[Cz-L] Czernowitz 2008: Centenary of the 1908 Yiddish Language Conference

Dear all

Since I am new to your group, let me introduce myself. I am a journalist with BBC World
Service in London, and a writer and researcher on Yiddish culture and Jewish history.
 
I have also written on the life and work of my great-grandfather, the Yiddish author
Sholem Asch. He has an important connection with Czernowitz as one of the participants in
the historic Yiddish Language Conference held there in 1908.

The Czernowitz Conference was a key event in modern Jewish cultural history, and I think
it would be wonderfully appropriate to organise some sort of event in the town in 2008 to
mark the 100th anniversary. What sort of event it might be is something I'd like to throw
open for comment and debate. I had in mind something that would revisit the 1908
Conference, but also look at Czernowitz and the surrounding region in terms of its place
in modern Jewish history and Yiddish culture more widely. It might perhaps combine an
academic conference with a more popular Festival of Jewish Culture. Perhaps also to look
more widely at the state of Jewish culture in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

I'd be very interested to have your reaction to this suggestion. I've never been to
Czernowitz, so I'd be interested to know whether there are local partners who might be
keen to be involved? Also, whether the original venues for the 1908 Conference (the
Concert Hall and the Ukrainian National House) are still standing? Is there much of a
Jewish community still left? Would any of you be interested to get involved in some sort
of steering group or committee to look into this?

(By the way, if you want to find our more about the 1908 Conference, just Google
'Czernowitz 1908' and you'll reach the Mendele site put up by Iosif Vaisman, with a
wealth of information).

Many thanks - I look forward to reading your comments.

David Mazower
 

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Received on 2006-12-01 11:35:58