The twenty-fifth anniversary of the first Yiddish language conference, which was held here in September 1908, will be commemorated by a two-day conference scheduled for September 10 and 11.
The conference has been called by the local society of Yiddish writers and journalists. Some of the participants in the first conference have been invited, together with a number of prominent Yiddish writers and representatives of Jewish institutions all over the world. A simultaneous exhibition of Yiddish books has also been planned.
The first Yiddish language conference was convoked by proclamation issued from New York and signed by Jacob Gordin and David Pinski, famous Yiddish playwrights, and Dr. Chaim Zhitlowsky and Dr. Nossn Birnbaum, both Yiddishist leaders. Dr. Birnbaum was then visiting in the United States and first suggested the value of such a conference. Among others prominent at this conference was the famous revolutionary, Esther, who subsequently was one of the editors of the Yiddish edition of Lenin’s works.
The conference declared Yiddish a “national language of the Yiddish people”, and gave a decided impetus to the systematization of Yiddish grammar and orthography. Moreover, in an effort to crystallize and organize Jewish cultural life, it discussed problems of and suggested procedures for the Yiddish theatre and press, Jewish autonomy, and the Jewish youth.
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