Precisely 70 years ago today, on August 12th, 1952, 13 Jews were murdered by the Soviet regime in the infamous Lubyanka Prison, including 5 Yiddish writers, including Dovid Bergelson, Itzik Feffer, Dovid Hofshteyn, Leyb Kvitko, and Peretz Markish, and the actor Benjamin Zuskin. It was the culmination of a years-long repression of Yiddish and Jewish culture. Each August 12th, Yiddish organizations around the world remember the Yiddish writers lost that night as well as in earlier purges.
This year, the Congress for Jewish Culture commissioned a new work by Yelena Shmulenson that was presented live and in person last night in New York City, and video of that will eventually be available. Meanwhile, we invite you to view this video from last year with readings from the works of 3 writers who died in those purges: Izi Kharik, Itzik Feffer, and Moyshe Kulbak, as read by the actors Yelena Shmulenson, Shane Baker, and Alona Bach.
The video is in Yiddish with English subtitles. Just click on the [cc] toggle.
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