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ABSTRACT
As soon as the liberation of Europe began, the New York-based Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) started sending material and cultural aid to Jewish and Socialist victims of Nazism. From 1948 onward, the JLC concentrated its primary efforts on reconstruction in Western Europe, particularly in France, where three quarters of the Jewish population had survived the khurbn and where many Jews from Central and Eastern Europe were settling or passing through on their way to further destinations. The dense correspondence resulting from the JLC's transatlantic work serves as the main source for this research. Through these letters sent on a daily basis, we discover both many of the stakes encountered by Holocaust survivors in their reconstruction process and the practical aspects of transnational relief. This article closely examines the contributions of the JLC to support Yiddish culture. It questions the extent to which the JLC, which was closely aligned with labour, Socialist, and Bundist groups, emphasized the political aspect of Yiddish culture. As such, it focuses on the priorities, possibilities and limits of the JLC in supporting a weakened and displaced Yiddish culture in France in the aftermath of the Holocaust and early Cold War period.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Patt, In gerangl, 427. For the spelling of Yiddish first names and surnames, I have transcribed them using the spelling of the YIVO, unless they have a more commonly used transcription. Moreover, I have used the Yiddish version of first names, unless the persons were predominantly known with another version of their name.
2 Michels, A Fire in their Hearts, 154–78; Wolff, “Eastern Europe Abroad,” 239.
3 Malmgreen, “Labor and the Holocaust,” 20–35; Malmgreen, “Comrades and Kinsmen,” 4–20; Lebowitz and Malmgreen, Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, x–xv; Collomp, “Fondations,” Chapter 1 in Résister au nazisme.
4 Shapiro, “The World Labor Athletic Carnival of 1936”.
5 Waltzer, “American Jewish Labor and Aid”; Jacobs, “A Friend in Need,” 391–417; Collomp, “The Jewish Labor Committee, American Labor,” 112–33; Collomp, “Trajectoires d’exil, les opérations de sauvetage,” chapter 4 in Résister au nazisme.
6 Collomp, Résister au nazisme, 143-227.
7 Among the growing literature on American Jewish relief in Europe after the Holocaust, some studies present the action of the JLC. See in particular Diner, We Remember and Hobson Faure, Un “Plan Marshall juif”. On the Canadian branch of the JLC and postwar relief, see Christopher Chanco, “Refugees, Humanitarian Internationalism”.
8 From Hebrew חורבן (ḥurban), meaning destruction. Khurbn initially referred to the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. It was the Yiddish term used by survivors for naming the destruction of European Jews during the Second World War.
9 On the postwar migration of East European Jews to France and Yiddish culture, see Weinberg, “A Forgotten Postwar Jewish Migration,” 137–49 and Pâris de Bollardière and Perego, “Les migrations juives d’Europe centrale et orientale”.
10 The Arbeter-ring counted about 650 members in the late 1940s (CMAR, quoted in the minutes of the general assembly, February 15, 1949); see Pâris de Bollardière, “Mutualité, fraternité et travail social”.
11 Pâris de Bollardière, “The French Bundist Movement,” 39–55.
12 On Yiddish culture in postwar Paris, see for instance the articles from Biezunski, Pâris de Bollardière and Perego in Premiers savoirs de la Shoah; Kichelewski, “Entre histoire et mémoire”; Perego, Pleurons-les; Underwood, “The Yiddish Art Theater in Paris”; Chinski, “A New Address for Holocaust Research”, and the contributions from Chinski, Kalisky, Lyon-Caen, Pâris de Bollardière and Perego in the issue of Archives juives on “Les migrations juives d’Europe centrale et orientale”. On American Jewish relief and the JLC, see note 7 above.
13 Bundists had been very active in the TSYSHO schools of interwar Poland, see Fishman, The Rise of Modern Yiddish Culture and Cohen, “The Bund’s Contribution to Yiddish Culture,” 112–30.
14 Chanin, Berele.
15 Pat, Ash un fayer.
16 Pat, Henekh, 5; Pat to Marek Edelman, October 9, 1946, JLC I, B 32 F 22. See Pâris de Bollardière, “‘Écritures de la destruction' et reconstruction’”.
17 Najman to Pat, April 9, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 11; Fajwel Schrager, “Undzer kultur-program.” Parizer shriftn (October 1945): 36–38.
18 On the Medem sanatorium, see Jacobs, Bundist Counterculture, 62–81.
19 Schrager to the Workmen’s Circle, April 28, 1947, JLC II, B 83, F 24.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 See note 9 above.
