Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Eastern European Ashkenazaic Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and modernist plays. At its height, its geographical scope was comparably broad: from the late 19th century until just before World War II, professional Yiddish theatre could be found throughout the heavily Jewish areas of Eastern and East Central Europe, but also in Berlin, ...

Including:

• Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences
• Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings
• Yiddish theatre - The early years
• Yiddish theatre - The Russian era
• Yiddish theatre - London
• Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater
• Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Read more here: » Yiddish theatre: Encyclopedia - Yiddish theatre

Born Iosif Solomonovich Grossman in Berdichev, Ukraine into an emancipated Jewish family, he did not receive a traditional Jewish education, and knew only a few Yiddish words. A Russian nanny turned his name Yossya into Russian Vasya (a diminutive of Vasily), which was accepted by the whole family. His father had social-democratic convictions and joined the Mensheviks. Young Vasily Grossman idealistica ...

See also:

Vasily Grossman, Vasily Grossman - Biography, Vasily Grossman - Quotes, Vasily Grossman - Publications, Vasily Grossman - Footnotes

Read more here: » Vasily Grossman: Encyclopedia II - Vasily Grossman - Biography

Noah Prilutski (1882–1941) noted that Yiddish theatre did not arise simultaneously with theatre in other European "national" languages; he conjectured that this was at least in part because the Jewish sense of nationality favored Hebrew over Yiddish as a "national" language, but few Jews of the period were actually comfortable using Hebrew outside of a religious/liturgical context. [Bercovici, 1998, 18] Nonetheless, the culture of the Eastern European Jews was permeated with music, song, and dance ...

See also:

Yiddish theatre, Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences, Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings, Yiddish theatre - The early years, Yiddish theatre - The Russian era, Yiddish theatre - London, Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater, Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Read more here: » Yiddish theatre: Encyclopedia II - Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences

Although professional Yiddish theatre is generally dated from 1876, there are earlier claimants to the title. Although there was briefly some professional Yiddish-language theatre in and around Warsaw in the 1830s, it left no immediate heirs. There is a contemporaneous record of there being 19 amateur Yiddish-language theatrical troupes in and around Warsaw at that time, and of one professional company performing, with a large and receptive audience of both Jews and Gentiles, a five-act drama about Moses, written by A. Schertspierer o ...

See also:

Yiddish theatre, Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences, Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings, Yiddish theatre - The early years, Yiddish theatre - The Russian era, Yiddish theatre - London, Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater, Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Read more here: » Yiddish theatre: Encyclopedia II - Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings

Yevsektsiya (alternative spelling: Yevsektsia), Russian: ЕвСекция, the abbreviation of the phrase "Еврейская секция" (Yevreyskaya sektsiya) was the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party created to challenge and eventually destroy the rival Bund and Zionist parties, suppress Judaism and "bourgeois nationalism" and replace traditional Jewish culture with "proletarian culture", as well as to impose the ideas of Dictatorship of the proletariat onto the Jewish worker class. An important ai ...

Including:

• Yevsektsiya - Languages and culture
• Yevsektsiya - Suppression of Hebrew
• Yevsektsiya - Yiddish
• Yevsektsiya - Dismantlement of Yevsektsiya
• Yevsektsiya - Footnotes

Read more here: » Yevsektsiya: Encyclopedia - Yevsektsiya

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (Russian: Вячесла́в Миха́йлович Мо́лотов) (February 25, 1890 (O.S.) (March 9, 1890 (N.S.))–November 8, 1986), Soviet politician and diplomat, was a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protege of Joseph Stalin, to the 1950s, when he was dismissed from office by Nikita Khrushchev. He was the principal Soviet signatory of the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939. Vyacheslav Molotov - Origins and early life. Including:

• Vyacheslav Molotov - Origins and early life
• Vyacheslav Molotov - Early career
• Vyacheslav Molotov - Prime Minister
• Vyacheslav Molotov - Foreign Minister
• Vyacheslav Molotov - Postwar career

Read more here: » Vyacheslav Molotov: Encyclopedia - Vyacheslav Molotov

Like the rest of Yiddish-language culture, Yiddish theatre was devastated by the Holocaust. A major portion of the world's Yiddish-speakers were killed and many theatres were destroyed. Many of the surviving Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi emigrated to Israel, where many assimilated into the emerging Hebrew-language culture. Although its glory days have passed, Yiddish theatre companies still perform in various Jewish communities. The Folksbiene (People's Theatre) company in New York City is still active 90 years after it was founded. The ...

