PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-0968

Project title: The Yiddish Speaking Culture and Literature within the Multicultural Context of the Bukovina. The Crystallization and Dynamics of a Cultural Identity
Project code: PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-0968
Time frame: 10.10.2018 – 30.11.2020
Funding authority: Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)
Approved budget: 450.000,00 lei

Project team
Dr. Francisca SOLOMON – Project Leader and Experienced Researcher (Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, Faculty of Letters, German Department); francisca_solomon@yahoo.com
Dr. Ana-Maria PĂLIMARIU – Experienced Researcher (Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, Faculty of Letters, German Department); anamaria.palimariu@yahoo.com
Dr. Cristina SPINEI – Experienced Researcher (Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, Faculty of Letters, German Department); cristinaspinei@yahoo.de
Iulia PETRIN – PhD Candidate (Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, Faculty of Letters, German Department); iulia.petrin@gmail.com

Project abstract
The narrative that has shaped up in the past few years with regard to the history and culture of the Jewish communities of Bukovina reveals a scientific discourse which is dominated by a mechanism of fragmentary interpretation. This mechanism often misleads to the assumption that their choice of the German language and culture has been the result of a homogenous process of acceptance, which was never disturbed by any external or internal factors. Therefore the study of the Yiddish speaking culture and literature of Bukovina, while placing it in a larger context, where also the numerous divergent and convergent moments make an argument, can be a new approach. This approach can provide a basis for the reconstruction and the critical interpretation of the cultural phenomenon of Bukovina, by correcting and simultaneously supplementing the actual state of research in this field. The project will deal with the investigation of this historic and cultural constellation, while envisaging two large time frames and analytically pinpointing the key moments, that have coined these orientations of the Jewish communities of Bukovina and their evolution: the Habsburg time frame (1774-1918) and the period between 1918-1945. Special attention shall be paid to the analysis of the historical frame and the specificity of each period, during which there cultural orientations have been shaping within the frame of the Jewish communities of Bukovina, insisting on the phenomenon of crystalizing both of the Yiddish speaking press and literature and of the Yiddishist cultural spectrum (associations, personalities of the political, religious and cultural life, popular artists) in promoting and disseminating the Yiddish language and culture), in competition with the German, Hebrew, Romanian culture and others of the Bukovina. The project will focus on the study of the period between the years 1918-1945, as it represents a time frame characterized by a true Yiddish speaking cultural effervescence.

Objectives
The present project sets as its main goal to enlarge the research frame, by including elements, that have not been explored by now or that have been explored insufficiently. It envisages the identification of the main deficits of the research and their coverage by means of an analytical critique which is based on interpretation, theory and methodology. The main task of the project aims at achieving a comparing analysis of the fact that a part of the Jewish community of Bukovina has oriented more to the Yiddish speaking cultural offer whereas other parts of it has oriented more to the German, Hebrew, Romanian cultural offers, etc. The project will deal with the investigation of this historic and cultural constellation, while envisaging two large time frames and analytically pinpointing the key moments, that have coined these orientations of the Jewish communities of Bukovina and their evolution: the Habsburg time frame (1774-1918) and the period between 1918-1945. Special attention shall be paid to the analysis of the historical frame and the specificity of each period, during which there cultural orientations have been shaping within the frame of the Jewish communities of Bukovina, insisting on the phenomenon of crystalizing both of the Yiddish speaking press and literature and of the Yiddishist cultural spectrum (the part of some associations, personalities of the political, religious and cultural life, artists and popular artists) in promoting and disseminating the Yiddish language and culture, in competition with the German, Hebrew, Romanian culture and others of the Bukovina. The project will focus on the study of the period between the years 1918-1945, as it represents a time frame characterized by a true Yiddish speaking cultural effervescence.

