Moshe Shalit
Encyclopedia
Moshe Shalit, also Moses, Moyshe, Moishé, Moïsé Salitas [b. December 22, 1885, Vilna
, Russia
(present-day Vilnius, Lithuania
), d. July 19, 1941, Wilno, Poland
(present-day Vilnius, Lithuania)], was a researcher
, journalist
, essayist, ethnographer, and humanist
of the inter-war period.
Shalit devoted himself to the promotion of Yiddish language
and of literature
in a spirit of openness and intercultural exchange
. Shalit was an active member of the Jewish Scientific Institute, YIVO
, which became the Yiddish Institute for Jewish Research. He was murdered by the Nazis in one of the large massacres in Wilno.
. He attended college several years in Koenigsburg. While he was arrested on several times and was a victim of police repression, he did not quit his studies. In fact, he devoted himself to his overflowing creative activity. During the First World War, he worked with several newspapers in Vilna
. He wrote monograph
s, book review
s and articles in many Yiddish language
publications, which were abundant at the beginning of the 20th century. Shalit travelled greatly; in 1914 he went to America, continuing to publish and spending a lot of his effort in the social-educational domain. During the German occupation, he founded a Yiddish-language Jewish school. Among other responsibilities, he was administrator of the people's university, and president of the Historical Commission. In 1918, he became general secretary of the committee for organising the first democratic Jewish assembly in Vilna. The Russian Jewish writer and ethnographer S. Anski was a member of the steering committee. However, antisemitism raged. On April 19, 1919, the Polish Army (joined by volunteers) penetrated Vilna to restore Polish supremacy relative to the Russo-Soviets and to some extent the Germans. Vilna, whose status was unclear, was faced this with difficulty. The armed groups took control quickly and began a systematic program of violence
against the city's Jewish population including razing, savage attacks, torture and killings. When calm was restored, the "wise men" of the community, including Shalit (then 34 years old), were called together to re-establish peace in people's minds.
(a child protection organisation focused more and more during this period on disadvantaged Jewish children). These two organisations existed the whole time. Studies by Shalit on prominent Yiddish writers such as Mendele Mocher Sforim
, Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Leib Peretz and Daniel Bergelson appeared in collection.
Wilno became the beacon of Jewish intellectual life, invigorated by the sheer diversity of its characters: from Hebraist
s, expert Biblical commentators and disciples of the Gaon
to Marxist theorists, Yiddish language militants, Trotskyist
dissidents and the anti-Zionist socialists of the Bund. In 1925, the fame of Wilno was such that the linguist Max Weinreich
and the philosopher Zelig Kalmanovich
established themselves there and were at the origin of a major cultural event, the creation of a Jewish Scientific Institute with a largely cultural calling, the YIVO
. Academy and university at the beginning, it felt obliged additionally to welcome all those who, through their work, had participated in the spreading of Yiddish culture. The figurehead was Weinrich. Zalman Reisen, philologist and great Yiddish propagandist, set to work making the known the goals of the institution. The most modernist intellectuals of Wilno passed on news of the project. Among them, Shalit was called to join the research groups. YIVO quickly took on an international dimension; offices were opened in Warsaw
, Berlin
and New York
. Correspondents covered about 15 countries. Albert Einstein
and Sigmund Freud
associated themselves with it.
In 1936, after a large amount of work and numerous investigations, YIVO established the laws and conventions for describing the Yiddish language. Furthermore, research was to be conducted by the most modern methods and most recent innovations of the human and social scientists into a better understanding of the Jewish identity
. The researchers published in Yiddish, English, German and Polish. Statistics
was at that time a new science in Jewish culture; Shalit was one of the closest collaborators of Max Weinreich. Shalit's ethnographic studies outside the Economy and Statistics department referred to the situation of the Jews of Poland and the recent past. Shalit was, beyond this, a permanent collaborator of the most important literary journal, "Literary pages" which was circulated in Warsaw. In 1935, a complete work devoted to Wilno, in which Shalit participated, was published in New York. The following years, his collaboration with various literary journals such as "Jewish World" and "The World Of Books", continued. Shalit played a role in all the secular, cultural and social Jewish authorities in Wilno, and more significantly in Poland, and in all the representative institutions in New York, Berlin, Paris and Switzerland where YIVO was to be represented, and in PEN club
congresses in which he was an active member.