See also:

Yiddish theatre, Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences, Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings, Yiddish theatre - The early years, Yiddish theatre - The Russian era, Yiddish theatre - London, Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater, Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Read more here: » Yiddish theatre: Encyclopedia II - Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Abraham Goldfaden is generally considered the founder of the first professional Yiddish theatre troupe, which he founded in Iaşi, Romania and later moved to Bucharest; his own career also took him to Imperial Russia, Lvov, and New York City. Within two years of Goldfaden's founding of his troupe, there were several rival troupes in Bucharest, mostly founded by formen members of Goldfaden's troupe. Most of these troupes followed Goldfaden's original formula of musical vaudeville and light comedy, while Goldfaden himself turned more toward re ...

See also:

Yiddish theatre, Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences, Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings, Yiddish theatre - The early years, Yiddish theatre - The Russian era, Yiddish theatre - London, Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater, Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Read more here: » Yiddish theatre: Encyclopedia II - Yiddish theatre - The early years

The 1883 Russian ban (eventually lifted in 1904) effectively pushed Yiddish theatre to Western Europe and then to America; over the next few decades, successive waves of Yiddish-language performers would arrive in New York (and, to a lesser extent, in Berlin, London, Vienna, and Paris), some simply as artists seeking an audience, but many as a result of persecutions, pogroms and economic crises in Eastern Europe. Professional Yiddish theatre in London began in 1884, and flourished until the mid-1930s. By 1896, Kalman Juvilier's troupe was th ...

See also:

Yiddish theatre, Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences, Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings, Yiddish theatre - The early years, Yiddish theatre - The Russian era, Yiddish theatre - London, Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater, Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Read more here: » Yiddish theatre: Encyclopedia II - Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater

If Yiddish theatre was born in Romania, its youth occurred largely in Imperial Russia, largely in what is now Ukraine. Israel Rosenberg's troupe (which later had a series of managers, including Goldfaden's brother Tulya, and which at one point split in two, with one half led by actor Jacob Adler) gave Russia's first professional Yiddish theater performance in Odessa in 1878. Goldfaden himself soon came to Odessa, pushing Rosenberg's troupe into the provinces, and Osip Mikhailovich Lerner and N.M. Sheikevitch also founded a Yiddish theatre at Odessa, which for several years became the capit ...

See also:

Yiddish theatre, Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences, Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings, Yiddish theatre - The early years, Yiddish theatre - The Russian era, Yiddish theatre - London, Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater, Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Read more here: » Yiddish theatre: Encyclopedia II - Yiddish theatre - The Russian era

Of the next era of Yiddish theatre, Adler wrote, "...if Yiddish theater was destined to go through its infancy in Russia, and in America grew to manhood and success, then London was its school." [Adler, 1999, 256] In London in the 1880s, playing in small theater clubs "on a stage the size of a cadaver" [Adler, 1999, 248], not daring to play on a Friday night or to light a fire on stage on a Saturday afternoon (both because of the Jewish Sabbath), forced to use a cardboard ram's horn when playing Uriel Acosta so as not to blaspheme [Adler, 1999, 257], Yiddish theatre nonetheless took on much of what ...

See also:

Yiddish theatre, Yiddish theatre - Precursors and early influences, Yiddish theatre - The first rumblings, Yiddish theatre - The early years, Yiddish theatre - The Russian era, Yiddish theatre - London, Yiddish theatre - The heyday of Yiddish theater, Yiddish theatre - The effect of the Holocaust

Read more here: » Yiddish theatre: Encyclopedia II - Yiddish theatre - London

He was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that attempted to cite him for refusal to sign the non-communist declaration. In complicity with the HUAC the US State Department denied him a passport which effectively confined him to the United States. During a 1952 tour of the United States a concert was organized at the International Peace Arch on the border between Washington State and British Columbia. This was done as an act of defiance against the authorities who refused to allow him to cross the border. The co ...

