Poetic Texts from the Ghettos and Camps: a Neglected Area

Tuition: $200 | YIVO members: $150**

This is a live, online course held on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 25 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, recordings of class sessions, etc.) will be posted to Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted in Yiddish, and any readings will be in Yiddish.

Instructor: Miriam Trinh

This course will introduce the widespread phenomenon of poetry writing in the ghettos and camps of World War II. As the writers were everyday people and not professional poets, their artistic product was unique to the Holocaust era. The body of literature amassed includes thousands of texts in a variety of languages; it has partially been preserved and made available in contemporary archives. But it has received scant exposure, both among Holocaust researchers and among the general reading public. We will read and discuss a selection of Yiddish texts of this genre and attempt to understand its multi-faceted character and its significance within the context of historical testimony.

פּאָעטישע טעקסטן פֿון געטאָס און לאַגערן: אַ פֿאַריתומטע סוגיא

אין דעם דאָזיקן קורס וועט פֿאָרגעשטעלט ווערן דער מאַסן־פֿענאָמען פֿון „שרײַבן פּאָעזיע אין די געטאָס און לאַגערן“ — אַ פֿענאָמען וואָס איז געווען זייער פֿאַרשפּרייט בעת דעם חורבן. דאָס באַזונדערע דערבײַ איז אַז די שרײַבער זײַנען געווען „ייִדן פֿון אַ גאַנץ יאָר“ — נישט קיין פּראָפֿעסיאָנעלע פּאָעטן. דער דאָזיקער קאָרפּוס וואָס נעמט אַרײַן טויזנטער טעקסטן אין פֿאַרשיידענע שפּראַכן האָט זיך צום טייל אָפּגעהיט און איז צוטריטלעך אין די הײַנטיקע אַרכיוון. ער איז אָבער געבליבן רעלאַטיוו אומבאַקאַנט — אי אין דער חורבן־פֿאָרשונג אי אין דער  אַלגעמיינער עפֿנטלעכקייט. מיר וועלן לייענען און אַרומרעדן אַן אָפּקלײַב טעקסטן פֿון דעם קאָרפּוס אויף ייִדיש און פּרוּוון פֿאַרשטיין זײַן פֿיל־פּנימדיקייט און זײַן באַטײַט אין דעם קאָנטעקסט פֿון היסטאָרישער עדותשאַפֿט.

Yiddish Level:
This class is recommended for those with a high-intermediate to advanced level of Yiddish language facility. It is appropriate for those who have taken the equivalent of level Daled or above in the YIVO Summer Program. It is also appropriate for those who completed Intermediate IV Yiddish, Intensive Intermediate III&IV Yiddish, or above in fall 2021.

Course Materials:
The instructor will provide all course materials digitally throughout the class on Canvas.

Miriam Trinh was born in Poland, grew up in Germany and immigrated to Israel after finishing High School. She completed her undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Yiddish at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, obtained her Master's degree in Yiddish literature at the Universities of Paris-Sorbonne and Strasbourg (France), her Ph.D. at the Hebrew University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She has taught Yiddish language and literature since 1999, in Paris, Oxford, Strassbourg, Vilna, New York, Baltimore, Tel Aviv and is currently teaching Yiddish at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Miriam Trinh has published works in the field of Modern Yiddish Literature and especially on Holocaust literature. She is also engaged in translation from and into Yiddish.

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