiddish in the City, pp. 255-258.

(2020). Friedrich Feigl, 1884-1965. East European Jewish Affairs: Vol. 50, Yiddish in the City, pp. 263-266.

ABSTRACT Yiddish culture developed in Argentina within the context of a self-perception that figured Buenos Aires as a marginal and peripheral locale on the global Yiddish map. Against this backdrop, Argentine Yiddish culturalists argued for the strengthening of local Yiddish culture with a goal of elevating Buenos Aires's status within the international hierarchies of Yiddish culture. Buenos Aires

The untimely passing of Ada Rapoport-Albert in June 2020 coincides with a moment of renewed and intense debate about the historical nature of Hasidism, especially in light of recent developments in...

Against your will you live, and – against your will you’re a Jew! Bokvil (Bucksville/Foolsville) is a small town in the state of New Jersey, which has about 20,000 residents in all, according to th...

ABSTRACT A Yiddishist cultural organization, the Kultur-lige was founded in Kiev in 1918 on the principle of umparteyishkeyt (non-partisanship). After successfully working in several cultural fields, even in the midst of revolution and civil war in Ukraine, it was coopted by Soviet loyalists, so its leadership relocated to Warsaw. In a manifesto published there in Spring 1921, the organization announced

ABSTRACT The trajectory of Moyshe Kulbak's biography (1896–1937), drawing him from small town to big city, mirrors that of many in his generation. The image of the city in tension with that small town, or rather its replacement – nature – haunts so much of his greatest work. The urban dimension of Kulbak's work is both inescapable and tantalizingly complex. This essay analyzes the first of these works

There is hardly a student of Hasidism out there, whether in social or intellectual history, in literary or women’s studies, who has not encountered the work of Ada Rapoport-Albert (1945–2020). For ...

The 1991 publication of Maus, Art Spiegelman’s innovative and moving Holocaust story, revived the “ninth art,” as Claude Beylie described the comic book. Maus elevated graphic narratives from a low...

Writing about Ada Rapoport-Albert is humbling. Ada was a ground-breaking scholar, a devoted teacher, and a generous colleague who was loved by many and respected by all. She was also a person of pr...

In contrast to most national cultures, modern Yiddish culture came into being in geographically disconnected landscapes and without the support of a nation state. Recently, scholars have begun to t...

ABSTRACT The neglected-but-popular Yiddish humorist Tashrak (penname of Yisroel-Yoysef Zevin) offers not just an opportunity to discover understudied aspects of the Jewish urban experience and modern Yiddish culture, but also allows us to tap into a less refined level of beliefs, behavior, judgments and attitudes of Yiddish-speaking Jews in America. Tashrak wittily conveyed to his readers a comforting

ABSTRACT This article examines debates in Poland since the 1860s concerning Jews’ naming practices and attempts to resolve the practical and social problems they engendered. Polemics within the Jewish press in Poland, particularly in Warsaw’s Yiddish dailies, reveal competing conceptions of what constitutes an authentic and socially appropriate Jewish name. They also reflect changing perceptions of

ABSTRACT Scholars have long posited a connection between the emergence of Jewish historical consciousness and the “new Jewish politics” of the period 1881–1917. They have largely neglected, however, the many popular Yiddish-language histories that appeared during this time. These popular histories – nearly all of them printed in Warsaw and dedicated to the topic of “world history” – were sold in the

ABSTRACT In his novella In shtrom (In the Stream), Sh. An-sky depicts the complexities of the 1905 revolution for Jews through representation of the physical spaces of the city, especially the city park that becomes the central location for the workers' organizations. This article investigates how the novella uses representations of the “lived Jewish space” of the city park to further the cause of

The last several years have witnessed a flourishing of scholarship on Hasidism. As many readers of East European Jewish Affairs are already aware, one title in particular, Hasidism: A New History, ...

ABSTRACT The city of Kiev was an inexhaustible source of material for Sholem Aleichem’s prolific writings in various genres. The imaginary city of Yehupets functions in his writing as a transitional space between the traditional shtetl and the modern city. The insecurity of Jewish residence in the city created a sense of anxiety which is a defining feature of Sholem Aleichem’s characters and was partly

Due to the volume of materials published, brief summaries have been provided for selected scholarly titles, either copied from or based primarily upon texts by their publishers, followed by lists o...

The Jewish leadership in Romanian territories during World War II sought to change antisemitic legislation, stop deportations, and ensure the survival of the deportees in the camps and ghettos. Unf...

Jewish Sonderkommando's handwritten notes – found among the earth and ashes – are key documents of Holocaust history. But their degree of preservation is poor. Digital technology comes to the rescu...

ABSTRACT Jews, unlike Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Germans, did not pose a direct, irredentist threat to interwar Polish territorial integrity. They were not a territorially concentrated group with border revision claims against the Polish state, nor was a neighboring government prepared to intervene on their behalf. In this sense, Jews presented the least tangible threat to Polish national security

ABSTRACT This paper examines references to Jews in the texts produced within the framework of the Ruthenian (Ukrainian) national movement in Habsburg Galicia during the 1830s and 1840s. Looking at literary texts, journalism, correspondence, and minutes produced by the Ruthenian activists, the paper gauges them for “antisemitic sentiments.” This paper offers the first systematic study of antisemitism

ABSTRACT In 1967, after the defeat of Poland's Arab allies in the Six-Day War, Poland broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. The government of the Netherlands agreed to represent Israel's interests in Poland from 1967 to 1990. One of the most important duties in the initial period involved the protection of the Israeli ambassador under diplomatic immunity. The activities to be performed for Israel

