“'And Now I Have to Read in Jewish Something': Yiddish Performance by Holocaust Survivors," with Jeffrey Shandler
In Commemoration of Kristallnacht
Professor Jeffrey Shandler, Chair and Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University
What happens when Holocaust survivors perform in Yiddish while recording videos of their life stories? The USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive—the largest collection of videotaped interviews with Holocaust survivors—includes hundreds of interviews conducted entirely or partially in Yiddish. During dozens of these recordings, survivors sing a song or recite a poem in Yiddish. Interview excerpts featuring some of these remarkable performances illustrate the survivors’ powerful commitment to demonstrating the creative power of Yiddish in the midst of recalling widespread destruction. [Illustrated with video clips]
Shandler's newest book is Holocaust Memory in the Digital Age: Survivors’ Stories and New Media Practices. https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=27950
Sponsors: Germanic Languages & Literature dept. and Jewish Studies Program Kutchin Seminar Series

"Survivors Talmud" [Babylonian Talmud]. Munich ; Heidelberg : [printed by the the Rabbinical Council of Germany, U.S. Army, and the Joint Distribution Committee], 1948. v.1 Berakhot. Frontispiece. At the bottom of the title page is a depiction of a Nazi slave labor camp flanked by barbed wire; above are the palm trees and the landscape of the Holy Land. The legend reads: "From bondage to freedom; from darkness to a great light."
Jewish Studies @ PENN
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Fall/Winter 2017
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