, as were most YIVO members. There was no conflict for these people between the discovery of the world in its diversity and describing and protecting Yiddish culture. In 1938, Shalit published an important work of research with the Almanac of the Wilno Yiddish Writers' and Journalists' Union for the celebration of the Union's 20th anniversary. The first part described the socialist direction of the association and retraced its steps since foundation. The second part was devoted to literary texts, notably those of the Yung Vilnè literary group and many articles reflecting on diverse socio-cultural subjects. In the same year, Shalit was president of the Union of Yiddish Language Writers and Journalists. Recognition of the Jewish identity as a cultural phenomenon was important to Shalit. At that time in Wilno, there were 70,000 Jews, almost half the city's population. Philosophers, poets, artists, scientists, political militants, artisans, and shopkeepers all spoke Yiddish—and not just exclusively in the Jewish area around Zydowska and Straszuna streets. In this fertile environment, YIVO's intellectual activity was at its highest point.
It has been estimated that, before the Second World War, there were approximately 11 million Yiddish-speakers in Europe and the two principal destinations for immigration, the United States and South America. YIVO linguists, philologists, lexicographers and grammarians studied the Yiddish language. Specialists considered Lithuanian Yiddish, spoken in Wilno, to be the most literary dialect of Yiddish. Members of YIVO (particularly Shalit) viewed Judaism foremost as a culture—rather than a religion. As with all cultures, Judaism's foundations were assumed to be spiritual. YIVO's researchers were not preoccupied with making it religious.
, the consultative committee designed by the occupiers and formed of prominent Jews from the city's two Jewish Ghettos. Shalit refused; his antifascist militant past seemed to him incompatible with membership.
In the middle of the night on July 29, 1941, the Gestapo
arrested Shalit at his home on 15 Pohulanka Street (now called Basanaviciaus Street in modern Vilnius, Lithuania), a street also home to novelist Romain Gary
and YIVO founder Max Weinreich
. Shalit was one of the victims of the Ponary massacre
, which took place eight kilometres southwest of Vilna. The bodies of 70,000 executed Jews were thrown into ditches in the forest of Ponar
. Shalit's wife Deborah and their youngest daughter Ita were killed several months later in Belorussia where they had fled. The Holocaust extended throughout Europe; Yiddishland was to be wiped out.
Nonetheless, Yiddish texts were saved from the destruction. Although Yiddish has few speakers, its readers and translators are gathering anew. Shalit's work to promote Yiddish culture continues into the 21st century.
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(present-day Vilnius, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
), d. July 19, 1941, Wilno, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(present-day Vilnius, Lithuania)], was a researcher
Researcher
A researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, essayist, ethnographer, and humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
of the inter-war period.
Shalit devoted himself to the promotion of Yiddish language
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
and of literature
Yiddish literature
Yiddish literature encompasses all belles lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Europe, is evident in its literature.It is generally described...
in a spirit of openness and intercultural exchange
Interculturalism
Interculturalism is the philosophy of exchanges between cultural groups within a society, as used by nationalists of the Canadian province of Quebec. Quebeckers have historically been sensitive to any perceived degradation of their heritage...
. Shalit was an active member of the Jewish Scientific Institute, YIVO
YIVO
YIVO, , established in 1925 in Wilno, Poland as the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut , or Yiddish Scientific Institute, is a source for orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to the Yiddish language...
, which became the Yiddish Institute for Jewish Research. He was murdered by the Nazis in one of the large massacres in Wilno.
Youth
Growing up without a father, Shalit quickly became a recognized cultural activist in the Jewish socialist movementSocialist Movement
The Socialist Movement was an independent left-wing grouping in the United Kingdom that grew out the Socialist Conferences.The Socialist Conferences were held in Chesterfield, Sheffield and Manchester in the years following the defeat of Britain’s miners’ strike of 1984–1985...
