Meetings and Movements Across Cold War Boundaries: Jewish People and Artifacts in Contact

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

The political discourses of the Cold War, and the first decades of reflection upon it following the regime changes in Central Europe in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, portrayed a world divided by ideology and bifurcated by militarized borders. Our roundtable explores areas and moments of contact between Jews and Jewish communities across Cold-War boundaries, with the goal of deepening our understanding of the Cold War as a global phenomenon, and of shared cultural patterns across the divides. We look at the meetings of individuals and organizations, as well as the circulation of artifacts and capital. We explore how local, national, and bloc politics conditioned the varied initiatives and experiences of stakeholders, while widening our focus to appreciate what so many instances of cross-boundary “contact” can teach us about the Cold War, in this case, with specific attention to Jewish politics, culture, and life in the postwar world.

We will address questions like: (AMY FEDESKI:) How did stakeholders frame interactions between American and Soviet Jews during the Cold War, and how did perceptions shift with broader political changes? Upon what did participants draw to understand one another? (RACHELLE GROSSMAN:) What kinds of state, transnational, and interpersonal forces acted upon the cross-border exchanges in Yiddish publishing? (JONATHAN ZISOOK:) What role did American Jews play in the reconstruction of Jewish identities in Poland after 1968 and how did participants negotiate their relationships? (SASHA SENDEROVICH:) How have Jewish authors in the USA constructed an image of the “Soviet Jew,” how have Jewish authors born in the USSR responded, and to what ends? How did the Cold-War mode shape this representation, and its specific linguistic challenges? (JACOB ARI LABENDZ:) How did American and Czech Jews understand and prioritize their missions to preserve Jewish cemeteries, and what local and international factors, both cultural and political, structured their collaboration, its meanings, and results?

Sub Unit

• Modern Jewish History in Europe, Asia, Israel, and Other Communities

Moderator

• Rebekah Klein-Pejsova, Purdue University

Discussants

• Jacob Ari Labendz, Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies

• Amy Fedeski

• Rachelle Grossman, Harvard University

• Jonathan Zisook, CUNY Graduate Center

• Nancy Sinkoff, Rutgers University