“Home Afar”: The Life of Central European Jewish Refugees in Shanghai During World War II

Author(s): Péter Vámos / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2004

Since its opening to the West in 1843, Shanghai had served as destination for four waves of Jewish immigration. The first Jews to settle in China were Sephardim from Baghdad, who migrated eastward in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Sassoons, Kadoories, Hardoons, Ezras, and Abrahams became wealthy merchants, and soon acquired British citizenship. The second group consisted of Russian Ashkenazim who escaped the pogroms and the civil war following the Bolshevik Revolution. They were considered as the 'middle class' of the Jewish community in Shanghai. The third group of German and Austrian (and in smaller numbers Hungarian, Czechoslovakian and Romanian) Jews, numbering over 15,000, barely escaped the Nazi terror in the late 1930s. The fourth group consisted of about 1000 Polish Jews, including the only complete European Jewish religious school to be saved from Nazi destruction, the Mirrer Yeshiva. The International Settlement of Shanghai seemed a viable option for the desperate refugees; this in spite of the fact that the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, and the Japanese, allies of Nazi Germany, occupied parts of the city. Nevertheless, in contrast to the German plan of Entjudung, the Japanese wanted to make use of alleged Jewish wealth and influence for the benefit of Japan's New Order. The official Japanese policy towards Jews stated that although Japan should avoid actively embracing Jews who had been expelled by her allies denying Jews entry would not be in the spirit of the empire's long-standing advocacy of racial equality. As a result of this policy, between the fall of 1938 and the winter of 1941, about 20,000 refugees travelled to Shanghai, their temporary home afar. During the three-year period between 1938 and December 1941 most newcomers managed more or less to integrate into Shanghai's economy, despite the fact that they had come to Shanghai out of political necessity, and not for the economic prospects. Following the outbreak of the War in the Pacific and the Japanese occupation of all sections of Shanghai, the economic situation of the refugees significantly worsened. Furthermore, as stability in Shanghai was the most important priority for the Japanese, on February 18, 1943 the military authorities issued a proclamation about the establishment of a restricted area - or ghetto, as the refugees used to call it - for stateless refugees in Hongkou, where they were confined until the Japanese surrender in August 1945. The end of the war opened up the possibility for the refugees of leaving Shanghai. However, when they were informed about the Holocaust in Europe, most did not want to return to their homeland. Many of them left for the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America, and after 1948, thousands of Jews went to live in the newly established State of Israel.

“I’m a Survivor!” - The Holocaust and Larry David’s Problematic Humour in Curb Your Enthusiasm

Author(s): Jonathan Friedman / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

In 2004, Larry David’s HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm aired an episode entitled The Survivor, which featured two storylines-one about Hasidic Judaism and one about the Holocaust. In his writing for the comedy series Seinfeld, David created a world that had Jewish coding, but overt references to Jews and Jewish history were more oblique (“soup Nazi” and Schindler’s List episodes aside). In Curb Your Enthusiasm, David’s follow-up show about “nothing”, David frequently launched frontal assaults on everything Jewish, and many viewers found the Survivor episode beyond the pale. This paper investigates this particular episode as a case study to evaluate the broader issue of representing the Holocaust through the medium of comedy.

“Identity, Integration, Assimilation, Rejection – Europe and the Jews”

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2003

International Seminar Bucharest, May 5-6, 2003

“Io sono a scacchi”. L’identità ebraica nell’opera letteraria e teatrale di Janusz Korczak

Author(s): Giovanna Tomassucci / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2016

This paper focuses on the problem of ethnic coexistence as presented in some of Korczak’s literary and dramatic works, from his earlier humorous short stories to the play The Senate of Madmen. Like many Polish writers, Korczak perceived literature as a space of freedom, but, unlike other Jews writing in Polish, he always stressed his Jewishness and his firm belief in an equal and double identity (Jewish and Polish). In his long literary career Korczak never practiced ethnic agnosticism: on the contrary, he brought the tradition of Ashkenazi humor and Yiddish literary topics (szmonces, schlemiel and nudnik, the shtetl) into Polish culture, converting these symbols of Jewish identity into universal cultural elements.