See also:

Paul Robeson, Paul Robeson - Birth and siblings, Paul Robeson - Education, Paul Robeson - Marriage and children, Paul Robeson - Actor and singer, Paul Robeson - Rumored Affairs, Paul Robeson - Movies, Paul Robeson - Critic of the United States, Paul Robeson - Communism and the McCarthy era, Paul Robeson - Death and burial, Paul Robeson - Epilogue, Paul Robeson - Quotes

Read more here: » Paul Robeson: Encyclopedia II - Paul Robeson - Communism and the McCarthy era

Lenin wrote in his Critical Remarks on the National Question (1913): "Whoever directly or indirectly puts forward the slogan of a Jewish "national culture" is (whatever his good intentions may be) an enemy of the proletariat, a supporter of the old and of the caste position of the Jews, an accomplice of the rabbis and the bourgeosie". Yevsektsiya - Suppression of Hebrew. The Bolsheviks considered Hebrew a "reactionary language" since it was associated with both Judaism and Zionism, and ...

See also:

Yevsektsiya, Yevsektsiya - Languages and culture, Yevsektsiya - Suppression of Hebrew, Yevsektsiya - Yiddish, Yevsektsiya - Dismantlement of Yevsektsiya, Yevsektsiya - Footnotes

Read more here: » Yevsektsiya: Encyclopedia II - Yevsektsiya - Languages and culture

Solomon Mikhoels, the popular actor and director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater, was appointed the JAC chairman. The JAC's newspaper in Yiddish language was called Einigkeit ("Unity", Cyrillic: Эйникейт). The JAC broadcasted pro-Soviet propaganda to foreign audiences, assuring them of the absence of anti-Semitism in the USSR. In 1943, Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer, the first official representatives of the Soviet Jewry allowed to visit the West, embarked on a seven-month tour to the USA, Mexico, Canada and Britai ...

See also:

Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee - Activities, Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee - Persecution, Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee - List of notable JAC members

Read more here: » Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee: Encyclopedia II - Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee - Activities

List of Russians - Architects. Vasily Bazhenov (1738-1799) Savva Chevakinsky (1709-between 1774 and 1780) Matvei Kazakov (1738-1812) Andrey Kvasov (1720 - after 1770) Alexander Kokorinov (1725-1772) Konstantin Melnikov (1890-1974) Ivan Fyodorovich Michurin (1700–1763) Alfred Alexandrovich Parland (1842-1920) Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771) Carlo Rossi (architect) (1775-1849) Andrey Schtakenshneider (1802-1865) ...

See also:

List of Russians, List of Russians - Art, List of Russians - Architects, List of Russians - Artists, List of Russians - Authors, List of Russians - Film directors, List of Russians - Musicians and Composers, List of Russians - Performing Arts, List of Russians - Poets, List of Russians - Cosmonauts, List of Russians - A-N, List of Russians - P-Z, List of Russians - Explorers, List of Russians - Inventors, List of Russians - Humanities and Social sciences, List of Russians - Philology and Linguistics, List of Russians - Scientists, List of Russians - A-K, List of Russians - K-M, List of Russians - N-Z, List of Russians - Statesmen and military, List of Russians - Before 1917, List of Russians - After 1917, List of Russians - Military, List of Russians - Sports, List of Russians - Chess, List of Russians - Gymnastics, List of Russians - Tennis, List of Russians - Ice hockey, List of Russians - Weightlifting, List of Russians - Other, List of Russians - Other, List of Russians - Former Soviet Union, List of Russians - By subdivision/nationalities

Read more here: » List of Russians: Encyclopedia II - List of Russians - Art

History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Under Lenin 1917-1924. In March 1919, Lenin delivered a speech "On Anti-Jewish Pogroms"[6] on a gramophone disc. Lenin sought to explain the phenomenon of anti-Semitism in Marxist terms. According to Lenin, anti-Semitism was an "attempt to divert the hatred of the workers and peasants from the exploiters toward the Jews." Linking anti-Semitism to class struggle, ...

