“'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