“JUDAISM IN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION: 2000 YEARS OF INTERFERENCES”

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2001

“JUDAISM IN EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION: 2000 YEARS OF INTERFERENCES” International Seminar, Bucharest, April 22-23, 2001

“Literatura polska wobec Zagłady (1939–1968)“

Author(s): Piotr Krupiński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 34/2014

Reviews; Recenzje

“Outside the Natural Order”: Temerl, the Female Hasid

Author(s): Tsippi Kauffman / Language(s): English Issue: 37/2016

Women are far more present in Hasidic tales than they are in Hasidic teachings. Temerl Sonnenberg-Bergson, a famous wealthy patron of Poland’s tsadikim, is the heroine of a number of Hasidic tales. She is esteemed for her support of tsadikim, but is looked upon as a woman who deviates from the rigid social order of which she is a part, making her a threat to community norms. This article focuses on the literary figure of Temerl, who, within Hasidic discourse, comes to represent a kind of hermaphrodite: on the one hand, her wealth augments her material, feminine side and intensifies her sexual attraction; on the other, her power and influence construct her as masculine, casting the tsadik whom she supports in a feminine role which he must strive to overcome.

“Remember, Reflect, Reimagine” - Jews and Irish nationalism through the lens of the 1916 centenary commemorations

Author(s): Natalie Wynn / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2017

This paper examines popular representations of Jewish attitudes towards Irish nationalism, and the way that these have evolved in the hundred years between the Easter Rising of 1916 and its centenary commemorations in 2016. Although it is now a standard assumption that Jews sup- ported the Irish nationalist movement, including its militant branch, sources from the rst half of the twentieth century suggest that the reality was in fact significantly more nuanced and ambivalent. The fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising appears to have marked a turning point for constructions of both Irish and Irish Jewish identity. In 1966, the Irish government viewed the first state-sponsored commemoration of 1916 as an opportunity to foster more unifying and inclusive constructions of “Irish-ness” with the Easter Rising as a focal point. Around this time, a more positive narrative of Jewish engagement with Irish nationalism also appears to have emerged. In the ensuing fifty years this narrative has been gradually buttressed, expanded upon and embellished, particularly in the run-up to the much anticipated centenary commemorations of 2016. In this article I investigate how the narrative of Jews and Irish nationalism has evolved, and continues to evolve, in response to changing needs and circumstances both within and beyond Ireland’s Jewish community.This paper examines popular representations of Jewish attitudes towards Irish nationalism, and the way that these have evolved in the hundred years between the Easter Rising of 1916 and its centenary commemorations in 2016. Although it is now a standard assumption that Jews sup- ported the Irish nationalist movement, including its militant branch, sources from the rest half of the twentieth century suggest that the reality was in fact significantly more nuanced and ambivalent. The fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising appears to have marked a turning point for constructions of both Irish and Irish Jewish identity. In 1966, the Irish government viewed the first state-sponsored commemoration of 1916 as an opportunity to foster more unifying and inclusive constructions of “Irish-ness” with the Easter Rising as a focal point. Around this time, a more positive narrative of Jewish engagement with Irish nationalism also appears to have emerged. In the ensuing fifty years this narrative has been gradually buttressed, expanded upon and embellished, particularly in the run-up to the much anticipated centenary commemorations of 2016. In this article I investigate how the narrative of Jews and Irish nationalism has evolved, and continues to evolve, in response to changing needs and circumstances both within and beyond Ireland’s Jewish community.

“Suggestioni dalla narrativa israeliana contemporanea”

Author(s): Pinuccia Marigo / Language(s): Italian Issue: 0/2002

“Superstitious and Abominable”: Jews in the Epicurean Account of Diogenes of Oinoanda

Author(s): Krystyna Stebnicka / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2014

A fragment of the Epicurean account of Diogenes of Oinoanda (2nd century AD), which was found in 1997, revealed a mention of the most superstitious and abominable Jews and Egyptians. The fragment is part of A Treatise on Physics and repeats the Epicurean view that gods do not interfere in people’s lives. The aforementioned peoples serve the exemplification that the world of humans is separated from the world of the gods. Both expressions refer to the stereotypical perception of the Jews and Egyptians that is well-known from Greek-Roman literature. However, it seems that the way both ethne imagined their gods – in the form of animals (the Egyptians’ view) and without any cultic statues (the Jews’ view) – was meaningful for Diogenes, who like other Epicureans attached great importance to the worship of images of gods.

