Miriam Udel, “‘It’s Hard to Be a Jew’: How Yiddish Children’s Literature Framed Antisemitism”

William Pimlott, "The Yiddish Politics of Fighting Antisemitism in the 20th Century"

Over a million Eastern European Jews migrated to the United States, Argentina, Britain and a range of other destinations towards the end of the 19th century, carrying with them the Yiddish language and its press, literature, theatre and cinema, as well as establishing Yiddish schools. The “mother tongue” was the natural medium for Ashkenazi Jews to confront the new-old forms of prejudice that they encountered. Miriam Udel (Emory University) will consider how educational leaders and children’s authors framed the experience of antisemitism for a new generation, and what strategies of resistance they implicitly called for. William Pimlott (Postdoctoral Associate - NYU) will address how the Yiddish public sphere offered a relatively secure location to discuss and analyse antisemitism in private - and organise to fight it. Sandra Fox (Visiting Associate Professor - NYU) will moderate.