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From:      "Ewa Tomicka-Krumrey" <[log in to unmask]>

Jewish Culture(s) in the New Europe: The Case of Vilnius (1918-39)

Workshop
from the 6th to the 8th of October 2002 in Leipzig; Germany

of the Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur
Ostmitteleuropas (GWZO), Leipzig in cooperation with the
Simon-Dubnow-Institut and the Polnisches Institut Leipzig,

Coll for papers

"Visual and historical cultures of East Central Europe since 1918" is the
title of a research project recently initiated by the Geistes-
wissenschaftliches Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas in
Leipzig. This project, conducted by historians and art historians,
investigates different aspects of the national cultures of East Central
Europe which emerged from the historical process of modernization in the
region. The triumph of the nation-state in 1918 strongly effected such
developments: In the states newly established or re-established in East
Central Europe after World War I, the nation became the dominating
principle which was not only to be politically implemented, but also
artistically represented, literarily described and scientifically
legitimated. In doing so, it wasn't sufficient to fall back upon
traditional conceptions: the tremendous modernizing effects that came
along with the political reorganization of the societies in question
necessitated also a redefinition of the nation, regarding both its purpose
and its composition. One of the consequences of this revaluation was that
those who did not belong to the dominant nation of a state (Staatsnation)
had to defend their position in it and to prove their loyality towards it.
This was especially true for the Jews, who were generally suspected of not
being trustworthy of the nation. Thus, the so-called 'Jewish question' was
a leading theme in the political and intellectual debates of inter-war
East Central Europe.

The Jews took their own part in the discussions on the renewal of the
nation. By no means did they restrict themselves to a mere reaction to the
reproach of being unloyal. They rather developed a number of their own
cultural models which were also centered around the question of identity.

This is exactly what our workshop will be about, and the following
questions are to be discussed: First, we want to highlight the Jewish
position vis-a-vis the national discourse prevalent in the respective
majority societies. Secondly, we want to assess what kinds of models of
'Jewishness' emerged and how they were expressed in literature, art, and
sciences. An area of special interest will be the idea of the 'Ostjude' as
a concept invented by Western Jews at the beginning of the twentieth
century, and Eastern Jewish responses to this idea. The following sections
are planned:

1. The socio-political context of Jewish self-assertion in the inter-war
   period

2. Jewish sciences: The Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut

3. Jewish literature, languages, and journalism

4. Jewish art and theatre

In order to remain in the framework of a workshop, we do not intend to
present an overview of developments in East Central Europe as a whole.
Hence the discussion will be concerned with a case study. Our choice of
Vilnius can be justified on several grounds. Firstly, it was a focal point
of conflicting national ambitions and claims (of Poles and Lithuanians) in
the inter-war period. Secondly, the "Jerusalem of the East", as it was
called, had an extraordinarily rich and manifold Jewish cultural milieu.
In this context the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut, founded in 1925,
functioned as the impulse-giving institution, its influence far exceeding
Lithuania and Poland.

However, we would like to point out thet the discussion of this case study
is not intended as a limitation but rather as an invitation for a
comparative approach. Therefore, we will be grateful for any complementary
considerations on Prague and Budapest, Iasi and Bratislava, Czernowitz and
Lvov.

The workshop will be held in German and English.

Those interested are asked to send an abstract of a paper, which should be
about 60 lines, by the end of March at the latest.

Dr. Heidemarie Petersen
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Dr. Marina Dmitrieva
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