Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.304 January 31, 1995 1) Galitsianer III (Leonard Prager) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 12:47:36 IST From: Leonard Prager Subject: Galitsianer (1) Menachem Bader. (2) Khayim Shoshkes (3) Ibid, pp. 311-312. (4) Dan Ben-Amots and Netiva Ben-Yehuda. _Milon olami leivrit meduberet_, Jerusalem: E. Lewin Epstein, 1972. (5) David Shahar. _The Palace of Shattered Vessels_, translated by Dalya Bilu. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1975. (6) (jokes at entrance to cemetery) "Singer told me a few jokes to pass the time. He asked the man in front of us, 'fun vanen ir shtamt', [sic] where he's from. 'Ikh bin fun ayzn,' I am made of iron, replied the man, not divulging his origins. 'He's a Galician, that's why he doesn't want to say where he's from', whispered Singer. 'Two men are sitting in a dentist's office. One asks the other, 'Where are you from?' The second says, 'I'm a Galician.' The first man is surprised: 'Oh, excuse me, I thought you were Jewish!'" cited from Jonathan Boyardin, _The Ethnography of Memory_, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1991, p. 143. (7) The following are typical of this genre: _Der galitsiyaner feter_ ('The Galician Uncle'), starring the guest team of Peysekh Burshtin and Lilyen Luks (1958); _Di galitsiyaner khasene_ ('The Galician Wedding') by Vilyem Segal with music by Herman Vol [Wohl] (1930, 1935); _Der galitsiyaner khosn_ ('The Galician Bridegroom') (1930); _Der galitsiyaner koboy_ ('The Galicican Cowboy') starring Leo Fuks and Reytshl Ritshman (1948, 1957); _Dos galitsiyaner vaybl_ ('The Galician Little Wife') with Dzheni Lovitsh (1957). (8) Shmuel Rozhanski, ed. Moyshe Nadir, humor, kritik, lirik, Buenos-Aires: Yoysef lifshits fond fun der literatur-gezelshaft, 1971, p. 8. (= musterverk 45, "biografishe shtrikhn"). (9) Galitsianer was a pseudonym used by Yankev Adler, Yankev Kener, Tsvi-Hirsh Rubnshteyn and Avrom Amber-Strush. Kemat a galitsiyaner was used by Leo Kesner. Munye Nadler called himself Galitsin. There are other variants as well. See Berl Kagan, _Leksikon fun yidish shraybers_, New York, 198?. (10) Yankev Tsineman. _Letste shriftn_, Paris: _Undzer kiem_, 1967, pp. 147-148. (11) Alexander Hertz. _The Jews in Polish Culture_, tr. Richard Lourie, Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1988 [originally published as _Zydzi w kulturze polskiej_, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1961), pp. 221-221. (12) Gershon Shaked. _Shmuel Yosef Agnon; a Revolutionary Traditionalist_. Translated by Jeffrey M. Green, New York and London: New York University Press, 1989, p. 20. (13) Itsik Manger. "Introduction," _Medresh itsik_, Jerusalem, 1969. (14) Itsik Manger. "Kinder yorn in kolomey," _Shriftn in proze_, Tel-Aviv: Y.-L. Perets, 1980, p. 440. (15) Ibid., p. 243. (16) Yoysef Tenenboym. _Galitsye mayn alte heym_. Buenos Aires: Union Central Israelita Polaca en la Argentina, 1952, p. 5. (17) Tsvi-Sh. Leder. "Khsides in reyshe," _Gedenkbukh galitsye_, ed. Nekhemye Tsuker, Buenos-Aires: Farlag "Zikhroynes," 1964, p. 33. (18) Meyer Shtiker. _Der kholem iz mayn eydes_, New York: Der kval, 1965, p. 8. Here is the sonnet: "Vos nokh bin ikh dir shuldik, poyln"? "Vos nokh bin ikh dir shuldik, poyln? Ikh hob getrotn af dayn feter erd In tshobetes mit lekherlekhe zoyln. Tog un nakht hob ikh zikh tsugehert Tsu dayne kloles. Mayn oysgekrimte pleytse Hot ongenumen mit aave dayne klep, Un vi di zangen, ongeshtopt mit veytsn, Hobn dayne zin geshatkevet di kep Fun mayne brider. Ikh ze nokh itst di kose Far di oygn un di heyse hek. Dos groz iz nit geven fardekt mit rose, Nor mit blut in frilingdike teg. Ikh bin durchgegangen ale groyln -- Vos nokh bin ikh dir shuldik, poyln"? ("What More Do I Owe You, Poland?" "What more do I owe you, Poland? I have tred your rich soil With clodhopper boots with leather soles. Night