“Memoir”

Texts & Translation

הירשקע גליק

Hirshke Glik

Shmerke Kaczerginski

Translation by Lillian Leavitt

An excerpt from Kaczerginski's memoir on the origins of the Partisan Hymn.

Pedagogy

Reconstructing the Bibliography of a "Master Criminal"

Jonah Lubin

Despite the popularity of Urke Nachalnik's writings in interwar Poland, bibliographic resources on the figure have been scant, until now.

Interview

Jewish Autobiographies in Polish Translation: An Interview with Joanna Degler

Agnieszka Ilwicka and Joanna Degler

A interview discussing a project to publish critical editions, in Polish, of 25 of the most important memoirs culled from a larger collection of historical Polish Jewish memoirs and autobiographical sources.

Texts & Translation

ספּינאָזאַ

Spinoza

Melekh Ravitsh

Translation by Lazer Lederhendler

An excerpt from Melekh Ravitsh's memoirs on the Yiddish writer's encounter with Spinoza's Ethics.

Texts & Translation

די שלאַנג

The Snake

Yitzkhok Horowitz

Translation by Ollie Elkus

An excerpt from Yitzkhok Horowitz's Mayn Tatns Kretshme

Texts & Translation

באַגעגעניש מיט מרדכי געבירטיג

At Home with Mordecai Gebirtig

Rachmil Bryks

Translation by Yermiyahu Ahron Taub

An extract from Rachmil Bryks' memoir The Fugitives (New York, 1975)

Texts & Translation

אױסלאַנד: מײַנע באַגעגענישן

Abroad: My Encounters

A. Mokdoni

Translation by Hayyim Rothman

Extract from Mokdoni's memoir recounting his memories of Rabbi Yaakov Meir Zalkind. 

Texts & Translation

שאַך־מאַט

Checkmate

Mordkhe Wolfshaut-Dinkes

Translation by Jonah S. Boyarin

An extract from Mordkhe Wolfshaut-Dinkes's holocaust memoir.

Review

“The Worst Good Idea Ever”? The Birobidzhan Project and Soviet Jewish Culture

Natalie Belsky

Masha Gessen's new book explores the history of the Jewish Autonomous Region of Birobidzhan through the story of David Bergelson and Simon Dubnow, whose thought and writing influenced its development.

Texts & Translation

מײַן שטעטל קאָצק

Kock, My Town

Motl Siemiatycki

Translation by Helen Mintz

Motl Siemiatycki's Memoirs from the Kock Yizkor book.

Texts & Translation

די ייִדיש־אַנאַרכיסטישע באַוועגונג אין אַמעריקע

The Jewish Anarchist Movement in America

Joseph Cohen

Translation by Emil Kerenji

This chapter from Joseph Cohen's memoir offers a rare glimpse into the American Jewish Anarchist circles of the early twentieth century.