Jewish Theatre in Poland before the Second World War: Its Audiences and its Critics
Jewish Theatre in Poland before the Second World War: Its Audiences and its Critics
This chapter explores reviews of the Jewish theatre before the Second World War. Reviews allow a glimpse into Polish–Jewish relations as indirectly reflected in the views of Polish drama critics. They can be more revealing than the sources in which emotions are more rigidly controlled. In particular, the chapter looks at the reviews reprinted in the 1992 single-issue volume of Pamiętnik Teatralny devoted to the Polish Yiddish theatre. The paucity of material in itself is an indication of the most striking characteristic of Polish–Jewish relations during the sixty or so years these reviews cover: a gulf that separated the two ethnic groups, and the scant interest in the Polish community in bridging the gap. Among Catholic Poles, the lack of information about Jewish culture was almost total. The Jewish critic Jakub Appenszlak grieved that Polish reviewers kept avoiding Jewish theatre even when truly great art could be seen there.
Keywords: Jewish theatre, Second World War, Polish–Jewish relations, Polish drama critics, Polish Yiddish theatre, Polish community, Catholic Poles, Jewish culture
Liverpool Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