Expected Results
Taking into account the lacking investigations, that should have to analyse systematically and profoundly the set of problems going along with the crystallisation and development of the Yiddish speaking culture within the multicultural context of Bukovina, the accomplishment of the present proposed project will contribute to providing a comprehensive analytical critique of the current state of research on a national and international level. Furthermore, the participation of the team members at national and international conferences, but also the publication of some papers and of a monograph, which are to reunite the researching results will assure the visibility of the project, including it in this way in the broader frame of the scientific field. The accomplishment of the present proposed project aims to open new thematic and methodological directions that could be explored, on the one hand regarding the history and culture of the Bukovinian Jews, on the other hand regarding the general history of the Central Europe.

Project Plan
Stage 1: Documentation and excerption of information (I) (10.10.2018– 31.12.2018)
In the first phase of the project the director of the project will organize a first workshop bringing together all members of the team, in which all workings tasks will be set exactly. The following aspects are to be discussed: reading of the general bibliography, the proposed methodological approaches, planning the dissemination of the results. In this period of time, all members of the team will read the general bibliography which is available in the libraries funds and archives from Iasi and Bucharest regarding the envisaged topic (the Yiddish culture in Eastern and Central Europe, the positioning of the Jewish communities of the Romanian and the Austrian space in the face Yiddish cultural offer in the competition with other cultural offers).

National and International Visibility
• Research stays
Dr. Francisca Solomon
– 11.11.-17.11.2018: research stay at the Romanian Academy Library, Bucharest.
Dr. Ana-Maria Pălimariu
– 18.11.-21.11.2018: research stay at the Romanian Academy Library, Bucharest.

Stage 2: Documentation and excerption of information (II) / Critical reading and analysis of sources (I) (1.01.2019–31.12.2019)
In the first phase of this stage the period of time between 1774-1918 is to be studied and analysed (the Yiddish speaking press that has shaped up in this period of time in Bukovina, the role of some associations and personalities in cultivating a Yiddish speaking cultural field in Bukovina, the role of the artists and popular artists in cultivating and disseminating of the Yiddish speaking folk literature). For the next term, each member of the team will research certain segments of the project regarding the crystallisation of the Yiddish speaking culture and literature of Bukovina between the years 1918-1945. The main objective in this context aims at studying the crystallisation of a rich Yiddish speaking cultural field, by analysing the phenomenon of increasing popularity of these cultural projects within the context of that time from a literary and cultural scientific perspective. Therefore, in studying this period of time the team will aim at investigating the following aspects, by focusing on the new elements in the scientific research regarding this topic: the phenomenon of popularity of these Yiddish speaking cultural projects within the context of that time, in competition with other cultural offers (German, Romanian speaking a.m.), the importance of the migration processes on the axis Bessarabia-Bukovina for the shaping of a Yiddish speaking cultural field in Bukovina, the part that some representative press organs, associations and personalities (Eliezer Steinbarg, Moshe Altman and others) have played in cultivating a Yiddish speaking cultural field in Bukovina.

National and International Visibility
• Research stays
Dr. Francisca Solomon
– 29.04.-25.05.2019: research stay at the National Library of Israel, Jerusalem.
– 4.-29.09.2019: research stay at the Austrian National Library, Vienna.
Dr. Ana-Maria Pălimariu
– 29.04.2019-10.05.2019: research stay at the National Library of Israel, Jerusalem.
PhD student Iulia Petrin
– 25.-28.09.2019: research stay at the Romanian Academy Library, Bucharest.

• Conferences
Dr. Francisca Solomon
– 5.-6.04.2019: Terra Iudaica. Perspective literare, culturale și istorice asupra constelației evreiești din Bucovina și Galiția; Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania.
Paper title: Umor și satiră în vremuri de restriște. Periodice umoristice de limbă idiș publicate în Bucovina posthabsburgică.
– 15.-18.09.2019: XXII. Symposium für Jiddische Studien in Deutschland; Trier University, Trier, Germany.
Paper title: Humor und Satire als Lebenshilfe in trüben Zeiten. Jiddischsprachige humoristisch-satirische Periodika in der Bukowina Anfang der 1930er Jahre.
– 24.-26.09.2019: Zukunft der Sprache, Zukunft der Nation; University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany.
Paper title: Die Czernowitzer Sprachkonferenz und ihre Darstellung in bukowinischen deutschsprachigen und jiddischsprachigen Periodika. Habsburgische und posthabsburgische Pressediskurse.
– 24.-26.10.2019: Literatur und Sprache im südosteuropäischen Raum; Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, Romania.
Paper title: Zur Bedeutung des Jahres 1908 in der Kulturgeschichte der jiddischsprachigen Bukowina.

