Singing Songs of the Jewish Underworld from Pre-World War Two Poland: Bringing Back the Memory of an Unwanted Community

• In Event: Legacies of Diversity in a Post-Multi-Ethnic Space I: Between Memory and Practice

Abstract

In this paper I am discussing songs of Jewish thieves and prostitutes from pre-World War Two Poland – a little known repertoire originally sung in the deprived neighbourhoods of large cities such as Warsaw or Lodz. I demonstrate that these songs are a particularly useful source for exploring the history (and even more so "herstory") and culture of the Jewish urban poor, and reflect on my performances of these songs in contemporary Poland and abroad.

Author

• Izabella Goldstein, Independent Artist