and day I listened To your curses. My twisted shoulder Received your blows with love, And like stalks full of grain, Your sons cut off my brothers' Heads. Even now before my eyes I see the scythe and the steaming axes. That spring day the grass Was covered by blood not by dew. I have been through all your horrors, What more do I owe you, Poland?") (19) Hersh-Leyb Yung. "A tsurik-blik iber skole," _Gedenkbukh galitsye_, ed. Nekhemye Tsuker, Buenos-Aires: Farlag "Zikhroynes" 1964, p. 227. (20) Ezra Mendelsohn. "Interwar Poland: good for the Jews or bad for the Jews?" in Chimen Abramsky, Maciej Jachimczyk and Antony Polonsky, eds. _The Jews in Poland_, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986, p. 137.. (21) Ibid., p. 138-139. (22) The prominence of Galician Jews in the arts, sciences, public and religious life, Judaic scholarship and a host of other areas could be documented by a very substantial encyclopaedia which remains to be compiled. Literature alone provides evidence of a rich Galician -Jewish achievment. In the distinguished bilingual anthology, _The Penguin Book of Modern Yiddish Verse_, edited by Irving Howe, Ruth R. Wisse, and Khone Shmeruk [New York, Penguin Books, 1988], with translations by noted American poets and translators, no fewer than seven of the thirty-nine poets represented were born in Galicia. One of these poets, Berish Vaynshteyn, was born here in Rzeszow. A list of Hebrew and Yiddish writers and scholars born and raised in Galicia would include the Nobel Prize Laureate Shmuel-Yosef Agnon and such Yiddish writers as Yankev Fridman, Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, Rokhl Korn, Meyer Shtiker, Judd Teller, Berish Vaynshteyn, Abe Shtoltsnberg, and Meylekh Ravitsh, just to name a few from the modern period. One ought also to mention Menakhem-Mendl Lefin-Sotenever (1749-1826), who was called "the father of the Galician haskala." His translation into Yiddish of Mishle ('Proverbs') [Tarnapol 1813] is remarkable because it rejected the tradition of literalistic translation and because it is rendered in the colloquial Yiddish of the beginning of the nineteenth century. (22a) An instance of this is _Trubadur z Galicji_ produced at the Yiddish State Theatre in Warsaw through 1992. (23) Mortkhe Gebirtig's "S'tut vey" Mortkhe Gebirtig's "It Hurts" S'tut vey! It hurts! S'tut shreklikh vey! Oh, how it hurts! Nisht azoy der has, Not so much Vos in soyne brent. Our enemy's burning hate, Afile nisht di klep Or the blows from the hands Fun vilde soynes hent. Of our barbarous foe. Nisht der mogn-dovid Not the Star of David Af der hant. We wear on our arms. A shand! Shame Af doyres lang, That will last generations, A shand! Shame! Vet dos zayn far zey. Their shame! _ _ _ _ _ _ S'tut vey! It hurts! S'tut shreklekh vey! Oh, how it hurts! Ven nisht der fremder soyne, Would it were only the foreign foe, Nor zey! Only them! Poylns zin un tekhter, Poland Vemes land amol Will someday feel dishonored Vet shemen zikh mit zey, By its sons and daughters Lakhn, kaykhn fun gelekhter, Splitting with laughter Zeendik in gas, Watching our common enemy Vi undzer beydns soyne Traybt mid yidn shpas, Mock Jews on the street, Shlogt un paynikt alte layt, Beat and torture greybeards, Cut off old Jews' beards Plindert umgeshtert, Pillage undisturbed, Shnaydt azoy vi broyt men shnaydt Like slicing bread, Yidn op di berd... Cut black hair, grey hair From old Jews' beards. Un zey! And it is they! Vos zaynen itst vi mir Who like us Geblibn on a land. Have lost a country, Vos filn itst vi mir Who like us now feel Dem vildn soynes hant, The savage enemy's strokes. Lakhn, freyen zikh un lakhn They laugh, they make merry and laugh In aza moment, At this hour, Ven poylns shtolts un koved When Poland's pride and honor Vert azoy geshendt. Are being raped, Ven poylns vaysn odler When Poland's White Eagle Valgert zikh af der erd, Lies in the dirt, Tsvishn