Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 4.335
February 23, 1995

1) YIVO's prewar archives (Zachary Baker)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 07:40:12 PST
From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu
Subject: YIVO's prewar archives have arrived

The following is excerpted from a YIVO press release:

After six years of extended negotiations, the Lithuanian government has
agreed to send YIVO's missing prewar archives to New York to be restored
and preserved.  800 kilos of rare Jewish books and documents were
stumbled upon in a Vilnius church when the church building was returned
by the government to the local Catholic diocese.  [Under the Soviet
regime, the church was the site of the Lithuanian State Book Chamber,
which is now part of the Lithuanian National Library. -- ZB]

The release of the documents has been strongly opposed by various
Lithuanian political factions.  The Lithuanian nationalist daily
newspaper "Respublika" and the communist daily paper "Lietuvos Aidas"
both have published stinging articles protesting the Lithuanian
government's cooperation with YIVO.  The topic was also the subject of a
two-hour debate aired on Lithuanian television.

In contrast to the bombing disaster of YIVO's sister institute in Buenos
Aires, where Argentinian Jewry's central library and archives were
largely destroyed [actually, much was in fact rescued -- ZB], the
materials from YIVO's destroyed prewar archives is being resurrected.

The reclamation of the missing portions of YIVO's archives carries the
urgent imperative to conserve and identify the documents before their
condition deteriorates further.

Following 50 years of silence and separation, the discovery and
reclamation of the long-lost YIVO archives is comparable to a family
reunification.  YIVO is itself an institutional Holocaust "survivor," and
the restoration and microfilming of these collections marks the next step
in YIVO's quest to reclaim its complete prewar heritage.

On Thursday, February 23rd, at 3 p.m., there will be a press reception to
welcome the rare Jewish documents from Lithuania, which were thought to
have been destroyed during the Holocaust. This will be an opportunity to
hear the story of their miraculous odyssey and reclamation, and to view
portions of these historic collections, never-before-seen outside of
Eastern Europe.  The guest speaker will be Alfonsas Piliponis, Director
of the Lithuanian Central State Archives.  Speakers from YIVO, including
its chairman, Bruce Slovin, research director, Dr. Allan Nadler, and
chief archivist, Marek Web, will also participate.

[Now for a few firsthand observations:]

Eight large cartons of documents, weighing approximately 500 pounds,
arrived safely at YIVO's interim location on Wednesday afternoon. Inside
were 32 archival boxes of mostly unsorted archival material from the
pre-World War II Vilna YIVO.  (A small portion of the collection had been
arranged by the staff of the Book Chamber, whose Jewish department is now
down to one surviving staff member.) As has been related elsewhere (see,
for example, "From That Place and Time," by Lucy S. Dawidowicz),
approximately half of the Vilna YIVO archives were found in Germany after
World War II and restored to YIVO in New York, by U.S. authorities.
Those portions of the YIVO archives have long been arranged and
accessible to researchers.

A quick perusal of the documents that arrived from Vilnius yesterday
revealed that they indeed fit into already existing collections at YIVO.
In some cases, fragments of manuscripts that had been separated for over
50 years may again, finally, be united; in other cases, complete
documents that fall neatly into archival record groups (such as the
Esther Rachel Kaminska Yiddish theater collection) may be rejoined with
their kin.  Inside the files one finds such variegated materials as
letters from Yiddish authors, folktales, autobiographies, school
assignments, rabbinical manuscripts, posters, photographs, and YIVO
office correspondence.  We are extremely excited by the arrival of these
documents, and look forward to the completion of this unique agreement
with the Lithuanian archival authorities.  During the course of the
coming years, the documents from Vilnius will be organized, preserved,
and microfilmed.  Copies of the microfilms will be available both in New
York and in Vilnius.

Zachary Baker

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End of Mendele Vol. 4.335

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