Dr. Ana-Maria Pălimariu
– 5.-6.04.2019: Terra Iudaica. Perspective literare, culturale și istorice asupra constelației evreiești din Bucovina și Galiția; Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania.
Paper title: „Simbioză” culturală germano-evreiască-românească în traduceri ale baladelor lui Ițic Manger.
– 24.09.2019: Antisemitismus in Mittel- und Osteuropa: Ursachen, Auswirkungen, Kontinuitäten, Vergleiche; Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Paper title: „Niemandsland“: Elieser Steinbarg und Itzik Manger, nach und weg aus Czernowitz.

Dr. Cristina Spinei
– 5.-6.04.2019: Terra Iudaica. Perspective literare, culturale și istorice asupra constelației evreiești din Bucovina și Galiția; Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania.
Paper title: Jocul de-a copilăria și scena măcelului. CarteaRaiuluide Ițic Manger.
– 12.-14.04.2019: BASEES conference, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Paper title: Narratives of Jewish Life on the Threshold of a New World: A View of Irony in Sholem Aleichem’s Texts.
– 25.-28.06.2018: Third Annual Memory Studies Association Conference, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Paper title: Memory of the Everyday Life: Newspaper Advertisements in the Habsburg Bukovina as Reflector of a Pluricultural Society.
– 24.-26.10.2019: Literatur und Sprache im südosteuropäischen Raum; Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, Romania.
Paper title: „Im Zeichen der Krankheit: Der Wert der Exterritorialität in Bezug auf Rumänen, Juden und Deutsche in Cătălin Dorian Florescus Roman Der Mann, der das Glück bringt“.
– 31.10.-1.11.2019: Mit den Augen des Sprechers betrachtet. Dritte internationale multidisziplinäre Konferenz des Departments für Germanische Sprachen und Literaturen, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania.
Paper title: Mit Kinderaugen den Schmerz zur Sprache bringen. Zu Liliana Corobcas Der erste HorizontmeinesLebens.

PhD student Iulia Petrin
– 5.-6.04.2019: Terra Iudaica. Perspective literare, culturale și istorice asupra constelației evreiești din Bucovina și Galiția; Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania.
Paper title: „O stea călăuzitoare pentru tineretul evreiesc”. Importanța culturală a asociației cernăuțene „Morgenrojt”.
– 24.-26.10.2019: Literatur und Sprache im südosteuropäischen Raum; Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, Romania.
Paper title: „So will ich erwecken die Brüder zum Kampf.“ Kubi Wohls Lyrik und die jüdische Arbeiterschaft im Czernowitz der Zwischenkriegszeit.

Stage 3: Documentation and excerption of information (III) / Critical reading and analysis of sources (II) (1.01.2020–30.11.2020)
In the first phase of this stage we mention as a main objective the analysis of the literary activity of some Yiddish speaking authors (Itsik Manger, Eliezer Steinbarg, Shamshale Ferst), who were active on the literary scene if Bukovina, who have contributed to perpetuating the Yiddish culture, especially in the years before the World War II. Likewise, during this term the team envisages to reunite the researching results all the periods of the time in order to include them in a volume which is to be a complex monograph which could provide a comprehensive analysis of the current state of research.

National and International Visibility
• Research stays
Dr. Ana-Maria Pălimariu
– 9-16.02.2020: research stay at the Romanian Academy Library, Bucharest.
Dr. Cristina Spinei
– 24.02.-8.03.2020: research stay at the Romanian Academy Library, Bucharest.
– 20.-27.09.2020: research stay at the Romanian Academy Library, Bucharest.

