Lectures
Mayn shtetele Beltz... – But what exactly is a Shtetl?
Aug 11-15, 3 – 4 p.m. @Buchhandlung Eckermann
With Evita Wiecki

Shtetl is one of the most important terms in Eastern European Jewish history and culture. But it takes so many forms that it is difficult to say exactly what it is.
How big was a shtetl? Where were they? What was life like for the people who lived there?
These are just some of the many questions about this traditional way of life, a way of life that at the threshold to the twentieth century was starting to change and disintegrate.

The most important language of the shtetl was Yiddish. With the dawn of modern Yiddish culture, the shetl became a popular motif in literature and folk culture. After the Holocaust, the term advanced to become a nostalgic symbol of a lost world. In this five-part lecture series we will use original and translated literary quotes, songs, and images to look at these many facets of the shtetl.

Free admission