Transforming Berlin's Urban Space. East European Jewish Migrants in Charlottengrad and the Scheunenviertel, 1918-1939

Transforming Berlin's Urban Space. East European Jewish Migrants in Charlottengrad and the Scheunenviertel, 1918-1939. Berlin: Gertrud Pickhan, Osteuropa-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin; Verena Dohrn, Osteuropa-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin; Jüdisches Museum Berlin; Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft des Leo Baeck Instituts, 17.10.2009-19.10.2009.

Reviewed by Ines Koeltzsch

Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (December, 2009)

Between 1880 and 1930 Berlin was a central urban space. In what ways did their experiences point of transit for most of the Jewish and non- help to develop a highly creative urban culture Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe on their and what impact did life in a big city have on way westwards. While before 1918 Berlin had their own orientations and values? been in the main a city through which these mi‐ In his sophisticated keynote lecture DAN DIN‐ grants passed, staying for a short time before ER (Hebrew University Jerusalem/Simon-Dubnow- moving on to another destination or returning to Institut Leipzig) characterized the period between their former countries, the metropolis of the 1918 and 1938 as a “short Jewish axial time”: The Weimar Republic became a not always voluntary increasing national homogenization in Eastern home for about 300.000 East European refugees – Europe and the fragility of the international secu‐ among them several ten thousands of Jewish ori‐ rity system contributed to an “existential constel‐ gin – in the 1920s, when the United States and oth‐ lation” which forced a rethinking of Jewish exis‐ er countries restricted their migration policy. Al‐ tence in the Diaspora by outstanding Jewish intel‐ though we already know much about East Euro‐ lectuals such as Hannah Arendt and Raphael pean migration at that time, above all about mi‐ Lemkin. The Jewish experience of the loss of legal gration policy, the perception of East European protection between the World Wars furthered na‐ Jews by German and German-Jewish society, the tional orientations and became universal in a neg‐ activities of Jewish and non-Jewish Russian intel‐ ative sense. lectuals, the experiences of the Jewish migrants In her introduction VERENA DOHRN (Freie themselves have not yet been a focus of research. Universität Berlin) asked why Berlin became an The conference, organized by the international re‐ important centre of migration, albeit an ephemer‐ search project “Charlottengrad and the Scheunen‐ al one. She ascertained an ambiguous “openness” viertel. East European Jewish Migrants in Berlin that distinguished the capital of Weimar Republic during the 1920/30s“ and the Jewish Museum from other centres of migration. While the weak Berlin, thus examined the various experiences of economic situation after the Great War had forced migration and its spatial dimensions. Bringing to‐ German society to accept migrants and made it gether scholars from various countries, the partic‐ easier for them to start a new existence, this open‐ ipants of the conference asked how the migrants perceived, made use of and (re)imagined Berlin’s H-Net Reviews ness became restricted under the growing infu‐ and work of the Hebrew author Micha Yosef ence of nationalist groups. Berdyczewski. In their convincing argumenta‐ In the frst panel on “topographies”ANNE- tions Neuburger and Caplan shared to some ex‐ CHRISTIN SAß (Freie Universität Berlin) dealt tent the idea that the respective authors were with the highly stereotyped Scheunenviertel in closely bound to German urban culture not de‐ Weimar Berlin. Reconstructing the topographical spite, but because of their position at its margins. structure of its diferent social networks and the The next panel was devoted to the negotia‐ various perceptions of the quarter by East Euro‐ tions between various political ideas. With refer‐ pean Jewish migrants, she represented the Sche‐ ence to the making of Di algemeyne entsiklopedye unenviertel as a transnational social space which by Jewish intellectuals of diferent nationalist and ofered a wide range of new orientations as well socialist orientations, BARRY TRACHTENBERG as the possibility of maintaining traditional atti‐ (University at Albany) emphasised that Berlin was tudes. She also described the multiple ways in not only a “meeting place” between Eastern and which the migrants interacted with their German- Western Jewry and Hebrew and Yiddish cultures, Jewish and non-Jewish environment, thus de‐ but also between “once-warring” Jewish political bunking the cliché of an East European Jewish ideologies. TAMARA OR (Ludwig-Maximilians-Uni‐ shtetl. GENNADY ESTRAIKH (New York Universi‐ versität München) shed new light on the Hebrew ty) pointed out that although a signifcant group movement in Berlin. Or explained convincingly of East European Jewish journalists found a tem‐ that the encounter between East European and porary home in Berlin, the Yiddish press in com‐ German Zionists led to a new concept of a Hebrew parison with New York or Paris lacked “well-orga‐ Diaspora, which was advanced mainly by Simon nized civic organizations of Yiddish-speakers.” Ravidovitz and his circles. Together with the sup‐ SHACHAR PINSKER (University of Michigan, Ann port of many non-intellectuals who were attracted Arbor) analyzed the impact of the cofeehouses on by these ideas they established Berlin as the capi‐ the activities of Jewish artists and intellectuals. tal of the Hebrew movement for a short time at Pinsker described the cafés as “communicative the end of the 1920s. Or also underscored the im‐ spaces“ which not only helped to bridge linguistic portance of these almost forgotten ideas in con‐ and cultural diferences, but also played a signif‐ temporary post-Zionist discourse. cant role in the creation of Hebrew and Yiddish The following session dealt with the problem modernism. of identifcations in exile. While ALBERT I. BAUM‐ The papers of the following panel concentrat‐ GARTEN (Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan) recon‐ ed on the literary and intellectual refections of structed the “Russian identity“ of the head of the the urban space by East European Jewish writers. Patriotic Union of Russian Jews Abroad, Joseph While MIKHAIL KRUTIKOV (University of Michi‐ Bikerman, MARKUS WOLF (Europa-Universität Vi‐ gan, Ann Arbor) studied the “afterlives of Weimar adrina, Frankfurt/Oder) attempted to reinterpret Berlin” in the texts of several Yiddish writers and the activities of the Union as a contribution to the highlighted their diferent ideological points of fght against anti-Semitism. Both papers provoked view after the decline of Yiddish culture in Berlin, a controversial discussion where some scholars MARC CAPLAN (Johns Hopkins University, Balti‐ demanded a greater regard for the contemporary more) ofered a close reading of Dovid Bergelson’s contexts of Russian and German conservative po‐ Boarding House Stories from the 1920s. KARIN litical thought. NEUBURGER (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) ex‐ The transfer of ideas of social welfare and amined the “artifcial and real spaces” in the life knowledge was the topic of the next panel.

