Yivo and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture

This book is the first history of YIVO, the original center for Yiddish scholarship. Founded by a group of Eastern European intellectuals after World War I, YIVO became both the apex of secular Yiddish culture and the premier institution of Diaspora Nationalism, which fought for Jewish rights throughout the world at a time of rising anti-Semitism. From its headquarters in Vilna, Lithuania, YIVO tried to balance scholarly objectivity with its commitment to the Jewish masses. Using newly recovered documents that were believed destroyed by Hitler and Stalin, Cecile Esther Kuznitz tells for the first time the compelling story of how these scholars built a world-renowned institution despite dire poverty and anti-Semitism. She raises new questions about the relationship between Jewish cultural and political work and analyzes how nationalism arises outside of state power. 'Vilna was the capital of Yiddishland and the YIVO was its crown jewel. This excellent study by Cecile Kuznitz shows how scholars and community activists in interwar Poland overcame daunting challenges to turn the YIVO into a great pillar of Jewish secular culture and scholarship. It is an inspiring and important story.' Samuel D. Kassow, Trinity College, USA 'This rich account of the achievements and travails of Yiddish scholarship at its height compels us to rethink Eastern European Jewish culture as a whole. Kuznitz shows us that secular Yiddishism, for all its limits, could also provoke tremendous popular enthusiasm. With her matchless knowledge of the old-new Jewish Vilna in which YIVO took root, she shows us the signal importance of place in Jewish diasporism. And her deep understanding of Polish Jewry's hopes and woes alike renders her account of YIVO's struggles to square scholarly integrity with the imperatives of nationalism, socialism, and popular obligation not only thought-provoking, but genuinely moving.' Kenneth B. Moss, Johns Hopkins University 'This long-awaited book by Cecile Kuznitz fills an important piece in the puzzle of the history of modern Jewish scholarship. We now have a full and rich account of the rise, fall, and rise of YIVO, the great center of Yiddish research. Kuznitz makes use of a wide array of sources, including previously inaccessible archives, to trace the intriguing personalities, trying material conditions, and key achievements of YIVO. Above all, she illumines with a commendable mix of empathy and precision YIVO's pendulous swing between the Scylla of political partisanship and the Charybdis of the ivory tower.' David N. Myers, University of California, Los Angeles 'One of Eastern European Jewry's most important pre-Holocaust institutions has finally found its historian. Cecile Kuznitz comes neither to bury nor to praise YIVO, but rather to tell its story in all its complexity and tragedy. In this fine scholarly and readable work, she brings to life the personalities and politics that animated YIVO's lofty ambitions: to investigate and at the same time to create the Yiddish-speaking Jewish nation.' David Rechter, University of OxfordIntroduction; 1. 'Language raised to the level of a political factor': Yiddish scholarship; 2. 'The idea of the institute is already ripe': the founding and first stages of YIVO, 1924-5; 3. 'From the folk, for the folk, with the folk': academic work, 1925-32; 4. 'The capital of Yiddishland': the geography of Jewish culture, 1925-33; 5. 'To forge intellectual weapons for our people!': Scholarship in times of crisis, 1931-9; Epilogue: from Vilna to New York; Conclusion.