See also:

History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Early History, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Tsarist Russia 1480s-1917, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Pogroms and the Pale of Settlement, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Jews and Bolshevism, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - After the October Revolution 1917-1991, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Under Lenin 1917-1924, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Under Stalin 1922-1953, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - After Stalin, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - The Soviet Union and Zionism, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - The collapse of the Soviet Union and emigration to Israel, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Jews in Russia today, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Jewish life, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Anti-semitism in post-Soviet countries, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Assimilation trends, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Demographic data, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Footnotes

Read more here: » History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union: Encyclopedia II - History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - After the October Revolution 1917-1991

History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Under Lenin 1917-1924. In March 1919, Lenin delivered a speech "On Anti-Jewish Pogroms"[6] on a gramophone disc. Lenin sought to explain the phenomenon of anti-Semitism in Marxist terms. According to Lenin, anti-Semitism was an "attempt to divert the hatred of the workers and peasants from the exploiters toward the Jews." Linking anti-Semitism to class struggle, ...

See also:

History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Early History, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Tsarist Russia 1480s-1917, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Pogroms and the Pale of Settlement, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Jews and Bolshevism, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - After the October Revolution 1917-1991, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Under Lenin 1917-1924, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Under Stalin 1922-1953, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - After Stalin, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - The Soviet Union and Zionism, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - The collapse of the Soviet Union and emigration to Israel, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Jews in Russia today, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Jewish life, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Anti-semitism in post-Soviet Russia, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Assimilation trends, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Demographic data, History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - Footnotes

Read more here: » History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union: Encyclopedia II - History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union - After the October Revolution 1917-1991

List of Russian Jews - Politicians. Alexey Arbatov, Russian politician & defence analyst Georgy Arbatov, Soviet politician, academic & political advisor Mikhail Fradkov, Prime Minister (Jewish father) Alexander Herzen, Socialist (Jewish mother) Lazar Kaganovich, Soviet politician Lev Kamenev (Jewish father) & Grigory Zinoviev, ruling triumvirate with Stalin Maxim Litvinov, Soviet ambassador and Minister of Foreign Affairs Alex ...

See also:

List of Russian Jews, List of Russian Jews - Historical figures, List of Russian Jews - Politicians, List of Russian Jews - Soldiers, List of Russian Jews - Other, List of Russian Jews - Scientists, List of Russian Jews - Natural scientists, List of Russian Jews - Social scientists, List of Russian Jews - Cultural figures, List of Russian Jews - Musicians, List of Russian Jews - Comedians, List of Russian Jews - Artists, List of Russian Jews - Authors and poets, List of Russian Jews - Business figures, List of Russian Jews - Entrepreneurs, List of Russian Jews - Oligarchs, List of Russian Jews - Sport figures, List of Russian Jews - Chess, List of Russian Jews - Other sports

Read more here: » List of Russian Jews: Encyclopedia II - List of Russian Jews - Historical figures

Towards the end and immediately after World War II, the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) grew increasingly influential to the post-Holocaust Soviet Jewry, and was accepted as its representative in the West. As its activities sometimes contradicted official Soviet policies (see Black Book), it became a nuisance to Stalin's absolute power. The CPSU Central Committee auditing commission concluded that instead of focusing its attention on the "struggle against forces of international reaction", the JAC continued the line of the Bund — a dan ...

See also:

Rootless cosmopolitan, Rootless cosmopolitan - Background, Rootless cosmopolitan - About one antipatriotic group of theater critics

Read more here: » Rootless cosmopolitan: Encyclopedia II - Rootless cosmopolitan - Background

In the postwar period Molotov's position began to decline. In 1949 he was replaced as Foreign Minister by Andrei Vishinsky, retaining his position as Deputy Prime Minister and membership of the Politburo. Following the death of Andrei Zhdanov, who had come to be seen as Stalin's most likely successor, Stalin and Beria began to plan a new purge, which would have removed most of the older party leaders, such as Molotov and Voroshilov, from their positions. New leaders, such as Georgii Malenk ...

See also:

Vyacheslav Molotov, Vyacheslav Molotov - Origins and early life, Vyacheslav Molotov - Early career, Vyacheslav Molotov - Prime Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov - Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov - Postwar career

Read more here: » Vyacheslav Molotov: Encyclopedia II - Vyacheslav Molotov - Postwar career