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ABSTRACT
Textbooks, which are a little-noticed source for historians, offer an interesting insight into the present state of the respective society as well as into the intended concepts for the future, not only of the textbook authors but also of certain social groups or even the state. In which direction and how should the next generation be shaped? These were important questions that surviving Jews in Poland asked themselves after the Holocaust. This article presents and analyses Yiddish textbooks from 1946-1948. They reflect the search for a Jewish life and a post-Holocaust identity in Poland. In this search, two factors play a particularly important role: the Yiddish language and dealing with the Holocaust.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Grabski, “Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce (1944–1950),” 36–46.
2 On the ambivalent underlying factors behind this friendly policy toward the Jews, see: Szaynok, Ludność żydowska na Dolnym Śląsku: 1945–1950; Grabski, “Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce (1944-1950).”
3 Schatz, “Komuniści w “sektorze żydowskim”,” 31. On the broad diversity of activities in the sphere of Jewish culture, see: Grabski and Rusiniak, “Żydowscy komuniści po Holokauście wobec języków polskiego żydostwa.”
4 Jakub Egit citing the remarks of a Soviet guest in the paper Nowe Życie, 8 December 1946; quoted in Bronsztejn, Ludność żydowska na Dolnym Śląsku, 33.
5 On the history of the CKŻP, see: Grabski, “Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce (1944–1950).”
6 Datner, “Instytucje opieki nad dzieckiem i szkoły powszechne Centralnego Komitetu Żydów Polskich w latach 1945–1946,” 37.
7 On the situation of the children who survived WW II in Poland, see: Michlic, “The War Began For Me After the War”, Michlic, “Who am I?”.
8 Datner, “Instytucje opieki nad dzieckiem i szkoły powszechne Centralnego Komitetu Żydów Polskich w latach 1945–1946,” 42.
9 Bricha was the designation for the organized Zionist underground movement that between 1945 and 1948 made it possible for Jews from Eastern and East-Central Europe to flee, in the main illegaly, to Western Europe, and in part also to immigrate to Palestine.
10 Adelson, “W Polsce zwanej ludową,” 408–414.
11 Datner, “Szkoly Centralnego Komitetu Żydów w Polsce w latach 1944–1949,” 10.
12 Quote from the minutes of the first meeting of the Communication Committee of the Youth Organization; quoted in: Szaynok, “Ludność żydowska na Dolnym Śląsku,” 74.
13 One of the orphanages, that in Helenówek near Łódź, became the setting for the sole Yiddish film produced in postwar Poland. With the legendary duo Shimen Dzigan and Yisroel Schumacher in the main roles, the film focuses on the experiences of the children during World War II and the difficulties in dealing with that. From offstage, one hears: “Our children, oh, how much lies in those two simple words,” which refers back to the miracle that any Jewish children at all had managed to survive the Holocaust. For more on this, see: Schwarz, Survivors and Exiles, 45–50.
14 Datner, “Instytucje opieki nad dzieckiem i szkoły powszechne Centralnego Komitetu Żydów Polskich w latach 1945–1946,” 38–39.
15 Ibid., 46.
16 ŻIH Archives 303/IX/92 (CKŻP Wydział Oświaty/Dept. of Education).
17 Polonsky, Dzieje Żydów w Polsce i Rosji, 552.
18 YIVO Archives 465/2/34 (Farlag Matones), letter by [?] Weber and [?] Grinfeld to the publishing house, no date (stress in the original)
19 Shoyme Lastik and Yeshaye Shpigl mention this in their afterword. They write: “The last war destroyed all Jewish libraries and private book collections in our country. For that reason, we were constrained to make use in part of teaching material from textbooks sent to us after the war from North and South America and other countries, as well as translations from other languages.” Shpigl and Lastik, Mayn yidish bukh. Farn 4tn klas, 237.