A corner of the vanished world of Galician Jewry emerges from 104 postcards brought to America from Poland by the central figures of this family collection—Jacob and Matylda Schiff Sicherman. World War 1 is central to the story: Jacob served in the Austro-Hungarian army, while Matylda coped with two small children amid the uncertainties of war. Discussion of the cards' languages—German, Polish, Yiddish

ABSTRACT This article emphasizes Esperanto's imperial Russian origins as an essential frame for understanding the larger history of Esperanto and its creator, L. L. Zamenhof (1859–1917). Despite Esperanto's global popularity in the early twentieth century, historians have little explored the history of this international auxiliary language and the utopian philosophical principles that Zamenhof invested

ABSTRACT Debora Vogel (1900–1942) helped develop modernism in Lviv in the interwar period. As a philosopher and writer, she was able to make connections between the dominant Polish school of philosophical logic (the so-called Lviv-Warsaw School) and the artistic circles in Lviv, to which Bruno Schulz, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz and Leon Chwistek belonged. Inspired by Cubism and Surrealism, but also

[T]he Jews are waning in the collective historical sense; they are losing in many cases the daily aspect of practical life, a sense for the historical problems and duties of their birth society... Therefore, we Jews, as it is said, do not have an historical orientation and we have become, as pertains to our collective identity, the subject of endless philosophical and sociological investigation. We

Lenoe, Matthew. “Fear, Loathing, Conspiracy: The Kirov Murder as Impetus for Terror.” In The Anatomy of Terror: Political Violence Under Stalin, edited by James Harris, 195–215. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Petrov, N., and K. V. Skorkin. Kto rukovodil NKVD, 1934–1941: Spravochnik. Moscow: Zveni’ia, 1999. Pohl, Dieter. “The Holocaust in Ukraine: History, Historiography, and Memory.” In Stalin

ABSTRACT The article is concerned with three fictional works by the Soviet writer Masha Rol’nikaite: Tri vstrechi (Three Encounters, 1970), Privykni k svetu (Get Used to the Light, 1974), and Dolgoe molchanie (A Long Silence, 1981). It discusses how these texts fit within Soviet memorial culture of World War II. Rol’nikaite is used to illustrate the difficulties of commemorating the Holocaust in Soviet

ABSTRACT During World War II, literary translation provided one of the few ways in which Hebrew readers living in Mandatory Palestine could encounter “there,” war-torn Europe. From Zusman Segalovitsh’s There … to Avraham Shlonsky’s Poems of the Times, Hebrew translations of Yiddish poetry and prose grapple with the horrors of war and the legacy of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. These texts reveal conscious

ABSTRACT In July/August 1946, American psychologist David Pablo Boder visited displaced persons (DP) camps in France, Switzerland, and Germany, where he recorded audio-interviews with recent concentration camps inmates. In 1948, Boder proposed for publication a selection of interviews recorded verbatim, together with a brief historical survey and a detailed analysis of one of the interviews from his

ABSTRACT The article proposes a new approach to reconstructing post-Holocaust Soviet Jewish identity and culture through the concept of the Soviet Jewish bookshelf as the basis of Soviet Jews’ makeshift Jewish heritage. Using Michael Rothberg’s notion of “multidirectional memory,” it argues that the post-Holocaust tasks of bearing witness to the destruction and of preserving the Jewish remnant gave

ABSTRACT In 1938, nearly 200,000 Jews lived in Austria. Within four years, only about 7,000 Jews remained. One of those 7,000 was my grandmother, Rosa Weinberger. My grandfather was a non-Jewish resistance fighter, and together they had a son - my father, Peter - in 1943, born shortly after her family was transported to Auschwitz. My grandmother and my father survived the war hiding in Upper Austria

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on two collections of immediate post-Holocaust Yiddish songs: Mima’amakim: folkslider fun lagers un getos in poyln, compiled by Yehuda Eismann in Bucharest in April/May 1945, a copy of which recently appeared in a private collection in Sydney, Australia and song session recordings made by Dr. David Boder in displaced persons (DP) camps in 1946, archived in the United States

ABSTRACT The article explores a community that, in large part did not experience the atrocities of the Holocaust, but were nevertheless affected by it. The personal and communal impact of the Holocaust found its expression in a number of cultural ventures. Drawing on previously unused archival material from the Finnish Jewish Archives (found at the National Archives of Finland) and the YIVO Archives

The title of Gerben Zaagsma’s new book Jewish Volunteers, the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War hardly does justice to the scope of this work. His original and well researched study ...

ABSTRACT The trial of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAFC) lasted many days and resulted in eight volumes of transcripts. It was, in effect, an extended conversation between and among 15 – later 14 – defendants and the presiding judge, with a few minor contributions from the other two judges. This paper proposes to treat the language of that conversation as a linguistic phenomenon, looking for

ABSTRACT In this paper, I read the Yiddish author David Bergelson’s statements at his secret trial through the lens of his own earlier fiction about Soviet justice, especially his novel Judgment. I examine Bergelson’s self-fashioning as a Jewish writer and how he uses his own Jewish background as a justification for his failures as a Soviet person. I offer some contextualization of Bergelson’s statements

“invasion” and the establishment of the Yiddish language press in the Kingdom of Poland. The relationship between Poles and Jews was already aggravated and the Litvaks only became the scapegoats for both Poles and assimilated Jews who recognized that the assimilationist ideal had failed. The author’s most original contribution is centered on the question of the Litvaks’ identity during the discussed