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Newly digitized recordings offer a glimpse of the Ukrainian-Jewish past

64 points by tintinnabula 8y ago

yosefzeev 8y ago
Neat. It would be awesome if they would open source some of the files for download. I did not see a place in the article suggesting that.
- mark212 8y ago
  in the old days, the libraries of the former Soviet states would only do trades for materials. I had a colleague who corresponded with a library in St. Petersburg and would trade microfilms (!) of Talmud manuscripts to get ones that hadn't ever been seen in the west before. This was roughly '92 through about '99. Then when it opened up more, selling microfilm or high-res scans of old texts and manuscripts was a big source of hard currency for the libraries' operating budgets. I suspect the lack of open-sourcing is to preserve an important revenue stream for the archive which I suspect is, like all libraries everywhere, horribly underfunded. I'd be thrilled if they had an English / Hebrew language site that took donations. Could probably get a decent return on that small investment.
anotheryou 8y ago
the link to the audio CDs is dead, here is an archived version https://web.archive.org/web/20180221191627/http://audio.ipri.kiev.ua/ https://web.archive.org/web/20180221191627/http://audio.ipri... Sadly nothing more than the titles and an email address on there
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
bdr 8y ago
My friend runs a great blog called Forgotten Galicia. Here’s a recent post including Jewish history in the region: https://forgottengalicia.com/vanished-world-galicias-jewish-cemeteries/ https://forgottengalicia.com/vanished-world-galicias-jewish-...
MisterOctober 8y ago
this recalls to my mind J.S. Foer's 'Everything is Illuminated,' which deals with Ukrainian-Jewish issues in general and identity in particular. Was also made into an outstanding and hilarious movie by L. Schrieber
golemiprague 8y ago
Only a stupid and ignorant American Jew can come with the term "compounding quandary that is Zionism", so out of touch with the fact that for 8 million people in Israel it is just a place where they were born, live in, speak their language, preserve their culture and will probably preserve their identity unlike secular Jews in America who just merge into the general population. If she had any clue and not just embarrassingly exoticise the mountain Jews of the Kavkaz region like many Ashkenazi American Jews who are completely detached from the other half non Ashkenazi Jewish diaspora, she would know that most of those "mountain Jews" already immigrated to Israel and were involved in the forming of the Jewish defence forces in the early days of the 20th century long before Israel was even formed. She will also know know that in this "compounding quandary" kavkazians are just part of society and nothing to drool over as if they are some lost tribe in the jungle. The only "compounding quandary" is herself and people like her who live in some academic bubble and have no clue of the reality around them, not because they don't see it but because they can't sense it.
ykv_name 8y ago
Very well done, Jake.
jamra 8y ago
My company outsources to Ukraine. Something that bothered me there was in the city of Lviv. Directly next to the demolished synagogue that is now a memorial, there is a restaurant named after that same demolished synagogue that parodizes Jews. The bill shows up and costs significantly more than it should. The waiters wear wigs to look like Hasidic Jews. On national TV, they make jokes out of exaggerating Jewish mannerisms. Without efforts like these to digitize the past, Ukraine will white wash their history and cover it up by scapegoating Jews.

64 points by tintinnabula 8y ago

Neat. It would be awesome if they would open source some of the files for download. I did not see a place in the article suggesting that.

mark212 8y ago
in the old days, the libraries of the former Soviet states would only do trades for materials. I had a colleague who corresponded with a library in St. Petersburg and would trade microfilms (!) of Talmud manuscripts to get ones that hadn't ever been seen in the west before. This was roughly '92 through about '99. Then when it opened up more, selling microfilm or high-res scans of old texts and manuscripts was a big source of hard currency for the libraries' operating budgets. I suspect the lack of open-sourcing is to preserve an important revenue stream for the archive which I suspect is, like all libraries everywhere, horribly underfunded. I'd be thrilled if they had an English / Hebrew language site that took donations. Could probably get a decent return on that small investment.

anotheryou 8y ago

the link to the audio CDs is dead, here is an archived version https://web.archive.org/web/20180221191627/http://audio.ipri.kiev.ua/ https://web.archive.org/web/20180221191627/http://audio.ipri... Sadly nothing more than the titles and an email address on there

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

bdr 8y ago

My friend runs a great blog called Forgotten Galicia. Here’s a recent post including Jewish history in the region: https://forgottengalicia.com/vanished-world-galicias-jewish-cemeteries/ https://forgottengalicia.com/vanished-world-galicias-jewish-...

MisterOctober 8y ago

this recalls to my mind J.S. Foer's 'Everything is Illuminated,' which deals with Ukrainian-Jewish issues in general and identity in particular. Was also made into an outstanding and hilarious movie by L. Schrieber

golemiprague 8y ago

Only a stupid and ignorant American Jew can come with the term "compounding quandary that is Zionism", so out of touch with the fact that for 8 million people in Israel it is just a place where they were born, live in, speak their language, preserve their culture and will probably preserve their identity unlike secular Jews in America who just merge into the general population. If she had any clue and not just embarrassingly exoticise the mountain Jews of the Kavkaz region like many Ashkenazi American Jews who are completely detached from the other half non Ashkenazi Jewish diaspora, she would know that most of those "mountain Jews" already immigrated to Israel and were involved in the forming of the Jewish defence forces in the early days of the 20th century long before Israel was even formed. She will also know know that in this "compounding quandary" kavkazians are just part of society and nothing to drool over as if they are some lost tribe in the jungle. The only "compounding quandary" is herself and people like her who live in some academic bubble and have no clue of the reality around them, not because they don't see it but because they can't sense it.

ykv_name 8y ago

Very well done, Jake.

jamra 8y ago

My company outsources to Ukraine. Something that bothered me there was in the city of Lviv. Directly next to the demolished synagogue that is now a memorial, there is a restaurant named after that same demolished synagogue that parodizes Jews. The bill shows up and costs significantly more than it should. The waiters wear wigs to look like Hasidic Jews. On national TV, they make jokes out of exaggerating Jewish mannerisms. Without efforts like these to digitize the past, Ukraine will white wash their history and cover it up by scapegoating Jews.