. He attended college several years in Koenigsburg. While he was arrested on several times and was a victim of police repression, he did not quit his studies. In fact, he devoted himself to his overflowing creative activity. During the First World War, he worked with several newspapers in Vilna
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
. He wrote monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
s, book review
Book review
A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review could be a primary source opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review. It is often carried out in periodicals, as school work, or on the internet. Reviews are also often...
s and articles in many Yiddish language
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
publications, which were abundant at the beginning of the 20th century. Shalit travelled greatly; in 1914 he went to America, continuing to publish and spending a lot of his effort in the social-educational domain. During the German occupation, he founded a Yiddish-language Jewish school. Among other responsibilities, he was administrator of the people's university, and president of the Historical Commission. In 1918, he became general secretary of the committee for organising the first democratic Jewish assembly in Vilna. The Russian Jewish writer and ethnographer S. Anski was a member of the steering committee. However, antisemitism raged. On April 19, 1919, the Polish Army (joined by volunteers) penetrated Vilna to restore Polish supremacy relative to the Russo-Soviets and to some extent the Germans. Vilna, whose status was unclear, was faced this with difficulty. The armed groups took control quickly and began a systematic program of violence
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
against the city's Jewish population including razing, savage attacks, torture and killings. When calm was restored, the "wise men" of the community, including Shalit (then 34 years old), were called together to re-establish peace in people's minds.
Wilno, center of Jewish intellectual life
The inter-war period was marked by Polish domination, and Vilna became Wilno. For many years, Shalit was to be a pillar of Wilno cultural life. He was general secretary of YEKOPO (an aid organisation for Jewish victims of war). He was also member of the ORT (the professional teaching organisation) and the OSEŒuvre de secours aux enfants
Œuvre de secours aux enfants, commonly abbreviated as OSE, is a French Jewish humanitarian organization that saved hundreds of Jewish refugee children in Vichy France during World War II....
(a child protection organisation focused more and more during this period on disadvantaged Jewish children). These two organisations existed the whole time. Studies by Shalit on prominent Yiddish writers such as Mendele Mocher Sforim
Mendele Mocher Sforim
Mendele Mocher Sforim , December 21, 1835 = January 2, 1836 , Kapyl — November 25, 1917 = December 8, 1917...
, Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Leib Peretz and Daniel Bergelson appeared in collection.
Wilno became the beacon of Jewish intellectual life, invigorated by the sheer diversity of its characters: from Hebraist
Hebraist
A Hebraist is a specialist in Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, at a time when Hebrew was little understood outside practicing...
s, expert Biblical commentators and disciples of the Gaon
Gaon (Hebrew)
Gaon originally referred in Ancient Hebrew to arrogance and haughty pride . Later became known as pride in general: whether good or bad . Today it may refer to:...
to Marxist theorists, Yiddish language militants, Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
dissidents and the anti-Zionist socialists of the Bund. In 1925, the fame of Wilno was such that the linguist Max Weinreich
Max Weinreich
Max Weinreich was a linguist, specializing in the Yiddish language, and the father of the linguist Uriel Weinreich, who edited the Modern Yiddish-English English-Yiddish Dictionary.- Biography :Max Weinreich began his studies in a German school in Kuldiga,...
and the philosopher Zelig Kalmanovich
Zelig Kalmanovich
Zelig Hirsch Kalmanovich was a Litvak Jewish philologist, translator, historian, and community archivist of the early 20th century. He was a renowned scholar of Yiddish. In 1929 he settled in Vilnius where he became an early director of YIVO.He was incarcerated in the Vilna Ghetto where he became...
established themselves there and were at the origin of a major cultural event, the creation of a Jewish Scientific Institute with a largely cultural calling, the YIVO
YIVO
YIVO, , established in 1925 in Wilno, Poland as the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut , or Yiddish Scientific Institute, is a source for orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to the Yiddish language...
. Academy and university at the beginning, it felt obliged additionally to welcome all those who, through their work, had participated in the spreading of Yiddish culture. The figurehead was Weinrich. Zalman Reisen, philologist and great Yiddish propagandist, set to work making the known the goals of the institution. The most modernist intellectuals of Wilno passed on news of the project. Among them, Shalit was called to join the research groups. YIVO quickly took on an international dimension; offices were opened in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Correspondents covered about 15 countries. Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
and Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
associated themselves with it.