berd, Among beards, Shvartse, groye hor Black hair, grey hair Fun yidns berd -- From Jews' beards -- Iz dos nisht a shand Is this not An eybiker far zey? To their eternal shame? Iz dos nisht aleyn Is this not In ponem zikh a shpay? Being spat upon? S'tut vey! Oh! How it hurts! S'tut shreklekh vey! It hurts! Kroke, februar 1940. Krakow, February 1940. Note: The Yiddish expression "valgert zikh af der erd" can also mean 'is homeless', thus reinforcing the more immediate sense of 'lying about on the ground, neglected, discarded'. Gebirtig appears to have consciously chosen a daytshmerism, _plindern_ (from NHG _pluendern_ 'to plunder, loot') to emphasize that the action was committed by Germans. There are plenty of terms for 'to plunder' in Yiddish which the poet could have used. Note how the pronoun _zey_ 'they', which at the outset refers unambiguously to the Nazis, the barbarous other, and is antithetical to an 'us' that includes Jews and Poles, shifts to point to antiSemitic Poles', leaving open perhaps the question whether 'us' still includes the Poles. The version of the poem in _Kidesh hashem_, New York: CYCO, 1948, pp. 341-2, prints the first two lines on one line. (24) Jan Blonski, "The Poor Poles Look at the Ghetto," in Antony Polonsky, ed. _'My Brother's Keeper?'; Recent Polish Debates on the Holocaust_. London: Routledge, in association with The Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies, Oxford, 1990 [contains articles from _Tygodnik Powszechny_, ed. Jerzy Turowicz]. (25) "Zydzi w Tarnowie do konca XVIII wieku," _Kwartalnik Historyczny_, XIX, 1905; pp. 228-237. (26) See Jacob Litman, _The Economic Role of Jews in Medieval Poland; The Contribution of Yitzhak Schipper_, Lanham, MD and London: University Press of America, 1984. (27) Tcherikower Collection, Archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York. Translated from Yiddish by Chana Mlotek. No. 1 : Ignacy Schiper to Elias Tcherikower, Nov. 5, 1926 (copy) TC, 136309-11, p. 509. (28) See Yitskhok Tsineman. _Letste shriftn_, Part III. Dr. Yitskhok Shiper, Paris: Undzer kiem, 1967, Pp. 147-170. .pa (29) Khone Shmeruk. "Yitskhok shipers bukh vegn khsides in poyln," _Di goldene keyt_ 125 (1988), p. 127. (30) Ibid., 130. (31) Idem. (32) Avrom Sutskever. "Dov Sadan 1902-1989," _Di goldene keyt_ 128, (198-), pp. 5-6. (33) Yoysef Tenenboym. _Galitsye mayn alte heym_. Buenos Aires: Union Central Israelita Polaca en la Argentina, 1952, p. 133. (34) Ibid., p. 134. (35) Dov Sadan, "Tsu der efenung fun der yidish-katedre," _Di goldene keyt_ 11 (1951), pp. 198-202. (36) Dan Miron. "Dov Sadan," _Encyclopaedia Judaica_. Jerusalem: Keter, 1971, vol. 14, cols. 618-620. Abramsky, Chimen; Maciej Jachimczyk and Antony Polonsky, eds. _The Jews in Poland_, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986. Asherson, Neal. _The Struggles for Poland_, London: Michael Josephs, 1987. Bader, Gershom. _Medina vachachameha_, New York: National Booksellers, 1934 {vol. 1, A-L}. Baker, Zachary. "Bibliography of East-European Memorial Books," in Jack Kugelmass and Jonathan Boyardin, eds. _From a Ruined Garden: The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry_, New York: 1983. Bartaoszewski, Wlayslaw T. _Ethnocentrism: Beliefs and Stereotypes. A Study of Polish-Jewish Relations in the Early 20th Century_, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984). Bass, David. _Bibliographical Lists of Memorial Books Published in the Years 1943-1972_ (1973). Davies, Norman. _God's Playground -- A History of Poland_, 2 vols., Oxford, 1981. Dobroszycki, Lucjan. "YIVO in Interwar Poland: Work in the Historical Sciences," in Gutman, Yisrael and Ezra Mendelsohn, Jehuda Reinharz, and Chone Shmeruk, eds. _The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars_, Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1989, pp. 494-518. Eisenbach, Artur. "Jewish Historiography in Interwar Poland," in