23 Pat to Najman, July 22, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 14.
24 Doyres Bundistn (1968), 145–9.
25 Ibid., 142–4.
26 Brumberg to Najman, May 17, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 12.
27 Brumberg to Aronovitsh, May 17, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 12.
28 Jacoubovitch to the JLC, August 25, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 15. Eliohu Trotski, in the first chapter of his travel account Goles Daytshland, described his stay in Paris in spring 1948 and the role played by Israel Jefroykin in Parisian Yiddish culture, notably the reunions of Yiddish writers in his house near Paris. See Trotski, Goyles Daytshland, 9–41.
29 Jefroykin to the JLC, January 20, 1948, JLC February 18, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 9; Najman to Tabachinsky, June 8, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 13.
30 Najman to Tabachinsky, June 8, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 13.
31 Jacoubovitch to the JLC, August 25, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 15. Yehude Jacoubovitch was born in Lodz in 1891 and settled in Paris in 1914. He left the Bund in 1923 and became involved in the Fédération and in the Colonie scolaire.
32 Arbeter-ring to the JLC, August 27, 1947, JLC I, B 33 F 1; Najman to Brumberg, July 7, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 14; Pat to Vaisbrot, April 7, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 24.
33 Ezrovitsh to Brumberg, November 22, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 18; Tabachinsky to Najman, May 26, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 12.
34 Heymblum to Tabachinsky, June 16, 1946, JLC, I, B 32 F 21; The Kulish library, located at 87 rue de Turenne in Paris, specialized in Jewish Studies. It was created after the liberation. Kulish library to the JLC, December 30, 1946, JLC I, B 32 F 22; March 21, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 23; Organisation des Juifs polonais to the JLC, February 16, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 9.
35 Schrager to Pat, October 12, 1945, JLC I, B 32 F 17; Schrager to Pat, May 28, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 24. The Communists also started to publish a cultural review, אויפֿסנײַ (Oyfsnay, “Anew”), in January 1947.
36 Pat to Schrager, April 22, 1946; April 30, 1946, JLC I, B 32 F 20; Pat to Najman, January 23, 1947, and Najman to Pat, March 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 23.
37 The Kultur-farband to the JLC, December 12, 1946, and reply of Pat, December 20, 1946, JLC I, B 32 F 22.
38 Yiddish word meaning a match for the purpose of marriage.
39 Schrager to Tabachinsky, JLC I, B 32 F 15.
40 Pat to Najman, June 11, 1946, JLC I, B 32 F 21; Pat to the Kultur-farband, December 20, 1946, JLC I, B 32 F 22. Chaim Sloves to Tabachinsky, June 2, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 25; Schrager to the JLC, July 8, 1947, and Pat to Schrager, July 11, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 25.
41 Schvarts to the JLC, September 1948, JLC, II, B 83 F 16. Simkhe Shvarts (1900–1974) was a sculptor from the region of Iassy, who had lived in Paris since 1936. He left Paris in the early 1952 and settled in Buenos Aires.
42 Schrager to Pat, December 3, 1948, JLC I, B 83 F 19.
43 The Parisian journal Parizer shriftn, in its issue of October 1945, page 92, indicates that the CYCO decided to call for a Yidisher kultur-kongres.
44 Protocol YKK, October 29, 1947: 1. My warmest thanks to Shane Baker, from the Congress for Jewish Culture, and to Bernard Flam, for their invaluable assistance in enabling me to consult the protocols of the Yidisher kultur-kongres. I also wish to thank Eléonore Biezunski, without whose first assistance I could not have consulted these documents.
45 Protocol YKK, October 7, 1947: 4; October 29, 1947: 6, and September 30, 1947: 2; Shvarts to the JLC, December 18, 1947, YIVO CJC, B 2 F 43. On the creation and beginning of the Kultur-kongres, see Rojanski, “The Final Chapter”.
46 Rafael Mahler, Rafael,“'Kultur-kongres' – a tseshtererishe dersheynung,” Yidishe kultur (September 1948): 2.
47 Estraikh, Yiddish in the Cold War, 10.
48 Schrager to Pat, May 2, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 24; Schrager to Pat, July 22, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 25; Schrager to Pat, September 24, 1947, JLC I, B 33 F 1; Najman to Pat, February 10, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 9. An article by Mordkhe Shtrigler in the Left Zionist newspaper Undzer vort 1947 confirms this position, see “Arum di kultur-kongresn,” Undzer vort (November 28, 1947): 3. According to Tamar Lewinsky, opponents of the Kultur-kongres in the DP camps in Germany also criticized its partisan division, as well as its diasporic aspect, which minimized the relationship between Yiddish and Hebrew and the role played by Israel in Jewish culture. The project of holding any congress was also viewed by some as a vain enterprise, which would not help the revival of Yiddish culture. See Lewinsky, Displaced Poets, 189–92.