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ALEXANDER IVANOV (European University of St. Korkowsky’s convincing interpretation, the one Petersburg) described the activities of the Berlin who walks by herself. branch of the world ORT Union. While ORT pri‐ In the panel on “transformations” RACHEL marily supported Jewish artisans and farmers in SEELIG (University of Chicago) discussed the work Eastern Europe, due to intensive contacts with of the Yiddish poet Moishe Kulbak during his German-Jewish society, it became a notable insti‐ Berlin years – “the loneliest and the most proflic tution for the professional training of German of his career”. Through the example of Kulbak, Jews at the beginning of the 1930s. ALEXANDRA Seelig showed that Yiddish modernist literature POLYAN (Moscow State University) analyzed the fourished because of the status of Berlin as a agenda of the Union of Russian Jews in Germany. “centre of periphery”. As a “transitional space”, She pointed out that the Union did not merely Berlin allowed the Yiddish poets to rethink their seek to provide practical help for migrants in cultural identities as Europeans and Jews, and to Berlin, but also had political goals such as for in‐ create new perspectives on homeland at a time of stance the promotion of a positive image of Jew‐ rampant nationalisms. ANAT FEINBERG ish migrants among the German public. ARNDT (Hochschule für jüdische Studien, Heidelberg) ENGELHARDT (Simon-Dubnow-Institut, Leipzig) presented the family story of Feiwel Grüngard, a discussed the contribution of East European Jew‐ Lithuanian Zionist, who migrated via Stockholm ish scholars to the Encyclopaedia Judaica pub‐ to the German capital. He founded a salon which lished by the Eschkol-Verlag in Berlin. In spite of became a “genuine cultural space” in Jewish lingering diferences in the political thoughts be‐ Berlin of the 1920s. tween East and West European Jewish scholars, The fnal panel considered Berlin’s East Euro‐ the encyclopaedia fulflled its aim of establishing pean Jewish migration in its broader contexts. In a transnational network of scholars to reconstruct his instructive paper, TABIAS BRINKMANN (Uni‐ a “national collective sense of belonging”. versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) explored OLAF TERPITZ (Simon-Dubnow-Institut, the diferent functions of Berlin as transit city be‐ Leipzig) investigated the cultural production of fore and after 1918. He also discussed the two ex‐ Russian-Jewish migrants and their extensive planations of Jewish migration as either ‘extraor‐ translation processes in the linguistic quadrangle dinary’, or as an ‘integral part’ of global migration of Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew and German. Terpitz movements in 19th and 20th century, as ofered focused on the mediation of Russian literature by the social scientists Mark Wischnitzer and Eu‐ and argued that the “imperial” and “cosmopoli‐ gene Kulischer based on their own experience as tan” traits that Russian culture had acquired in migrants. Following Hannah Arendt, Brinkmann the second half of the 19th century blossomed suggested rather a viewpoint in-between: The even further in this translation process. In her pa‐ Jewish migration can serve as a paradigm for the per on The Narrator that Walks by Himself BRIT‐ general history of migration along the vanishing TA KORKOWSKY (Georg-August-Universität Göt‐ points of escape, statelessness, expulsion and tingen) ofered a close reading of Viktor B. genocide. In his paper on “migrant visions”, JEF‐ Šklovskij’s epistolary novel ZOO or Letters not FREY WALLEN (Hampshire College, Amherst) about Love and questioned the role of Kippling’s compared the diferent meanings of the Sche‐ freedom-loving cat which the narrator introduced unenviertel in Berlin and Boyle Heights in Los An‐ in one of the letters to his beloved. While the nar‐ geles to East European Jewish migrants. While the rator feels imprisoned in Berlin and longs for a Scheunenviertel was both an “ephemeral envi‐ return to Russia, his beloved Alya appropriates ronment” and an “intermediate point between the urban space enthusiastically and becomes, in