Gutman, Yisrael and Ezra Mendelsohn, Jehuda Reinharz, and Chone Shmeruk, eds. _The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars_, Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1989, pp. 453-493. Fein, Helen. _Accounting for Genocide National Responses and Jewish Victimization during the Holocaust_, Chicago: University of Chigago Press, 1984. Fishman, Joshua A., ed. _Studies on Polish Jewry 1919-1939_, New York: Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, 1974. Friedman, Philip W. "Polish-Jewish Historiography Between the Two Wars," _Jewish Social Studies_ 11 (1949), 373-408. Frukhter, N. "Idishe shrayber fun galitsye," in Nekhemye Tsuker, ed. _Pinkes galitsye_, Buenos Aires, 1945, pp. 213-258. Galron-Goldshteyn, Yosef. _Bibliografia lekitve dov sadan_, HaKibuts HaMeuchad, 1986 (2,906 entries). Gebirtig, Mortkhe. _Mayne lider_, Paris: Davke, 1949, 160 pp. Gebirtig, Mortkhe. _Mayne lider_, 3rd edition, New York: Workmens Circle, 1948. Gutman, Yisrael and Ezra Mendelsohn, Jehuda Reinharz, and Chone Shmeruk, eds. _The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars_, Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1989. Heller, Celia. _On the Edge of Destruction; Jews of Poland Between the Two World Wars_, New York: Columbia University Press, 1977. Hertz, Alexander. _The Jews in Polish Culture_, tr. Richard Lourie, Evanston, Il.: Northwestern University Press, 1988 [originally published as _Zydzi w kulturze polskiej_, Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1961]. Hirshhoyt, Yekhiel. "Dr. Y. Shiper -- zayn lebn un shafn (1884-1943), _Fun noentn over_ 1 (1955), 185-256. Hirshhoyt, Yekhiel. "Bibliogafye fun verk un arbetn fun Dr. Yitskhok Shiper," _Fun noentn over_ 1 (1955), 257-263. Hundert, Gershon David and Gershon C. Bacon. _The Jews in Poland and Russia: Bibliographic Essays_, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Kharlash, Yitskhok. "Mortkhe Gebertig," _Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur_, New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, 1958, cols. 286-290. Kresl, G. _Kitve dov sadan; bibliografia_, Tel-Aviv: Am Oved, 1981. Kresl, G. "Dov Sadan," _Leksikon hasifrut haivrit badorot haacharonim_. Merchavia: Sifriat hapoalim, 1967, vol. 2, cols. 470-476. Kugelmass, Jack and Jonathan Boyardin, "_Yizker Bikher_ and the Problem of Historical Veracity: An Anthropological Approach," in Kugelmass, Jack and Jonathan Boyardin, eds. _From a Ruined Garden: The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry_, New York: 1983. Leder, Tsvi-Sh. "Khsides in reyshe," _Gedenkbukh galitsye_, ed. Nekhemye Tsuker, Buenos-Aires: Farlag "Zikhroynes," 1965, pp. 33-36. Lerski, George J. and Halina Lerski, _Jewish-Polish Coexistence, 1772-1939: A Topical Bibliography_ (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986). Lewin, Isaac. _The Jewish Community in Poland; Historical Essays_, New York: Philosophical Library, 1985. Lichten, Joseph. "Notes on the Assimilation and Acculturation of Jews in Poland, 1863-1943," in Abramsky, C. et al., _The Jews in Poland_, pp. 106-129. Litman, Jacob. _The Economic Role of Jews in Medieval Poland; The Contribution of Yitzhak Schipper_, Lanham, MD and London: University Press of America, 1984. [Bibliography: pp. 277-299]. Magocsi, Paul Robert. _Galicia: A Historical Survey and Bibliographical Guide_, Toronto/Buffalo/London: University of Toronto Press, 1983. Mahler, Refoel. "Yitskhok Shiper, 1884-1943," _Yivo bleter_, 25:1 (January-February) 1945, 19-32. Mahler, Refael. _Yehudey polin beyn shetey milchamot olam_, Tel-Aviv: Dvir, 1968. Manger, Itsik. "Introduction," _Medresh itsik_, Jerusalem, 1969. Manger, Itsik. "Kinder yorn in kolomey," _Shriftn in proze_, Tel-Aviv: Y.