\nEurope between about 1890 and 1933. However, the heightened discrimination and
\nantisemitism in Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th
\ncentury, often accompanied by violent pogroms against Jewish people, made life
\nquite difficult for many of them. Despite this, there were quite a big number
\nof Yiddish theatre groups, especially in Poland, Hungary and what is now known
\nas the Czech Republic. These groups mostly staged Yiddish operas, operettas and
\ncabaret, but also did the occasional avant-garde performance, inspired mostly
\nby techniques developed by Stanislawski and Brecht. \u00a0One of the most interesting accounts of the
\nYiddish theatre communities in Eastern Europe that I want to highlight here comes
\nfrom the Czech-born German language author Franz Kafka, who, being Jewish
\nhimself, developed a keen interest in the Prague Yiddish theatre scene around
\n1911, when a small Yiddish theatre Company called the Lemberg Group did a
\nnumber of performances in the Caf\u00e9 Savoy (now the Katr Restaurant on V\u011bze\u0148sk\u00e1
\nStreet) in Prague. This group of Yiddish language actors, who, despite
\ngenerally claiming that they were German, came from all over Eastern Europe and
\nnamed themselves after the city of Lemberg (now Lviv, located in western
\nUkraine), which was very prominent for its Yiddish theatre scene at that time. <\/p>\n
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/jewishmuseum.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/tumblr_inline_p2co2dn33J1rivt1t_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nFranz Kafka
\n(1883-1924)<\/p>\n
Reading Kafka\u2019s work, one can actually often notice the
\ninfluence of Yiddish theatre on them with them often including very dramatic
\nand physically expressive characters such as the father in his work \u201cThe
\nJudgment\u201d (German: \u201cDas Urteil\u201d, 1913), who acts very over-the top. There are
\nalso characters believed to be based on Yiddish theatre actors, \u00a0the most prominent probably being Gregor
\nSamsa in \u201cThe Metamorphosis\u201d (German: \u201cDie Verwandlung\u201d, 1915), who was
\nallegedly based on performances of the actor and close friend of Kafka\u2019s Jizchak
\nL\u00f6wy.<\/p>\n
In his diaries Kafka writes about the Lemberg Company Sheet music from one of Abraham, Kafka also discusses the ambivalence he feels towards his In 1912, Kafka even talked publicly about his love for the \u201c(\u2026) \u00a0once Yiddish has taken hold of you and moved The early 20th<\/sup> century was the Golden Age for In the Russian Empire, Czar Alexander II (1818-1881), also This only changed after the Russian Revolution around 1922, The establishment of the Soviet Union, however, brought with But why did the state suddenly support Yiddish theatre? The One of the state funded Yiddish theatres I want Yiddish theatre declined in the Soviet Union during and by Charlotte Hafner, ARSP Volunteer Yiddish theatre groups have been touring through Eastern Europe between about 1890 and 1933. However, the heightened discrimination and antisemitism in Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century, often accompanied by violent pogroms against Jewish people, made life quite difficult for many of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[146,145,151,152,150,149,147,148],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nperforming plays by Goldfaden (Shulamit & Bar Kokhba), Gordin (Der vilder
\nmentsh) and Lateiner (Dovids fidele, Di seyder nakht) and by other Yiddish
\nlanguage playwrights. He also writes about his obsession with one of the
\nactresses, Mania Tschissik, who he was fascinated by. Kafka describes her
\nmovements, the tone of her voice and her immense dedication to the company in
\ngreat detail. He even describes her literally holding up pieces of a collapsing
\nset, such was her dedication, but it remains questionable if this is really
\ntrue, as Kafka had a tendency to overdramatise a bit when writing about people
\nhe admired. <\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/jewishmuseum.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/tumblr_inline_p2co3z4gKE1rivt1t_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nGoldfaden\u2019s Yiddish plays, Shulamith (1881), is also part of the collection of
\nthe Jewish Museum London<\/p>\n
\nJudaism after this encounter, as the Jewish culture he saw portrayed on stage
\nwas different to his own Jewish identity, but he generally gained a new love
\nfor his heritage and for the Yiddish language. Shortly after his encounter with
\nthe Lemberg Group, Kafka started studying Judaism more and even took Hebrew
\nlessons. However, he always found his knowledge of Judaism lacking.<\/p>\n
\nYiddish language in Prague\u2019s Jewish Town Hall, saying: <\/p>\n
\nyou\u2014and Yiddish is everything, the words, the Chasidic melody, and the