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East and West” for the migrants, Boyle Heights Shachar Pinsker were perceived as the “last stop” on the migration The Urban Cafés of Berlin as Spaces of Hebrew corridor. Wallen also contrasted the diferent and Yiddish Modernism meanings of these quarters within the urban Perceptions structures of both cities. Mikhail Krutikov In his conclusion DAVID MYERS (University of Afterlifes of Weimar Berlin in Yiddish Literature California, Los Angeles) pointed out that the con‐ Marc Caplan ference illuminated three clusters of research on The Corridors of Berlin: Proximity, Peripherality, the experiences by East European Jewish mi‐ and Surveillance in Dovid Bergelson’s Boarding grants in Weimar Berlin: cultural creativity, mo‐ House Stories bility and spatiality. He also encouraged further Karin Neuburger research on the interaction between East Euro‐ Artifcial and Real Spaces: Micha Yosef Berdy‐ pean and German Jews and non-Jews, the com‐ czewski's Life and Work in Berlin parison between diferent migration centres at that time and contemporary migration processes, Negotiations as well as theoretical approaches to space and Barry Trachtenberg spatiality. Weimar and Yiddish Universalism: the making of Di algemeyne entsiklopedye The conference gave a multifaceted overview of current research projects dealing with the ex‐ Tamara Or periences of East European Jewish migrants and Berlin, Nachtasyl and Capital of Hebrew Diaspora their spatial dimensions. The papers will certainly Identifcations contribute to a more complex picture of the histo‐ Avidov Lipsker ry of East European Jewish migration in Weimar Berlin: Heterotopia of Hesitation and Decisive‐ Berlin, beyond the fourishing nostalgia surround‐ ness. The Case of Benjamin Harz ing the Scheunenviertel at present. The confer‐ Albert Baumgarten ence laid a solid foundation for a publication with The Russian Identity of Russian Jews living in a selected papers and for an exhibition planned by Third Space: Joseph Bikerman and the Patriotic the Jewish Museum and the research project Union of Russian Jews Abroad “Charlottengrad and Scheunenviertel” (Freie Uni‐ Markus Wolf versität) in Berlin in 2012. Russian Jews against Jewish Bolshevism: The Ex‐ Conference overview: ample of the Patriotic Union in 1920s Berlin Dan Diner Transfers The Short Jewish Axial Time: 1918-1938 as an Ex‐ Alexander Ivanov istential Constellation Berlin’s ORT and German Jewry: Communication, Topography Interaction, Cooperation (1920/30s) Anne-Christin Saß Alexandra Poljan The Scheunenviertel: A Transnational Social Productive Help in Russian-Jewish Berlin. The Space in Weimar Berlin Union of the Russian Jews in Germany: Charity Gennady Estraikh and Politics Weimar Berlin as an International Yiddish Press Arndt Engelhardt Center Disseminating Knowledge: Jewish Intellectuals

4 H-Net Reviews and the lieu of the Encyclopedia Judaica (1928-1934) in Weimar Berlin Translations Olaf Terpitz Translatio imperii: How Russian Jews negotiated Russia in Berlin Britta Korkowsky, The Narrator that Walks by Himself: Šklovskij’s Narrator, Kipling’s Cat and the Paradox of Freedom in “ZOO or Letters not about Love” Zsuzsa Hetényi Nomen est ponem? Names and Identity in Emigré Literature Transformations Susanne Marten-Finnis Artist-Animators: Russian Display Culture in 1920s Berlin and the Transformation of Domestic Space in the West Rachel Seelig A Yiddish Poet in Berlin: Moishe Kulbak’s “Naye lider” and the Flourishing of Yiddish Poetry in Ex‐ ile Anat Feinberg “Wir laden Sie höfich ein”: The Grüngard Salon and Jewish-Zionist Sociability in Berlin in the 1920s Transitions Tobias Brinkmann Passage City: Berlin as a Focal Point of Jewish (Trans-)Migration after 1918 Gerben Zaagsma The Place of Berlin in the Transnational Networks of Jewish Migrant Radicals Jefrey Wallen Migrant Visions: The Scheunenviertel and Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Conclusions David Myers

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Citation: Ines Koeltzsch. Review of Transforming Berlin's Urban Space. East European Jewish Migrants in Charlottengrad and the Scheunenviertel, 1918-1939. H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews. December, 2009.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=27948

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