YIVO is Participating in Carnegie Hall’s Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice festival

(New York, NY) – The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is delighted to announce its participation in Carnegie Hall’s Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice festival. The New York City festival will explore one of the most complex and consequential chapters in modern history: Germany’s Weimar Republic of 1919-1933. YIVO will host three events this spring, which include: The Reality of Myth for Yiddish Writers in Weimar Germany (Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at 1:00pm ET on Zoom), Yiddish and Hebrew Little Magazines in the Weimar Republic (Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 1:00pm ET on Zoom), and Yiddish and Hebrew Song in the Weimar Republic (Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 7:00pm ET in person and on Zoom).

SERIES EVENTS

What:            The Reality of Myth for Yiddish Writers in Weimar Germany
When:           Wednesday, February 21, 2024 | 1:00pm ET
Where:          On Zoom
Cost:              Free
Register:       yivo.org/weimar-writers

In this talk, Marc Caplan examines the historical significance and legendary allure of Weimar culture by considering three of its most significant Yiddish writers: Moyshe Kulbak, Dovid Bergelson, and Pinkhes Kahanovitch, who was known as Der Nister (the hidden one).

What:            Yiddish and Hebrew Little Magazines in the Weimar Republic
When:           Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | 1:00pm ET
Where:          On Zoom
Cost:              Free
Register:       yivo.org/little-magazines

Barbara Mann explores the publishing history of the distinctly portable and collaborative Yiddish and Hebrew “little magazines” that blended poetry, manifestos, and visual arts to create a unique form of cultural expression. Mann will examine their content, physical features, and readership. This event is co-sponsored by the Leo Baeck Institute.

What:            Yiddish and Hebrew Song in the Weimar Republic
When:           Tuesday, May 7, 2024| 7:00pm ET
Where:          In Person and On Zoom
Cost:              In Person: $15 General/$10 | YIVO members & Students On Zoom: Free
Register:       yivo.org/weimar-song

YIVO will host a concert exploring Yiddish and Hebrew songs of the Weimar Republic, showcasing the rich musical activity of the Weimar Republic that bridged Jewish composers in the East and West, and reflected their linguistically and ideologically diverse aspirations. This event is co-sponsored by the Leo Baeck Institute.

These programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. 

For more information contact:
Shelly Freeman
Chief of Staff

THE SPEAKERS

Marc Caplan is a native of Louisiana and a graduate of Yale University. In 2003 he earned his Ph.D. in comparative literature from New York University. He has held professorial appointments at Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, Yale, the University of Wroclaw (Poland), and Dartmouth College, as well as research fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, the Universität Konstanz (Germany), the Center for Jewish History (New York), and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). In 2011 he published How Strange the Change: Language, Temporality, and Narrative Form in Peripheral Modernisms—a comparison of Yiddish and African literatures—with Stanford University Press. His second book, Yiddish Writers in Weimar Berlin: A Fugitive Modernism, was published by Indiana University Press in 2021. Currently he is a senior lecturer in Yiddish literature for the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Barbara E. Mann is the inaugural holder of the Stephen H. Hoffman Professorship in Modern Hebrew Language and Literature at Case Western Reserve University. She is the author of A Place in History: Modernism, Tel Aviv and the Creation of Jewish Urban Space (Stanford, 2006) and Space and Place in Jewish Studies (Rutgers, 2012).

YIVO

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For nearly a century, YIVO has pioneered new forms of Jewish scholarship, research, education, and cultural expression. Our public programs and exhibitions, as well as online and on-site courses, extend our outreach to a global community. The YIVO Archives contains 24 million unique items and YIVO’s Library has over 400,000 volumes—the single largest resource for the study of East European Jewish life in the world. yivo.org / yivo.org/the-whole-story