Transnational Ashkenaz: Yiddish culture after the Holocaust

Authors

• Jan Schwarz Lund University, Sweden

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.66575

Keywords:

Judaism, Yiddish language, Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), Jewish literature, Yiddish literature

Abstract

After the Holocaust’s near complete destruction of European Yiddish cultural centres, the Yiddish language was largely viewed as a remnant of the past, tragically eradicated in its prime. This article reveals that, on the contrary, for two and a half decades following the Holocaust Yiddish culture was in dynamic flux. Yiddish writers and cultural organisations maintained a staggering level of activity in fostering publications and performances, collecting archival and historical materials, and launching young literary talents. This article provides a cultural historical map of a Yiddish transnational network that derived its unity from the common purpose of commemorating and bearing witness to the destruction of the Jewish heartland in Central and Eastern Europe.