“That’s not fair, Daddy” - On Being a Second and Third-Generation Applicant to the Austrian General Settlement Fund

Author(s): Paul Weindling / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

Since the 1950s, the Republic of Austria insisted it had settled all the claims of its Jewish citizens regarding their properties stolen under the Nazi regime. From the late 1980s, with the help of personal recollections and case studies, it became ever clearer that this was often not the case, and that the Austrian authorities had in many instances – often deliberately – handled matters of restitution carelessly. Many losses were not addressed in Austrian restitution and compensation measures. In the course of the reevaluation of the role of Austrian citizens in the Nazi era which took place in the 1990s, and in the wake of the Washington Agreement of 2001, a General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism was established. Its purpose was to bring about a comprehensive resolution to open questions of compensation and to acknowledge Austria’s moral responsibility for losses of assets suffered by the victims of the Nazi regime in Austria between 1938 and 1945 in the form of voluntary payments. This article describes the inconsistencies and ordeals an applicant is confronted with in the course of a justified claim for restitution, based on personal experiences, but presented in a scholarly framework.

“The Holocaust in Romania: Pre-requisites, Facts and Consequences”, International Seminar, Bucharest, June 2–3, 2005

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2005

“The Jew Is and Always Will Be Our Greatest Enemy!” Anti-Semitism in Slovak Radio Broadcast from the Reich’s Vienna Radio Station

Author(s): Michala Lônčíková / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The international political situation and the Nazi plans for Central Europe culminated in the late 1930s. The organisation of the collaboration with pro-Nazi and separatist Slovak representatives accelerated after the “Anschluss” of Austria in March 1938. From then on, Slovak territory was only separated from Nazi Germany by the Danube River. The proximity of the two major centres – Vienna and Bratislava – enabled the Nazis to affect the political development of Slovak autonomy and influence public opinion to favor the break-up of Czechoslovakia through the use of various propaganda tools. Modern technology further shortened the distance between places that were already physically close to each other. The main aim of this paper is to focus on Slovak radio broadcasts from the Reich‘s Vienna radio station. It was established at the time of the Sudetenland crisis on 15th September 1938 and was organised by Ľudovít Mutňanský and Rudolf Vávra, members of the Foreign Hlinka Guard (FHG). Studying the period of Slovak autonomy is crucial for gaining an understanding of the original purpose for this broadcast – an attempt to influence public opinion in favor of the dissolution process. Taking into consideration the radicalisation of the broadcast pertaining to the racial perception of the Jewish community, contrary to the ideology of the Hlinka‘s Slovak People‘s Party (HSĽS) at that time, special attention is paid to the role of anti-Semitism in the Slovak program.

“Tsi vos toyg a yudish blat?” Of what Use Is a Yiddish Newspaper? Yiddish as a Language of the Press in Nineteenth-Century Romania

Author(s): Augusta Costiuc Radosav / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

A very rich and varied Yiddish press developed in Romania in the second half of the nineteenth century, encompassing around sixty-two periodicals, of which I have examined fifty. As early as 1874, a number of those journals presented a motivation for choosing to publish a newspaper in Yiddish. This article will endeavour to highlight the development of that motivation and to show what arguments the newspapers’ editors used in justifying their choice. Besides arguing that Yiddish newspapers were necessary because Yiddish was the only language understood by the majority of the Jewish population in Romania, the editors also expressed their belief that Yiddish journals were an effective way to educate people on subjects besides religion. The maskilic argument in favour of using Yiddish newspapers as a means to spread secular knowledge was completed towards the end of the nineteenth century by a nationalist rhetoric, which stressed that Yiddish newspapers were an effective tool for constructing a national consciousness among Jews. As the editors concluded, Yiddish newspapers contributed significantly to the consolidation of the spiritual cohesion of the Jewish people, and helped them become aware of their Jewish identity, while protecting them from assimilation.

“Victimizing Romania” A Fictional History Of German Expansion Toward East Revisited