49 Chaim Sloves, “Vifl kultur-kongresn darfn mir hobn,” Oyfsnay (June-July 1947): 4; Moyshe Shulshteyn, “Ven volt meglekh geven eyn fareynikter yidisher kultur-kongres? - Ven men volt gevolt,” Naye prese (October 30, 1947): 2–4. According to Nathan Cohen, the Association of Yiddish Writers in Poland was also against the division of Yiddish culture and rejected participation in either of the two conferences. See Cohen, “The Renewed Association of Jewish Writers”, 27.
50 Schrager to Pat, May 2, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 24; Pat to Schrager, May 23, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 24.
51 Najman to Pat, February 24, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 9. An anonymous article from the daily Parisian Yiddish Communist newspaper נײַע פּרעסע (Naye prese) from February 17 confirms that the majority of the Yiddish writers, led by Kaczerginski, joined the Kultur-kongres, see “Di ershte folgn fun der shpaltung-initsiativ in inyen kultur-kongres,” Naye prese (February 17, 1948): 3.
52 “Shturmishe zitsung fun lit. un zhurnalistn farayn bashlist onteyltsunemen in kultur-kongres un in der eyropeysher kultur-baratung,” Undzer vort (February 18, 1948): 2 and Oyfsnay 4–5 (April 1948): 3. According to the latter article, delegations to the European conference came from Poland, England, Romania, Belgium, Denmark and DP camps in Germany.
53 Protocol of the executive committee of the JLC, September 24, 1948, JLC, II, B 54 F 3; Borwicz and Wulf to the JLC March 15, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 10.
54 Tabachinsky to Najman, July 2, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 14.
55 Schrager to Pat, April 23, 1947 and Pat to Schrager, May 19, 1947, JLC, I, B 32 F 24; Pat to Schrager, June 10, 1947 and Pat to Schrager, July 29, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 25; Schrager to Pat, September 2, 1947; Estrin to Pat, September 5, 1947, JLC I, B 33 F 1; Pat to the Arbeter-ring, January 27, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 8.
56 Najman to Tabachinsky, March 20, 1948, Tabachinsky to Najman, March 25, 1948, Najman to Tabachinsky, March 26, 1948, Najman to Tabachinsky, March 31, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 10.
57 Najman to Tabachinsky, March 22, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 10; Riba to Tabachinsky, November 12, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 18.
58 Blatman, For Our Freedom and Yours, 198; Slucki, The International Jewish Labor Bund, 22–4.
59 Schrager to Estrin, April 28, 1947; Estrin to Schrager, May 19, 1947, JLC I, 32: 24; Schrager to Riba, March 3, 1948, JLC, I, B 83 F 10. We know that at least some of the money he collected was raised among members of the ILGWU: Tabachinsky to Feldman, Manager of local 132 of the ILGWU, December 1, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 19; Tabachinsky to Riba, April 7, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 11.
60 Najman to Estrin, April 24, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 11; Najman to Tabachinsky, May 6, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 12; Tabachinsky to the Arbeter-ring, November 24, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 18. The World Coordinating Committee of the Bund also continued to raise funds for Undzer shtime. Emanuel Novogrodski, for instance, sent $500 to the JLC for Undzer shtime in August 1947, JLC I, B 33 F 1.
61 Norich, Discovering Exile, 109. On these two imperatives, see also Schwarz, Survivors and Exiles, 14.
62 Speech from Yankev Pat, וועגן אַ וועלט־קאָנפֿערענץ פֿאַר יִידישער קולטור (Vegn a velt-konferenz far yidisher kultur, On a world conference for Yiddish culture), national convention of the JLC, September 2, 1947, JLC I, B 2 F 14, p. 1f. As the word יִידיש (yidish) could mean both “Jewish” and “Yiddish”, I decided to translate it as “Jewish” when it refers to the people and as “Yiddish” when it concerns the culture. The third meeting of the organizational committee of the YKK declared that Yiddish was the language of the Kultur-kongres and of its activities, Protocol YKK, March 31, 1947: 2. Initially, the English name was planned to be “World Congress for Yiddish Culture”, but later, “Jewish” replaced “Yiddish”, Protocol YKK, July 16, 1947: 3. Thus, although the Kongres stressed Yiddish culture, it chose to use the English word “Jewish”.
