Jewish worlds in Eastern Europe

It is part of everyday life in Germany and can be found in most bakeries: the bagel, in Yiddish Bejgel and in Austrian Beugel.

The dough ring returned to European bakeries as a culinary trend from the United States in the early 2000s.

Here’s where it comes from: Jewish sources first mention it in the early 17th century in the former Polish capital of Kraków. Jewish emigrants later brought it overseas.

It is therefore a good example of the presence of Jewish traditions from Eastern Europe and of influences that are still part of European culture centuries later.

Against the backdrop of increasing anti-Semitism in the world and in awareness of the genocide committed by the National Socialists against the Jews of Europe, we present the Jewish cultural heritage, its rediscovery and further development up to the present day.

We invite you to look at the current issue of Kulturkorrespondenz. Its title: Jewish Worlds in Eastern Europe.

In the Franz Kafka year, KK editor Renate Zöller was on the trail of the famous Prague writer in the Czech capital. There are Jewish communities here and elsewhere (again).

In an overview article, the Kulturkorrespondenz editorial team looks at various centers of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and explores the question of how the Jewish cultural heritage is being preserved decades after the Holocaust and carried into the future.

The construction of a Jewish Museum in Brno lies in the future; Monika Halbinger describes this “path to remembrance” in the Moravian capital in her article.

Elisabeth Trautwein-Heymann compiles memories of her father, the Königsberg-born composer Werner Richard Heymann, whose songs made the Comedian Harmonists famous, among others, in her essay.

And the conversation between Kulturkorrespondenz editor Markus Nowak and Düsseldorf historian Anke Hilbrenner is also about Jewish life. 

You can subscribe directly online at https://abo.kulturforum.info/