Author(s): Mihai Chioveanu / Language(s): English Issue: 7/2007

In Eastern Europe, the collapse of communism brought about a beginning of memory and a compensatory glorification of the pre-Communist age. In some cases, and from the narrow perspective of several politically sensitive topics from the national past, subjects on which the Communists were typically as silent as the nationalists, the process started before 1989. During the last two decades, many historians simply followed the previous mainstream and remained attached to the national-communist mythology and paradigm that outlived the regime. This paper is a critical overview of the Romanian historiography concerned with the extremely sensitive, nonetheless of an utmost centrality, issue of the German expansion in Eastern Europe between 1938 and 1944, and the Romanian response to it, a theme for which the historical facts, at least in the traditional sense, though not scarce, are often obliterated and kept at the mercy of ideological conflict and dogma. The aim is to describe and comment on some of the most significant Romanian historical writings on this issue, on several articles and monographs elaborated at different moments and from different ideological perspectives, to underline their content, identify the theoretical backgrounds and genuine ideas of the authors, and critically analyse their message. In addition, I will reconsider from a different perspective the validity of their claims and highlight their interpretative and explanatory gulfs. This kind of approach might help us understand why even some western scholars, though familiar with Romanian history, in the attempt to avoid the logic of the nativists, the ideological frame, and the proposed ready-made images, while confronting the influent and persuasive Romanian second literature, fall into the trap, and accept the canon, perspectives and explanations provided by Romanian historiography.

“Was ich den Juden war, wird eine kommende Zeit besser beurteilen …” - Myth and Memory at Theodor Herzl’s Original Gravesite in Vienna

Author(s): Tim Corbett / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

Theodor Herzl is mostly remembered as the founder of the Zionist movement and a significant forebear of the State of Israel, where his memory thrives today. This article posits Herzl’s original gravesite in Döbling, Vienna, as instrumental to the construction of Herzl’s legacy through the first part of the twentieth century, when it was used by Jewish community functionaries and Zionist organisations to mobilise a variety of political agendas. By contrast to Herzl’s new burial site in Jerusalem, the now empty grave in Döbling constitutes a powerful alternative lieu de mémoire, a counterbalance to the manner in which Herzl’s life and memory are conceived in Israel.

“We Call Him Mister (Pan) Editor”: Nahum Sokolow and Modern Hebrew Literature

Author(s): Ela Bauer / Language(s): English Issue: 35/2015

This paper presents the tasks and aims that Nahum Sokolow believed Hebrew literature should have in Jewish life and in the Jewish national movement. Before his official joining the Zionist movement, Sokolow believed that the contribution of Hebrew literature to the formation of Jewish nationalism was more significant than the return of the Jews to their historical territory. This position did not change significantly after his joining the Zionist movement in 1897. In addition the paper evaluates Sokolow’s significant input to the development of the Jewish literary center in Warsaw and a new Hebrew literary style.

“You need to speak Polish”. Antony Polonsky interviewed by Konrad Matyjaszek

Author(s): Konrad Matyjaszek,Antony Polonsky / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2017

The interview with Antony Polonsky focuses on the history of Polish-Jewish studies as a research field, analyzed from the time of its initiation at the turn of the 1980s until year 2014. Antony Polonsky is the chief historian of the main exhibition of the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, as well as the editor-in-chief of Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, a yearly research journal. He is also a co-founder of the frst research institutions focused of the field of Polish-Jewish studies, and a co-initiator of the frst academic events in this field. In the conversation, Polonsky discusses the context of the creation of the Polin Museum’s main exhibition, including the impact of politics on this exhibition’s final form. Afterwards, he recounts the history of the beginnings of Polish-Jewish studies, including the Orchard Lake meeting (1979) and the conference at Columbia University (1983). Polonsky gives a detailed account of the course and the outcomes of the Polish-Jewish studies conference in Oxford in 1984, which he co-organized. He also analyses the 1980s Polish political opposition circles’ reactions to the presence of anti-Semitic narratives in the opposition’s discourse. The last section of the conversation focuses on the presence within the field of Polish-Jewish studies of narratives that are apologetic towards the Polish nationalist discourse.

„ Hatvannyolcas vagyok“

Author(s): Ágnes Heller / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2010

Demszky Gábor: Keleti Éden

„...huszonkettedikén haltunk meg...” A teljes Komor–Illyés-levelezés (1931–1947)

Author(s): István Horváth / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2013

Az Illyés-hagyatékban nemrégiben fellelt Magyar Csillag-levelezésből (1941–44) előkerültek Komor András és felesége, Lengyel Gizella levelei is. A felleléskor ez még csak néhány levelet jelentett, ezért célszerûnek látszott a hagyaték rendszerezett részében előkeresni a Komor házaspár többi levelét is. Az új levelekkel kiegészített és immár teljesnek tekinthető levelezés az 1930 és 1947 közötti időszakot íveli át, mintegy negyven írott oldalnyi terjedelemben.