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Project “The Short Live of Soviet Jiddish Literature” funded for three years

The Leibniz Association's Senate has selected this project to promote research on Yiddish literature in the Soviet Union.

17.02.2020

In the framework of the Leibniz competition, the Leibniz Association's Senate has selected the collaborative project on “The Short Live of Soviet Jiddish Literature”, that Professor Dr. Sabine Koller from the University of Regensburg and Principal Investigator of GS OSES has developed together with her colleagues form the Leibniz-Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur und Kulturforschung (ZfL) in Berlin, for a three years funding.

With the "Night of the Murdered Poets" 12th August 1952 as a starting point, the project will be looking at the so far underresearched topic of Soviet Jiddish Literature. The project has numerous goals, as e.g. a collective biography of five victims of that night, Perets Markish (1895–1952), Dovid Hofshteyn (1889–1952), Itsik Fefer (1900–1952), Leyb Kvitko (1890–1952) and Dovid Bergelson (1884–1952) or a case study of the world tour of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in 1943.

Not only will this studies further promote our understanding of Jewish and Eastern European History, but they will also help us understand our current challenges with globalized diaspora and migration experiences. By analyzing the artistic production in conflict between government funding and simultaneous cultural reglementation and repression by the state the dangers and pitfalls of identity-related attributions of oneself or others will be worked out.

Further on, the project will be supported by the "Leibniz Collaborative Excellence" funding programme for its interdisciplinary and multi-perspective approach as well as with the expertise of the European University Saint Petersburg, the Leibniz-Institute for the German Language in Mannheim and the Leibniz-Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe in Leipzig.

Further details are to be found in the attached press release.