The Short Life of Soviet Yiddish Literature

This interdisciplinary cooperation »The Short Life of Soviet Yiddish Literature« researches Yiddish literature in the Soviet Union between 1917 and the 1970s. The focus lies on poets and writers who were engaged both personally and artistically in the tensions between tradition and modernity, Jewish belonging and the affirmation of the creation of a »new« Soviet human. Their life stories and works are here explored against the backdrop of revolution, civil war, and emigration, as well as the experience of Stalinism and the Holocaust. Questions of belonging, attempts at social homogenization, and the relationship between universalism and particularism promise new insights not just into Eastern European history and its Jewries, but also into present-day challenges regarding globalized diaspora and migratory experiences.

The project's point of departure is the secret trial that was held against the leading members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. In the so-called »Night of the Murdered Poets« on the eve of 13 August 1952, the writers Perets Markish (1895–1952), Dovid Hofshteyn (1889–1952), Itsik Fefer (1900–1952), Leyb Kvitko (1890?–1952), and Dovid Bergelson (1884–1952) were executed by firing squad. These men represented some of the most prominent exponents of Yiddish literature in the Soviet Union, who were initially supported but from the late 1920s onward were regarded with increasing skepticism.

This project analyzes the complex conditions of the emergence and trajectories of development of Yiddish literature in the Soviet Union through an interdisciplinary and multi-perspectival approach. The specialist cooperation partners are working on altogether five sub-projects in close collaboration with one another.

At the Dubnow Institute, these include

a collective biography of the five writers named above as well as
a case study of the 1943 world tour of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.

At the Professorship for Slavic Jewish Studies at the University of Regensburg, these include

the preparation of a bilingual edition of key translated works by the authors murdered in 1952 and
an analysis of Perets Markish's literary engagements with violence against Jews.

At the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung (ZfL) in Berlin, these include

a study of changing understandings of Jewish national belongings and the history of Yiddish-speaking Soviet writers.

This research project is being funded for a period of three years by the funding program »Leibniz Cooperative Excellence« of the Leibniz Competition 2020.

Project Manager
Prof. Dr. Yfaat Weiss

Scholarly Responsibility
Prof. Dr. Yfaat Weiss (DI)
Prof. Dr. Jan Gerber (DI)
Prof. Dr. Sabine Koller (UR)
Dr. Matthias Schwartz (ZfL)

Coordination
Dr. Brett Winestock (DI)

Members of the Project Group
Dr. Brett Winestock (DI)
Dr. Jakob Stürmann (DI)
Dr. Alexandra Polyan (UR)
Irina Kissin (ZfL)

The World Tour of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
A Case Study of the Notion of Jewish Unity

Dr. Jakob Stürmann

The Murdered Poets: A Collective Biography

Dr. Brett Winestock (affiliated)

Research Projects of the Cooperation Partners

Jiddische Literatur in der Sowjetunion: Dichtung und Prosa, 1917–1952 (Edition)
Prof. Dr. Sabine Koller, Dr. Aleksandra Polyan (UR)

Die Wiederkehr der Gewalt: Der Fall Perets Markish
Dr. Alexandra Polyan (UR)

Historische Narrative in den Werken sowjetisch-jiddischer Schriftsteller
Irina Kissin (ZfL)

Cooperation Partners

Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung (ZfL), Berlin
Professorship for Slavic Jewish Studies at the University of Regensburg (UR)

Publications published as part of the project

Titelblatt des Buches, mit einer Schwarz-Weiß-Fotogrfiens eines Mannes, der ein Kind im Arm hält

Dovid Bergelson, »Die Welt möge Zeuge sein«. Erzählungen
ed. by Sabine Koller und Alexandra Polyan
Aus dem Jiddischen von Peter Comans u. a.
Berlin: Jüdischer Verlag 2023

Dovid Bergelson, 1884 in Ochrimowo in der heutigen Ukraine geboren, prägte über vier Jahrzehnte die moderne jiddische Literatur. Ob in Kiew, Berlin, New York oder Moskau – Bergelsons literarische Stimme wurde gehört. Er gilt als Erneuerer der jiddischen Prosa zwischen Moderne und Sozialistischem Realismus, bis mit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg und der versuchten Judenvernichtung Bergelsons Schreiben schließlich eine neue, existenzielle Dimension erreichte. Am 12. August 1952 wurde Dovid Bergelson in der sogenannten »Nacht der ermordeten Dichter« in Moskau hingerichtet. Der vorliegende Band versammelt erstmalig ausgewählte Prosa sowie einen Dramenausschnitt aus Dovid Bergelsons umfänglichem Schaffen. Ergänzt sind die Texte um einen Anmerkungsapparat, ein Glossar und ein ausführliches Nachwort zum Leben und Werk Dovid Bergelsons.

Further information

Reviews:

Jakob Hessing, Dichter ohne Zukunft. Ein aus der Not geborenes Werk: Dovid Bergelsons Erzählungen, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 14. Oktober 2023.

Alexander Kluy, Schtetl, Stalin, Agonie, in: Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung, 28. Mai 2023.

Judith Leister, Dovid Bergelson - "Die Welt möge Zeuge sein.", in: SR Kulturradio, 24. Mai 2023.

Titelblatt des Buches, lila mit weißer Schrift

Jakob Stürmann, Mission »Eynikayt«. Die Welttournee des Jüdischen Antifaschistischen Komitees 1943
toldot. Essays on Jewish History and Culture, Vol. 16
Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2024

In the face of the Holocaust and the German war of annihilation in Eastern Europe, a remarkable world tour took place in 1943: At the behest of the Jewish Antifascist Committee, the actor Solomon Mikhoels and the poet Itsik Fefer visited dozens of places in North America and the United Kingdom. The two Soviet delegates took the stage at large events and were received by prominent individuals such as Albert Einstein, Sholem Asch, and Nahum Goldmann. During this unique mission, they sought to mobilize Jewish unity against National Socialism and to garner support for the Soviet Union. Proceeding from this »Eynikayt« mission, this study discusses the visions and contradictions arising from this extraordinary world tour conducted in 1943, in between two Stalinist waves of terror.

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Events

Yiddish and Translation: Linguistic, Cultural and Political Aspects (the Soviet Case and Beyond)
27 to 29 September 2023, University of Regensburg

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Conference
»What Is on Trial Here Is the Yiddish Language«: The Making and Unmaking of Soviet Yiddish Literature
27 to 29 June 2022, Literaturhaus Leipzig e. V. / Haus des Buches

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