Synopses & Reviews
"Jeffrey Veidlinger relates a fascinating and little-known piece of history.... [He] distills a remarkable amount of research into a pithy, well-turned account that will interest readers of cultural and political history." --Publishers Weekly
Drawing from newly available archives, Jeffrey Veidlinger uses the dramatic story of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater, the premiere secular Jewish cultural institution of the Soviet era, to demonstrate how Jewish writers and artists were able to promote Jewish national culture within the confines of Soviet nationality policies.
Published with the generous support of the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation.
Review
"" -- Indiana University Press Indiana University Press
Synopsis
An award-winning history of the rise and fall of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater
Synopsis
Drawing from newly available archives, Jeffrey Veidlinger uses the dramatic story of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater, the premiere secular Jewish cultural institution of the Soviet era, to demonstrate how Jewish writers and artists were able to promote Jewish national culture within the confines of Soviet nationality policies. Published with the generous support of the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation.
Synopsis
The Moscow State Yiddish Theater
Jewish Culture on the Soviet Stage
Jeffrey Veidlinger
The first history in English of the rise and fall of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater.
A product of in-depth research in Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, and English, The Moscow State Yiddish Theater] not only furthers our knowledge of the Yiddish theater in the Soviet Union, but it also deepens and revises our understanding of the Kremlin's policy toward Jewish society and culture from 1919 to the early 1950s." --Robert Weinberg
The book] is written with great clarity, the argument is demonstrated with great logic, and its evidentiary underpinnings are very solid.... a model of its kind." --R gine Robin-Maire
This is the first book in English to trace the fascinating and tragic history of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater, founded in 1919 and liquidated by the Soviet government in 1949. Since the conventional view of the fate of Jews in Soviet Russia is that from the beginning, the Soviet state pursued policies aimed at stamping out Jewish culture, it is surprising to learn that from the 1920s through World War II, secular Yiddish culture was actively promoted and Yiddish cultural institutions thrived, supported by the Soviet government, albeit for its own propaganda purposes. Drawing from newly available archives, Jeffrey Veidlinger uses the dramatic story of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater, the premiere secular Jewish cultural institution of the Soviet era, to demonstrate how Jewish writers and artists were able to promote Jewish national culture within the confines of Soviet nationality policies. He shows how a stellar group of artists, writers, choreographers, directors, and actors brought to life shtetl fables, biblical heroes, Israelite lore, exilic laments, and dilemmas of contemporary life under the guise of conventional socialist realism before the theater and many of its principal figures fell victim to Stalinist antisemitism and xenophobia aft
About the Author
Jeffrey Veidlinger is Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies and Associate Director of the Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note on Transliteration and Translation
Introduction: Soviet Jewish Culture or Soviet Culture in Yiddish?
1. "Let's Perform a Miracle": The Creation of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater
2. Comrades from the Center: State, Party, and Stage
3. Wandering Stars: Tour and Reconstruction
4. The Court Is in Session: Judgment Postponed
5. Where Are the Maccabees?: The Heroic Past
6. One Generation Passes Away: The Great Terror
7. Brother Jews: Mikhoels and the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
8. Our People Live: The Yiddish Theater during World War II
9. This Is a Bad Omen: The Last Act
Conclusion: The Moscow State Yiddish Theater
Notes
Bibliography
Index