An order restricting the use of Yiddish in the Odessa Technical High School, issued by the newly appointed director, M. Misnikov, has aroused strong protests by the students and teachers, several of whom have resigned.
The order provides for cutting down the number of hours devoted to Yiddish language and literature, and the complete dropping of Yiddish in the teaching of several subjects.
Hereafter, the order decrees, Russian is to be used in place of Yiddish and all official announcements of the school must be couched in that language.
The school is one of the largest Yiddish teaching institutions in the country and has graduated ten classes of students, highly qualified technicians employed in some of the Soviet’s largest works. The fact that these graduates received their instruction in Yiddish, it is pointed out, has proved to be no bar to their efficiency.
In making the announcement of the order, immediately after assuming his new duties, M. Misnikov remarked:
“Odessa is not Palestine.”
The order is being protested by students and teachers who are demanding that the central authorities reprimand the new director and force him to rescind the restrictive edict.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