The Jewish Cultural and Scientific Institute (YIVO)
Four departments were created within the institute:- History
- Philology and Literature
- Economics and Statistics (Shalit's department)
- Psychology and Education.
In 1936, after a large amount of work and numerous investigations, YIVO established the laws and conventions for describing the Yiddish language. Furthermore, research was to be conducted by the most modern methods and most recent innovations of the human and social scientists into a better understanding of the Jewish identity
Jewish identity
Jewish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Under the broader definition, the Jewish identity does not depend on whether or not a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, or legal, or...
. The researchers published in Yiddish, English, German and Polish. Statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
was at that time a new science in Jewish culture; Shalit was one of the closest collaborators of Max Weinreich. Shalit's ethnographic studies outside the Economy and Statistics department referred to the situation of the Jews of Poland and the recent past. Shalit was, beyond this, a permanent collaborator of the most important literary journal, "Literary pages" which was circulated in Warsaw. In 1935, a complete work devoted to Wilno, in which Shalit participated, was published in New York. The following years, his collaboration with various literary journals such as "Jewish World" and "The World Of Books", continued. Shalit played a role in all the secular, cultural and social Jewish authorities in Wilno, and more significantly in Poland, and in all the representative institutions in New York, Berlin, Paris and Switzerland where YIVO was to be represented, and in PEN club
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
congresses in which he was an active member.
An open view of the world
Shalit was a polyglotMultilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
, as were most YIVO members. There was no conflict for these people between the discovery of the world in its diversity and describing and protecting Yiddish culture. In 1938, Shalit published an important work of research with the Almanac of the Wilno Yiddish Writers' and Journalists' Union for the celebration of the Union's 20th anniversary. The first part described the socialist direction of the association and retraced its steps since foundation. The second part was devoted to literary texts, notably those of the Yung Vilnè literary group and many articles reflecting on diverse socio-cultural subjects. In the same year, Shalit was president of the Union of Yiddish Language Writers and Journalists. Recognition of the Jewish identity as a cultural phenomenon was important to Shalit. At that time in Wilno, there were 70,000 Jews, almost half the city's population. Philosophers, poets, artists, scientists, political militants, artisans, and shopkeepers all spoke Yiddish—and not just exclusively in the Jewish area around Zydowska and Straszuna streets. In this fertile environment, YIVO's intellectual activity was at its highest point.
It has been estimated that, before the Second World War, there were approximately 11 million Yiddish-speakers in Europe and the two principal destinations for immigration, the United States and South America. YIVO linguists, philologists, lexicographers and grammarians studied the Yiddish language. Specialists considered Lithuanian Yiddish, spoken in Wilno, to be the most literary dialect of Yiddish. Members of YIVO (particularly Shalit) viewed Judaism foremost as a culture—rather than a religion. As with all cultures, Judaism's foundations were assumed to be spiritual. YIVO's researchers were not preoccupied with making it religious.
The destruction of Yiddishland and the fate of its culture
During the Second World War, the Nazi authorities solicited Shalit to sit on the JudenratJudenrat
Judenräte were administrative bodies during the Second World War that the Germans required Jews to form in the German occupied territory of Poland, and later in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union It is the overall term for the enforcement bodies established by the Nazi occupiers to...
, the consultative committee designed by the occupiers and formed of prominent Jews from the city's two Jewish Ghettos. Shalit refused; his antifascist militant past seemed to him incompatible with membership.
In the middle of the night on July 29, 1941, the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
arrested Shalit at his home on 15 Pohulanka Street (now called Basanaviciaus Street in modern Vilnius, Lithuania), a street also home to novelist Romain Gary
Romain Gary
Romain Gary was a French diplomat, novelist, film director, World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice .- Early life :Gary was born in Vilnius under the name Roman Kacew...
and YIVO founder Max Weinreich
Max Weinreich
Max Weinreich was a linguist, specializing in the Yiddish language, and the father of the linguist Uriel Weinreich, who edited the Modern Yiddish-English English-Yiddish Dictionary.- Biography :Max Weinreich began his studies in a German school in Kuldiga,...
