Gnazim Institute of the

Hebrew Writers Association in Israel The Hebrew Writers Association in Israel (, previously אגודת הסופרים העבריים בארץ ישראל or אגודת הסופרים העבריים or אגודת הסופרים העברים במדינת ישראל) is a professional ass ...

() (founded in 1950) is the largest

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

literature archive in the world. It is located at

Beit Ariela Beit Ariela Shaar Zion Library is the central public library in Tel Aviv. History Pre-State The library was founded in 1886 in Jaffa at the initiative of the "Ezrat Israel" society ("Assistance to Israel") – the organization that helped to estab ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

History

The archive was established in 1951 by the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel, at the initiative of the writer and editor

Asher Barash Asher Barash (; 1889 – June 1952) was an Israeli writer, editor, teacher, and translator. Biography Asher Barash was born in Lopatyn, near Brody in Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia. He was the son of Naftali Herts Barash, a grain merchant de ...

. After his death, the institute was named after him. Barash served as its first chairman until his death in 1952. He was replaced by

David Shimoni David Shimoni (; 25 August 1891 – 10 December 1956) was an Israeli poet, writer and translator. Shimonovitch (later David Shimoni) was born in Babruysk in Belarus (then part of the Russian Empire) to Nissim Shimonovitch and Malka Fridland A ...

, who served until his death in 1956. The third chairman was

Yehuda Burla Yehuda Burla (; 18 September 1886 – 7 November 1969) was an Israeli author. Biography Burla was born in 1886 in Jerusalem, then part of the Ottoman Empire, to a Sephardi Jewish family with rabbinical roots, originating from İzmir. As a chil ...

. The institute operated under the auspices of the Hebrew Writers Association until 2003, when it became an independent body. However, it met financial difficulties and in 2007 was relinked to the Hebrew Writers Association. In 2010 it moved to space in the

library complex in

, where it has room for work and study and the collections are kept in proper, monitored conditions. From 2016, the institute is chaired by Adiva Geffen, a member of the board of the Hebrew Writers Association. Asher Barash wrote in 1951: "In due time it will be an archive and gathering place for the entire Jewish creative work, for collecting writings by Jews in any language, first and foremost Yiddish."

The Collections

The purpose of the archive was to assemble and preserve the works of the Hebrew authors who lived and worked in different countries and in Israel. It contains manuscripts, letters, various personal documents and photographs, as well as a unique collection of recordings. The institute currently keeps close to 900 personal archives of writers, poets, playwrights, researchers and thinkers from the middle of the 19th century to the present day. Among the literary artists whose archives are kept in Gnazim are

Judah Leib Gordon Judah Leib Gordon (, ; December 7, 1830 – September 16, 1892), also known as Leon Gordon, was among the most important Hebrew poets of the Haskalah. Biography Gordon was born to well-to-do Jewish parents who owned a hotel in Vilnius. As a p ...

Shaul Tchernichovsky Shaul Tchernichovsky () or Saul Gutmanovich Tchernichovsky (; 20 August 1875 – 14 October 1943) was a Russian-born Hebrew poet. He is considered one of the great Hebrew poets, identified with nature poetry, and a poet greatly influenced by the ...

Yosef Haim Brenner Joseph Chaim Brenner (; 11 September 1881 – 2 May 1921) was a Hebrew-language author from the Russian Empire, and one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature, a thinker, publicist, and public leader. In addition to his literary innovations ...

Rachel Rachel () was a Bible, Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph (Genesis), Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban (Bible), Laban. Her older siste ...

, Esther Raab,

Leah Goldberg Leah Goldberg or Lea Goldberg (; May 29, 1911, Königsberg – January 15, 1970, Jerusalem) was a prolific Hebrew-language poet, author, playwright, literary translator, illustrater and painter, and comparative literary researcher. Her wri ...

and Zelda and well-known contemporary writers including

Yona Wallach Yona Wallach (; June 10, 1944 – September 26, 1985) was an Israeli poet. Her surname also appears as Volach. She is considered a revolutionary Israeli Feminism, feminist and Postmodernism, post-modernist. Wallach had wrote poetry from a young ...

Avot Yeshurun Avoth Yeshurun (; 1904–1992, born Yehiel Perlmutter), also Avot Yeshurun, was an acclaimed modern Hebrew poet. Winner of the Israel Prize for literature in 1992. Biography Avoth Yeshurun was born on Yom Kippur in 1904 in Niskhish (now in Ukrai ...

, Yehuda Atlas,

Nachum Gutman Nachum Gutman (as he himself signed; alternate romanisation: Nahum Gutman; ; October 5, 1898 – November 28, 1980) was a Moldovan-born Israeli painter, sculptor, and author. Biography Nachum Gutman was born in Teleneşti, Bessarabia Gov ...

and

Yonatan Ratosh Yonatan Ratosh () was the literary pseudonym of Uriel Shelach () (November 18, 1908 – March 25, 1981), an Israeli poet and journalist who founded the Canaanite movement. Biography Uriel Heilperin (later Shelach) was born in Warsaw, Poland i ...

. It also holds manuscripts and letters of writers who were murdered in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, among them David Vogel,

Hillel Zeitlin Hillel Zeitlin (1871–1942) was an Ashkenazi Yiddish language, Yiddish and Hebrew language, Hebrew writer and poet. A leading pre-Holocaust Jewish journalist, he was a regular contributor to the Yiddish newspaper ''Moment'', among other literary ...

and Shimon Dubnov. The archives of well-known

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

authors, including Zvi Eisenman, Mordechai Tzanin and the archive of David Hofstein, who was executed in the former Soviet Union by Stalin in 1952, are also preserved in Gnazim. The institute serves researchers, scholars, media people, writers and the interested public in general. The Institute's treasures are exposed to the general public through various media channels, social networks, exhibitions, lectures, tours and artistic expressions such as plays based on archives.

References

External links

*
Viennese Romance by David Vogel, review

Princess Leah

David Vogel's Lost Hebrew Novel, Viennese Romance at jstor
{{authority control Archives in Israel Literary archives Hebrew-language literature 1951 establishments in Israel Organizations based in Tel Aviv