\nessential character of this Eastern European Jewish actor himself\u2014you will have
\nforgotten your former reserve. Then you will come to feel the true unity of
\nYiddish, and so strongly that it will frighten you, yet it will no longer be
\nfear of Yiddish but of yourselves.\u201d – Franz Kafka<\/i><\/p>\n
\nYiddish theatre, especially in Eastern Europe. Not only were there a big number
\nof Yiddish-speaking artists who were finally able to create the art they
\nwanted, they were even supported in doing so by the government.<\/p>\n
\nknown as Alexander the Liberator, made the decision to legalize Yiddish press,
\npublishing and theatre, which gave the Jewish people more freedom to creatively
\nexpress themselves. Yet, in 1883, this was retracted, as part of the
\nanti-Jewish reaction following the assassination of the Czar. Yiddish theatre
\nwas completely forbidden in all of the Russian Empire, and there were more and
\nmore pogroms against Jews in Russia which caused a huge emigration of Yiddish
\ntheatre actors, directors, playwrights and others, to countries such as
\nEngland, USA, Canada, France, Bohemia and Germany.<\/p>\n
\nwhich in itself was of course not the best time for the Jewish People, as
\nduring the revolution a lot of them were killed.<\/p>\n
\nit a great artistic flowering with strong support for the Yiddish theatre. This
\nis because after the revolution, Jews were declared a nationality in the Soviet
\nUnion, with Yiddish as their national language, meaning they now had government
\nsupport for writers, artists and cultural institutions. Because of this, 20
\nstate supported Yiddish theatres were able to open in the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
\nanswer is, that theatre was seen as crucial to the revolutionary project, as it
\nis an art form capable of reaching mass audiences, and especially working class
\npeople. Yiddish theatre in the Soviet Union was used mostly for propaganda, as
\nall art was, but also to educate the audiences about communism and other issues
\ndeemed important by the state. Nevertheless, there were also adaptions of works
\nby Goethe, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Tolstoi, Schiller, Hugo, B\u00fcchner and other
\nauthors deemed important. Theatre was the most popular form of Jewish activity
\nin the Soviet Union, and especially important for small-town Jews. Because of
\nthe absence of other means to affirm their Jewishness (e.g. no means to go to
\nSynagogue, no Rabbi, illiteracy, so no means to read Jewish texts), Yiddish
\ntheatre became almost sacred in village communities.<\/p>\n
\nto highlight here is the Moscow State Yiddish Chamber Theatre, which mostly
\nstaged avant-garde expressionist plays, but also created Cubo-Futurist and
\nConstructivist-style shows, sets and costumes. This theatre is especially
\ninteresting, as almost every part of it was designed by the Jewish artist Marc Chagall.
\nHe also designed the costumes and sets, so one can only imagine how beautiful
\nthe performances\u00a0must have been. The Moscow State Yiddish Chamber Theatre, was,
\ndespite its very avant-garde approach to staging plays, which could put the
\naverage theatre-goer off a bit, immensely popular with Jews and non-Jews alike.
\nEven if people did not know what was being said onstage because they didn\u2019t
\nspeak Yiddish, the visual experience and the expertly done music and
\nchoreography was still entertaining to watch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nafter WW II, mostly due to Stalin\u2019s antisemitism and sympathies for Hitler, but
\nalso because of the authority\u2019s dislike of Zionism and Modernism at that time. The
\nvarious Yiddish theatres had to adjust to Socialist Realism as the new state
\naesthetic, and while they complied with that, the messages of their plays were
\noften implicitly critical of the government, which of course the Yiddish
\nspeaking audience understood. Due to this audiences were afraid to attend
\nperformances of Yiddish plays, so to not enrage Stalin. In 1949 then, the last
\nYiddish theatre closed down, and in 1952 Stalin \u201cpurged\u201d the Soviet Union of
\nits remaining Yiddish artists, murdering thirteen of the most important ones on
\nthe so-called \u201cNight of Murdered Poets\u201d. Finally, in 1953, a mysterious fire
\nbroke out in the archives of the Moscow State Yiddish Chamber Theatre,
\napparently an attempt to erase all evidence of the history of the Soviet
\nUnion\u2019s Yiddish theatres. \u00a0But the legacy of the Yiddish theatre lives on worldwide, as
\nthere are still companies in Tel Aviv (Yiddishspiel), Montreal (The Dora
\nWasserman Yiddish Theatre), New York City (National Yiddish Theatre
\nFolksbiene), Berlin (Theater Gr\u00f6\u03b2enwahn), Bucharest (State Jewish Theatre), Paris
\n(Tro\u00efm Teater) and other cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"