20 Pres, Mayn bikhl. Farn ershtn shul yor; Pres, Mayn bikhl. Farn ershtn shul yor.
21 ŻIH Archives 303/IX/1752 (CKŻP Wydział Oświaty/Dept. of Education). The archival materials contain numerous references to relief actions and shipments by various different organizations throughout the world.
22 The Central Jewish/Yiddish School Organization (Tsentrale yidishe shul-organizatsye TSISHO) was the umbrella organization of Yiddish/secular educational institutions in Poland during the interwar period. It was officially established in 1921 in Warsaw, and had been active already since 1919. Various left-Polish groups were involved in TSISHO, and the driving force in the organization was the Jewish Workers Alliance, in short the Bund. In 1921, TSISHO already was maintaining 69 primary schools in 44 Polish cities, along with 35 kindergartens with a total of 13,357 children. In 1929, some 24,000 pupils were being taught in 216 different institutions.
23 Datner, “Instytucje opieki nad dzieckiem i szkoły powszechne Centralnego Komitetu Żydów Polskich w latach 1945–1946,” 42.
24 Quoted in Datner, “Instytucje opieki nad dzieckiem i szkoły powszechne Centralnego Komitetu Żydów Polskich w latach 1945–1946,” 43 (On the Opening of the Daycare Center and School in Jawor on 24 August 1946).
25 Hebrew was to be taught four hours a week.
26 Lozovski, Dertsiungs-program far shuln fun Ts. K, 8.
27 Datner, “Instytucje opieki nad dzieckiem i szkoły powszechne Centralnego Komitetu Żydów Polskich w latach 1945–1946,” 44.
28 On the complicated communist position and frequently contradictory way of dealing with the Yiddish language, see: Grabski and Rusiniak, “Żydowscy komuniści po Holokauście wobec języków polskiego żydostwa.”
29 Datner, “Instytucje opieki nad dzieckiem i szkoły powszechne Centralnego Komitetu Żydów Polskich w latach 1945–1946,” 48.
30 Valdman, “Yidish zol vern di shprakh fun kind.”
31 Bergman, “Yiddish in Poland after 1945.”
32 Interview with Shloyme Lastik’s daughter, Aneta Łastik, 21 March 2016.
33 Vaynapel and Pludermakher, Ikh lern yidish, 35.
34 Lomir kinder lernen, “Supplement to DNL 67 (145), 14.09.1947 erev rosheshone,” 19.
35 Michlic, “Who am I?.”; Michalic, “The War Began For Me After the War.”
36 A comprehensive survey of all Yiddish textbooks published in Poland after the Holocaust can be found in: Wiecki, “Ein Jude spricht Jiddisch,” 200–274.
37 Mark, 1946.
38 In this phase, there was only one other publication meant for the schools. This was the reprinting in 1947 in Warsaw of the small dictionary by Max Weinreich of the most frequent loan words from Hebrew in Yiddish, Shrayb on grayzn (Write without Errors) from the year 1926.
39 This material can be fruitfully investigated utilizing Jeffrey Shandler’s model of the post-vernacularity of Yiddish. See Shandler, Adventures in Yiddishland.
40 The application for financing submitted by Nina Welczer-Dancygowa, dated 27 September 1946, confirms this. It states: “The supplement shall appear every two weeks in a print run of 4,000 copies (in the format of a small booklet). The publication will be suitable for various different learning levels and will serve the children as a textbook.” ŻIH Archives 303/IX/914 (CKŻP Wydział Oświaty/Dept. of Education).
41 In the spring of 1945, there was only one printing press in all of Poland with Yiddish type font. It stemmed from the former ghetto printing shop in Lodz.
42 No official reasons for terminating publication were announced.
43 Lomir kinder lernen, Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln, back of dust cover.
44 The print run was 2,500 copies.
45 There could be great differences in age among pupils in the same class. One can assume that children between the age of 10 and 16 used this book.