• Conferences
Dr. Francisca Solomon
– 25.-27.11.2020: Abschiedskonferenz des Doktoratskollegs Galizien und sein multikulturelles Erbe; University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Paper title: Die heilende Kraft der Sprache – Jiddisch als identitätsstiftendes Vehikel zur Bewahrung des „Bukowinertums“ nach den Gewalttaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges.
PhD student Iulia Petrin
– 10-11.07.2020: Conferința Internațională ,,Metaforă, spațialitate, discurs“, Ovidius University of Constanța, Constanta, Romania.
Paper title: Jiddische Bildung und Kultur in der Czernowitzer sozialdemokratischen Zeitung Vorwärts.
– 22-24.10.2020: Conferința tinerilor cercetători în filologie „Noi direcții și perspective metodologice în studiile lingvistice și literare”, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Sibiu, Romania.
Paper title: Von der Bourgeoise zum Proletariat. Die soziale Mission der Dichtung Kubi Wohls (1911-1935)

• Publications
– Francisca Solomon, Ana Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische / Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina. Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt, Iași / Konstanz 2020, 236 p.
– Francisca Solomon: Bukovina’s Yiddish Landscape in Habsburg and Post-Habsburg Context: Historical, Cultural, and Literary Interrelations. In: Magdalena Baran-Szołtys/Jagoda Wierzejska (eds.): Continuities and Discontinuities of the Habsburg Legacy in East-Central European Discourses since 1918, Göttingen 2020, 97-113.
– Francisca Solomon: Humor und Satire als Lebenshilfe in trüben Zeiten. Jiddischsprachige humoristisch-satirische Periodika in der Bukowina. In: Francisca Solomon/Ion Lihaciu (eds.): Terra Iudaica. Literarische, kulturelle und historische Perspektiven auf das Judentum in der Bukowina und in Galizien. / Literary, cultural and historical perspectives on Bukovinian and Galician Jewry [Jassyer Beiträge zur Germanistik XXIII], Konstanz 2020, 345-361.
– Francisca Solomon: Zur Bedeutung des Jahres 1908 in der Kulturgeschichte der jiddischsprachigen Bukowina. In: Maria Sass (ed.): Germanistische Beiträge 46, Sibiu, 2020, 253-267.
– Francisca Solomon: Ein Streifzug durch die jiddische Bukowina. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische / Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina. Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt, Iași / Konstanz 2020, 9-55.
– Francisca Solomon: Volkskünstler und Rezitatoren als wichtige Vermittler jiddischer Sprache und Kultur in der Bukowina. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische / Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina. Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt, Iași / Konstanz 2020, 117-162.
– Francisca Solomon:Lumea ștetlului bucovinean ca microcosmos al pluriculturalității est-europene în romanul „Die Abenteuer des Ruben Jablonsky”. In: Carol Iancu: Evreii din Hârlău și împrejurimi. Istorie și memorie, Iași 2021 (in print).
– Francisca Solomon: Umor și satiră în vremuri de restriște. Periodice umoristice publicate în Bucovina posthabsburgică în limba idiș. In: Silviu Sanie/Dumitru Vitcu (eds.): Studia Historiae Iudaeorum Romaniae XIV, Iași (in print).
– Ana Maria Pălimariu: Itzik Mangers Jiddischland. Jüdisch/Jiddisch als Sprachmanifest. In: Francisca Solomon/Ion Lihaciu (eds.): Terra Iudaica. Literarische, kulturelle und historische Perspektiven auf das Judentum in der Bukowina und in Galizien. / Literary, cultural and historical perspectives on Bukovinian and Galician Jewry [Jassyer Beiträge zur Germanistik XXIII], Konstanz 2020, 329-344.
– Ana Maria Pălimariu: Dichter jiddischer Sprache aus der Bukowina: Elieser Steinbarg, Itzik Manger, Josef Burg. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische / Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina. Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt, Iași / Konstanz 2020, 181-200.