-L. Perets, 1980. Marcus, Joseph. _Social and Political History of the Jews in Poland, 1919-1939_, Berlin/New York/Amsterdam: Mouton, 1983. Mendelsohn, Ezra. _Jews of Est-Central Europe Between the Two World Wars: A Selected Bibliography_, 1978. Mendelsohn, Ezra. "Recent Work on the Jews in Interwar East Central Europe: A Survey," _Studies in Contemporary Jewry_ 1 (1984), 318-324. Mendelsohn, Ezra. "Interwar Poland: good for the Jews or bad for the Jews?" in Abramsky, C. et al., _The Jews in Poland_, pp. 130-139. Miron, Dan. "Dov Sadan," _Encyclopaedia Judaica_. Jerusalem: Keter, 1971, vol. 14, cols. 618-620. Mlotek, Eleanor Gordon, ed. _Mir trogn a gezang_, 4th edition, New York: Workmen's Circle Education Department, 1987 (especially "Songs by Mordecai Gebirtig, pp. 197-232). Polonsky, Antony. _'My Brother's Keeper?'; Recent Polish Debates on the Holocaust_. London: Routledge, in association with The Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies, Oxford, 1990 [contains articles from _Tygodnik Powszechny_, ed. Jerzy Turowicz, esp. article by Jan Blonski, "The Poor Poles look at the Ghetto"). Sadan, Dov. _Shay olamot_, ed. Dov Noy. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1989/1990. Shahar, David. _The Palace of Shattered Vessels_, Translated by Dalya Bilu. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975. Shaked, Geshon. _Shmuel Yosef Agnon; a Revolutionary Traditionalist_. Translated by Jeffrey M. Green, New York and London: New York University Press, 1989. Shatski, Yankev. "Di ershte geshikhte fun yidishn teater; tsu Y. shipers verk," _Filologishe shriftn fun yivo_ 2 (1928), 215-264 (a review of the first two vols.). Shatski, Yankev. "Yitskhok Shiper (1883-1943)," _Zamlbikher_ 6 (1946), 470-486. Shatski, Yankev. [Notes on Hirshhoyt, above], _Yivo bleter_ 39 (1955), 352-354. Shiper, Yitskhok. _Geshikhte fun yidisher teater-kunst un drame_, vols. 1-3, Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1923-1928. Shmeruk, Khone. "Yitskhok shipers bukh vegn khsides in poyln," _Di goldene keyt_ 125 (1988), 124-133. Shmeruk, Khone. "Ignacy Schiper, 1884-1943" [unpublished typescript of entry for Polish national biographical dictionary, 8 pp., 1992]. Shoshkes, Kh. _Lender un shtet; rayze ayndrukn_, Vilna: Vilner farlag fun b. kletskin, 1930 (especially pp. 311-322). Shtiker, Meyer. _Der kholem iz mayn eydes_, New York: Der kval, 1965. Shtok, Dov. _Acharit hashaashuim_, Tel-Aviv: Hakibuts Hameuchad, 1945/1946 (Dov Shtok = Dov Sadan). Sutskever, Avrom. "Dov Sadan 1902-1989," _Di goldene keyt_ 128, pp. 5-6. Tenenboym, Yoysef. _Galitsye mayn alte heym_, Buenos Aires: Union Central Israelita Polaca en la Argentina, 1952. Tsineman, Yitskhok. _Letste shriftn_, Part III. Dr. Yitskhok Shiper, Paris: Undzer kiem, 1967, Pp. 147-170. Tsuker, Nekhemye, ed. _Pinkes galitsye_, Buenos Aires, (1945). Tsuker, Nekhemye, ed. _Gedenkbukh galitsye_, Buenos Aires: Farlag "Zikhroynes," 1964. Watt, Richard M. _Poland and Its Fate_, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. W[einreich], M[aks]. "Mortkhe gebirtiks 'Es brent briderlekh...', _Yivo bleter_ 25:2 (March-April 1945), 310-311. Yung, Hersh-Yung. "A tsurik-blik iber skole," _Gedenkbukh galitsye_, ed. Nekhemye Tsuker, Buenos-Aires: Farlag "Zikhroynes," 1964, pp. 223-227. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: For some time now I have been trying to understand why _Galitsianer_ (is this the preferred transcription, or should we palatalize and write _Galitsiyaner_ or _Galitsyaner_?) have the reputation(s) they do and I am still not altogether satisfied with what I have uncovered. I am familiar with the stereotypes Ellen Prince mentions (ignorant, fanatic, primitive), but not her fourth one (dirty). I know that in certain contexts, all Ost-Juden were called "dirty" and that this has often been a part of antisemitic stereotypes generally. In a talk I recently gave in Galicia I grappled with the question of what "Galician-ness" consists of both from within and without. L.P. Leonard Prager Haifa ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.304