Save Yiddish Literature: Appeals to Jewish Reading Public in Poland by Shalom Ash and Professor Dubn

Save the Yiddish book, is the burden of appeals issued by Professor Dubnov, the famous Jewish historian, Mr. Shalom Ash, the outstanding Yiddish novelist, and the representative of Yiddish literature among the honorary members of the International Pen Club, and others for the Yiddish Book Month which has now been proclaimed in Poland.

On top of all our other miseries, we now have the crisis of the Yiddish book, Professor Dubnov writes. We hear that people no longer buy books, no longer read books. The publishers are on the verge of bankruptcy, or have already gone bankrupt, and our writers are starving. What we have to do, he continues, is to find out whether people have given up reading Yiddish books because they are no longer interested, or because they cannot afford in this time of impoverishment to buy Yiddish or any other books. If we turn our attention to the libraries, we find that people having more time on their hands now, because they are out of work, are reading more books than ever before. What we must discover is whether this is the case also with the Yiddish book in Poland. If it is, there is still hope and what we shall have to do is to get our social and cultural workers to organise an extensive Yiddish library system, to assist the impoverished reader and the impoverished bookseller and writer. If we save the Yiddish book, the Yiddish book will save us.

Never before has the Yiddish writer found himself so isolated as now, Shalom Ash writes. The political passions which have become so acute in Jewish life now have led to demands being made to literature that it should serve partisan purposes, and ignore everything that does not fit into party ideology. On top of this the Jewish masses have been terribly impoverished be cause of the crisis, and they are full of their own troubles. They have not enough to eat, and they certainly cannot afford to buy books. So for the most part they make use of the circulating libraries. The result is that a Yiddish book by a recognised writer does not sell a thousand copies, and others do not sell at all. The publishers have almost given up publishing. Established authors with big reputations find it hard to get a publisher, and beginners, however promising, stand no chance whatever. How can any literature survive if it gets no fresh forces? The Jewish masses must give encouragement to our writers, and show that Yiddish literature is still in demand. We know what a hard struggle the Jewish masses have to wage for their daily bread, to keep themselves and their families alive, but we feel that Yiddish literature is not merely a luxury, but a vital necessity and must be counted among the daily needs. A Yiddish book for every Jewish home is the slogan of the Jewish Book Month, Mr. Ash concludes.