46 Shpigl and Lastik, Mayn yidish bukh. Farn 4tn klas, 237.
47 The first Yiddish primer in postwar Poland was not published until 1951. It is not documented how language instruction in the schools actually took place, and to what extent the books examined here were actually used.
48 This multiplicity was likewise not criticized by the CKŻP-internal censorship (assessment of the textbook by Genia Lewi), ŻIH Archives 303/IX/603 (CKŻP Wydział Oświaty/Dept. of Education).
49 Shpigl and Lastik, Mayn yidish bukh. Farn 4tn klas, 106.
50 Author unknown.
51 Shpigl and Lastik, Mayn yidish bukh. Farn 4tn klas, 114–116.
52 Lomir kinder lernen, Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln, 2.
53 Ibid., 3–5.
54 Shpigl and Lastik, Mayn yidish bukh. Farn 4tn klas, 188.
55 In 1934 under Stalin’s regime, the “Jewish Autonomous Region” was proclaimed in the Soviet Far East near the Chinese border. In colloquial language only referred to as Birobidzhan (derived from the name of the capital), it was intended as a home for the Jews, in which Yiddish along with Russian was the official administrative language. Jews from Russia and from other countries in Europe and around the world embarked to implement the project despite the harsh Siberian conditions. In 1939 there were some 13,000 living in the Jewish Autonomous Region. The peak of just under 20,000 Jews was reached at the end of 1948, shortly before anti-Jewish repression by the Soviet regime began, resulting in the destruction of Jewish life there.
56 Pseudonym unknown, perhaps referring to Yitskhok Yanasovitsh (1909–1990), who contributed a number of texts to the publications.
57 Lomir kinder lernen [a], Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln. Bildungs-opteylung, 3–5.
58 Lomir kinder lernen [f], Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln.
59 Lomir kinder lernen [e], Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln, 6–8.
60 Ibid., 8–10
61 Lomir kinder lernen [a], Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln, 10
62 Shpigl and Lastik, Mayn yidish bukh. Farn 4tn klas, obverse of title page.
63 Ibid., 238.
64 Lozovski, Dertsiungs-program far shuln fun Ts. K, 27.
65 Lomir kinder lernen [c], Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln. Bildungs-opteylung, 11–13.
66 Jockusch and Lewinsky, Paradise Lost?.
67 Lomir kinder lernen [k], Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln. Bildungs-opteylung, 28–32.
68 Lomir kinder lernen [g], Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln, 2–4.
69 Assessment by Genia Lewi. ŻIH Archives 303/IX/603 (CKŻP Wydział Oświaty/Dept. of Education).
70 Lomir kinder lernen [d], Bletlekh fun a khrestomatye. Łódź: Tsentral-komitet fun di yidn in Poyln. Bildungs-opteylung, 2.
71 Ibid., 14.
72 Reisen, Yudishe khrestomatye. A lese-bukh far shul un heym. Actually, the brothers Avrom and Zalmen Reisen were among the first Yiddish textbook authors. In 1908, they published a book set consisting of a primer, a chrestomathy and a grammar book.
73 Among these are inter alia Zalmen Reisen, Yitskhok Katsenelson, Dovid Hofshteyn, Yankev Fikhman, Falk Haylperin, Leyb Olitski, Shmuel Tsesler.
74 On this, see the research project at the GEI Braunschweig/DHI Washington Innovation through tradition? Approaching cultural transformations during the Sattelzeit via Jewish educational media: http://jbm.gei.de/the-project/
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Evita Wiecki
Dr. Evita Wiecki, born in Poland, is a Yiddish lecturer and lecturer at the LMU Munich/Germany. Her book “Ein Jude spricht Jiddisch”: Jiddisch-Lehrbücher in Polen – ein Beitrag zur jüdischen Bildungs- und Kulturgeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert" (Göttingen 2019) offers a broad overview of the history of Yiddish textbooks in Poland or so-called Polish Lands (1887–1968). Her current focus is the history and Yiddish-language culture of Jewish Displaced Persons in Bavaria.