The ''Literarishe Bleter'' () was a Yiddish weekly literary and cultural periodical published in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

from 1924 to 1939.

History

Background and creation

In the aftermath of the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

's restrictions on the use of the

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 ...

language were lifted, leading to a flourishing of Yiddish arts, literature, and culture within the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlem ...

. The Czernowitz Conference of 1908 proclaimed Yiddish a Jewish national language, leading to the emergence of the

Yiddishist movement Yiddishism is a cultural and linguistic movement that advocates and promotes the use of the Yiddish language. It began among Jews in Eastern Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. Some of the leading founders of this movement were Men ...

, opposed to linguistic assimilationism and the Hebraist movement. In

, the capital of

Russian Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish people, Polish State (polity), state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of ...

, an informal community of Yiddish writers emerged, initially centered around the home of playwright I. L. Peretz. In 1924, the publication of the Polish literary journal inspired Yiddish writers to pursue their own literary journal. The paper was born as a partnership between four writers — novelist Israel Joshua Singer, avant-garde poets

Peretz Markish Peretz Davidovich Markish () () (7 December O.S. 25 November">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 25 November1895 – 12 August 1952) was a Russian Jewish poet and playwright who wrote pr ...

and Melech Ravitch, and publisher .

Publication

All the paper's founders besides Mayzel left the board soon after its formation. Alter Kacyzne and then Moyshe Zilburg both briefly served as assistant editors, but soon Mayzel was again left as the sole editor. In March 1925 (at the paper's 44th issue), publisher purchased the periodical after moving from Vilnius to Warsaw. Mayzel maintained his position as the paper's editor-in-chief. In an effort to increase circulation, the paper cooperated with

YIVO YIVO (, , short for ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. Estab ...

and the Warsaw Yiddish

PEN club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internati ...

, publishing their bulletins alongside the paper. The Kletskin press went bankrupt in 1935, rendering the ''Bleter'' once again self-published. The editorial staff soon founded their own small publishing house. Mayzel left Poland in 1937; journalist Moyshe Kitay succeeded him as editor, although Mayzel was still officially the editor-in-chief. Following its independence and increasing economic worries throughout the 1930s, the paper turned to fundraising campaigns. These were only marginally effective; on June 30, 1939, the paper published its final issue. The end of the paper seemingly came as a surprise, as no information was released about the folding of the paper. Despite occurring only two months before the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, its discontinuation was unrelated.

Content

The weekly issues of the ''Literarishe Bleter'' ranged in pages; for its first year and a half, it was a 6–8 page broadsheet. After issue 66, this was changed to a smaller format paper of 16 to 24 pages. A bound indexed volume was produced every year, and were commonly held at Yiddish libraries. The paper featured creative works, reviews, and coverage of recent literary events. Its content was focused on Yiddish literature and culture, it also included coverage of broader literary developments in Europe, including interviews with authors. Editorials covering Yiddish cultural issues were common throughout the paper. The paper was a strong promoter of Yiddish books and literature, with various publishing houses advertising their catalogues in the paper. Discussions on the marketing and publishing of Yiddish literature were commonly ran in the paper. The paper occasionally included supplementary issues featuring translations of foreign literature. Between 1932 and 1933, the paper ran a series of special issues on Yiddish culture and literature outside of the main regions of settlement, including installments covering Germany, Galicia,

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Politics

Although the editorship of the ''Bleter'' was largely seen as pro-Communist by the broader Jewish community in Poland, they criticized the Bund and related socialist movements. This politically isolated the paper, likely preventing it from cooperation with Bundist organizations.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{refend Yiddish periodicals Newspapers published in Warsaw Defunct newspapers published in Poland 1924 establishments in Poland 1939 disestablishments in Poland Jewish history in Warsaw