– Ana Maria Pălimariu: Die erste jüdische Sprachkonferenz im Jahre 1908 und ihre Folgen in der deutschsprachigen Presse. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische / Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina. Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt, Iași / Konstanz 2020, 57-73.
– Cristina Spinei: Book review: Andrea Bánffi-Benedek, Gisella Boszák, Szabolcs János, Ágota Nagy (Hg.): Netzwerke und Transferprozesse. Studien aus dem Bereich der Germanistik. Beiträge der VII. Internationalen Germanistentagung an der Christlichen Universität Partium/ Großwardein/ Nagyvárad/ Oradea, 8.–9. September 2016 [Großwardeiner Beiträge zur Germanistik, Schriftenreihe des Lehrstuhls für Germanistik der Christlichen Universität Partium, Band 14), 2018, 504 p. In: Ana-Maria Pălimariu / Wolfgang Müller-Funk (eds.): Narrative des Peripheren in posthabsburgischen Literaturen des zentral(ost)europäischen Raums. [Jassyer Beiträge zur Germanistik XXII]. Iaşi / Konstanz 2019, 253-256.
– Cristina Spinei: Orchestrating Childhood and Darkness: On The Book of Paradise by Itzik Manger. In: Francisca Solomon / Ion Lihaciu (eds.): Terra Judaica. Literarische, kulturelle und historische Perspektiven auf das Judentum in der Bukowina und in Galizien / Literary, cultural and historical Perspectives on Bukovinian and Galician Jewry. [Jassyer Beiträge zur Germanistik XXIII]. Konstanz 2020, 315-329.
– Cristina Spinei: Auf dem Weg zur Gleichberechtigung: Kampfgeist, fragmentierte Loyalitäten und brüchige Identitäten in den Texten schreibender Frauen aus der Bukowina. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana-Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische/ Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina – Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt. Iaşi / Konstanz 2020, 75-99.
– Cristina Spinei: Itzik Mangers Arbeit am Kindheitsmythos in Das Buch vom Paradies. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana-Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische/ Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina – Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt. Iaşi / Konstanz 2020, 201-224.
– Iulia Petrin: „Ein Leitstern für die jüdische Jugend“. Zur kulturellen Bedeutung des Czernowitzer Vereins „Morgenrojt“. In: Francisca Solomon / Ion Lihaciu (eds.): Terra Judaica. Literarische, kulturelle und historische Perspektiven auf das Judentum in der Bukowina und in Galizien / Literary, cultural and historical Perspectives on Bukovinian and Galician Jewry. [Jassyer Beiträge zur Germanistik XXIII]. Konstanz 2020, 149-158.
– Iulia Petrin: „Der Jüdische Schulverein für die Bukowina” – eine „Sammelstelle jüdischer Intellektuellen”. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana-Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische/ Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina – Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt. Iaşi / Konstanz 2020, 101-115.
– Iulia Petrin: Jiddische Bildung und Kultur in der Czernowitzer sozialdemokratischen Zeitung Vorwärts. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana-Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische/ Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina – Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt. Iaşi / Konstanz 2020, 163-179.
– Iulia Petrin: „So will ich erwecken die Brüder zum Kampf.” Kubi Wohls Lyrik und die jüdische Arbeiterschaft im Czernowitz der Zwischenkriegszeit. In: Francisca Solomon, Ana-Maria Pălimariu, Cristina Spinei, Iulia Petrin: Jüdische/ Jiddische Kultur in der Bukowina – Diskursive Fragmente einer untergegangenen Welt. Iaşi / Konstanz 2020, 225-235.
– Iulia Petrin: „O stea călăuzitoare pentru tineretul evreiesc.” Importanța culturală a asociației cernăuțene „Morgenrojt”. In: Silviu Sanie/Dumitru Vitcu (eds.): Studia Historiae Iudaeorum Romaniae XIV (in print).

Official Documentation
Raport TE 2018 YIDCLBUK
Raport TE 2019 YIDCLBUK
Raport TE 2018-2020 final YIDCLBUK