The Archival Heritage of Yiddish Writers of Ukraine

The joint project of the Sznajderman Chair in Yiddish Culture and Hasidism (Bar Ilan University, Israel) and Center for the Study of History and Culture of East European Jewry ("Judaica Center" by the National Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine), with the support of Ministry of Innovation, Science & Technology of Israel and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, aims to preserve and make accessible an important part of Jewish and Ukrainian cultural history:

The epistolary heritage of prominent writers who wrote mostly in Yiddish and who’s rare individual archives were collected during the last two decades in the Judaica Center: Itsik Kipnis, Motl Talalayevski, Note Lurye, Irme Druker, Pinye Kiritshanski, Khone Vaynerman, Moyshe Pintshevski, Dore Khaykin, Yekhiel Falikman, Natan Zabara, Rive Balyasna, Yosl Bukhbinder, etc.

Since a vast number of documents still await detailed research and contextualization, the digital archive remains under development and will be expanded as new materials are processed. By publishing digitized documents and providing context through annotation and indexing, the project reconstructs the postwar Jewish literary environment of Ukraine (1950s–1970s).