63 Protocol YKK, July 25, 1947. Lider fun di getos un lagern, from Kaczerginski, was published in 1948 by the CYCO, with the support of the Kultur-kongres; Pat to Kaczerginski, January 12, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 8.
64 YIVO, CJC, B 9 F 103.
65 Pat to the Centre d’Etude, Paris, December 19, 1947, JLC I, 33: 4; Tabachinsky to Borwicz, May 25, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 12; Wulf and Zusman to Tabachinsky, November 7, 1948; Tabachinsky to the Arbeter-ring, November 15, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 18.
66 Pat to the Centre d’Etude, December 22, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 19.
67 Borwicz 1956.
68 I wish to thank Simon Perego and Klaus Kempter for the information they gave me on the publications of the Centre d’Etude. On the Centre d'Etude, see Chinski, “A New Address for Holocaust Research”. On Borwicz and Wulf, see Kalisky and Lyon-Caen, “L’un reste, l’autre part … ”.
69 Speech by Yankev Pat held at the JLC convention of 1947, JLC II, B 2 F 14. The first part of the Ringelblum archives was discovered on September 18, 1946. The JLC helped finance research of the archives. See Kassow, Who Will Write Our History?, 206.
70 However, Pat remained skeptical of how his work on the khurbn would be received in languages other than Yiddish. See Pâris de Bollardière, “’Ecritures de la destruction et reconstruction’”.
71 On the CDJC, see Poznanski, “La création du centre de documentation juive contemporaine”, 51–63; Jockusch, Collect and Record!, 50–83, Perego, “Du CDJC au Centre de documentation du Mémorial de la Shoah” and Johannes Heuman, The Holocaust and French Historical Culture.
72 Publications of the CDJC in Yiddish were very rare.
73 Jockusch, Collect and Record!, 69.
74 Ibid., 72.
75 Schneersohn to Pat, May 5, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 24; Pat to Schneersohn, June 12, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 25. For comparison, what the JLC gave to the CDJC represented half the budget the JLC gave to the teacher’s seminary in 1948. Schneersohn to Pat, October 6, 1947, JLC I, B 33 F 2; Pat to Schneersohn, November 6, 1947, JLC I, B 33 F 3; Schrager to the JLC, July 8, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 25. I wish to thank Laura Jockusch for her assistance in my research on the CDJC.
76 Kibets-golyes: ingathering of Jews of the Diaspora to the land of Israel; Jews of different origins encountering one another.
77 Mints, In di yorn fun yidishn umkum, 263. The Bundist Alexander (Pinkhes) Mints was a former Communist. He settled in Paris in 1937 and moved to Buenos Aires in 1952.
78 David Roskies and Naomi Diamant presented Paris at that time as “a Yiddish Mecca and a hub of Holocaust memory” in Holocaust Literature, p. 94.
79 Letter from Mark Turkow, September 9, 1947, Pat to Schrager, September 29, 1947, JLC I, B 33 F 1. Books from all of these authors were published in Dos poylishe yidntum in 1947 and 1948. Some were also published later. The JLC ceased to support Yiddish writers close to Communist circles, such as Moyshe Shulshteyn, after May 1948.
80 Ertel, “Les fantômes du 9 rue Guy Patin” and Mémoire du yiddish; Chinski and Pâris de Bollardière, “Un foyer artistique et intellectuel”.
81 Lipphardt, “Yiddish After the Holocaust”, 80.
82 Schwarz, Survivors and Exiles, 8.
83 Kaczerginski to Pat, January 29, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 8.
84 Pat to Najman, February 28, 1947, JLC I, B 32 F 23.
85 See, for instance Brumberg to Shmulevitsh, June 3, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 13.
86 Zak to Pat, September 12, 1948, JLC II, B 83 F 16.
87 On Avrom Zak, see Bikard, “L’écrivain yiddish Avrom Zak”.
88 Noé Grüss eventually returned to Paris in 1952.
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Constance Pâris de Bollardière
Constance Pâris de Bollardière is a researcher and archivist at the George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention at The American University of Paris. Her PhD dissertation (2017, EHESS), supervised by Pr. Nancy L. Green, is entitled “The Everlastingness of Our People”: An American Jewish Socialist Aid in the Yiddish Diaspora, the Jewish Labor Committee in Postwar France (1944-1948) [in French]. Her current research focuses on early Holocaust testimonies and Yiddish culture in the early aftermath of the Holocaust.