. Shalit was one of the victims of the Ponary massacre
Ponary massacre
The Ponary massacre was the mass-murder of 100,000 people, mostly Polish Jews, by German SD and SS and Lithuanian Nazi collaborators Sonderkommando collaborators...
, which took place eight kilometres southwest of Vilna. The bodies of 70,000 executed Jews were thrown into ditches in the forest of Ponar
Paneriai
Paneriai is a neighborhood of Vilnius, situated about 10 kilometres away from the city center. It is the largest elderate in the Vilnius city municipality. It is located on low forested hills, on the Vilnius-Warsaw road...
. Shalit's wife Deborah and their youngest daughter Ita were killed several months later in Belorussia where they had fled. The Holocaust extended throughout Europe; Yiddishland was to be wiped out.
Nonetheless, Yiddish texts were saved from the destruction. Although Yiddish has few speakers, its readers and translators are gathering anew. Shalit's work to promote Yiddish culture continues into the 21st century.
Works of Moshe Shalit
Note: The works of Moshe Shalit are primarily written in Yiddish. Yiddish characters were transliterated into Latin characters according to YIVO standards.- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Folk un land: zamlbikher spetseyl gevidmete der filozofish-gezelshaftlikher oyfklerung. Vilna, 1910.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Vilner kulturele anshtalten biblioteken, shulen. Vilna, 1916
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Eili, Eili (en collaboration). Ed. O. Diston. Boston, 1918.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Lider-zamelbukh: in kinder heym un oyf'n kinder-platz. Gezelshaft far Idishe folks-muzik. Petrograd, 1918.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Literarishe etyudn. Ed. S. Sreberk. Vilne, 1920.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Leben. Ed. Br. Rozenthal. Vilne, 1920-21.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Di organizatsye un praktik fun Keren ha-yesod: der nisoyen fun 2 yor arbet in Lite. hoypt-byuro fun Keren ha-yesod. London, 1923.
- (Hebrew) Moshe Shalit. Eili, Eili Father, why hast thou forsaken me? Ed. Camden. Victrola, N.J., 1923.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Fun yor tsu yor: illustrirter gezelshaftlikher lu'ah. Statistik, artiklen,materialn,bilder. Varsovie, 1926-29.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Ekonomishe lage fun di Yidn in Polyn un di Yidishe kooperatsye: artiklen un materialn. arband fun di Yidishe Kooperative gezelshaftn in Polyn. Vilne, 1926.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Pinkes, oyf di'Hurban fun Mil'homè un Mehumè, 1919-1929, 1929.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Luhos in unzer literatur. Wilno, 1929.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Oyf di hurves fun milhomes un mehumes: pinkes fun Gegnt- komitet "YEKOPO" 1919-1931. Gegnt-komitet,"Yekopo". Vilne, 1931.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Doktor Tsema'h Shabad, der Visenshaftli'her un Publicist. Wilno, 1937.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Z niedalekiej przeszlosci: kwartalnik historyczno- kulturalny, No. 1 Kwiecienczerwiec, 1937.
- (Yiddish) Moshe Shalit. Daniel Tcharny Bukh. Ed. A.B Cerata. Paris, 1939.
See also
- Cécile CerfCécile CerfCécile Cerf was a member of the French Resistance during World War II.During World War II, Cerf played an active role in the Main-d'œuvre immigrée groups under the aegis of the FTP-MOI resistance movement...
, Shalit's daughter, writer and World War II French resistance member. - Yiddish languageYiddish languageYiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
- Yiddish literatureYiddish literatureYiddish literature encompasses all belles lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Europe, is evident in its literature.It is generally described...
- YIVOYIVOYIVO, , established in 1925 in Wilno, Poland as the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut , or Yiddish Scientific Institute, is a source for orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to the Yiddish language...
External links
- http://www.yivo.org/ official YIVO homepage
- http://www.yiddishweb.com/ Maison de la Culture Yiddish, Paris. A history of the Yiddish language and activities related to Yiddish culture
- http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc96/FDOC7489AD.htm Conversations on Yiddish culture held in Vilnius, by the officicals of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.