Commemoration and creativity: remembering the Holocaust in today's Yiddish song

Wood, Abigail (2002) Commemoration and creativity: remembering the Holocaust in today's Yiddish song. European Judaism, 35 (2).

Abstract

The Holocaust was undoubtedly the single event that most influenced the course of Yiddish song during the twentieth century. Its effects on Yiddish culture were incalculable. Despite the increasing difficulty of Jewish life in central and Eastern Europe during the 1930s, this was also a period of flowering of Yiddish cultural life.1 Many believed that the strong network of Yiddish publications, education, cultural events and political organisations offered the promise of a secure and thriving Jewish life despite the restrictions being laid upon the Jews. The Holocaust put an end to this cultural flourishing: in Poland alone, three million Jews died, more than ninety percent of the Jewish population. The survival of Yiddish itself was threatened.

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