Virtually Jewish - Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe

1. Auflage 2001
ISBN: 978-0-520-21363-0
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 317 Seiten, Cloth Over Boards, Format (B × H): 159 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 562 g

More than half a century after the Holocaust, in countries where Jews make up just a tiny fraction of the population, products of Jewish culture (or what is perceived as Jewish culture) have become very viable components of the popular public domain. But how can there be a visible and growing Jewish presence in Europe, without the significant presence of Jews? Ruth Ellen Gruber explores this phenomenon, traveling through Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, and elsewhere to observe firsthand the many facets of a remarkable trend. Across the continent, Jewish festivals, performances, publications, and study programs abound. Jewish museums have opened by the dozen, and synagogues and Jewish quarters are being restored, often as tourist attractions. In Europe, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, klezmer music concerts, exhibitions, and cafes with Jewish themes are drawing enthusiastic--and often overwhelmingly non-Jewish--crowds.

In what ways, Gruber asks, do non-Jews embrace and enact Jewish culture, and for what reasons? For some, the process is a way of filling in communist-era blanks. For others, it is a means of coming to terms with the Nazi legacy or a key to building (or rebuilding) a democratic and tolerant state. Clearly, the phenomenon has as many motivations as manifestations. Gruber investigates the issues surrounding this "virtual Jewish world" in three specific areas: the reclaiming of the built heritage, including synagogues, cemeteries, and former ghettos and Jewish quarters; the representation of Jewish culture through tourism and museums; and the role of klezmer and Yiddish music as typical "Jewish cultural products." Although she features the relationship of non-Jews to the Jewish phenomenon, Gruber also considers its effect on local Jews and Jewish communities and the revival of Jewish life in Europe. Her view of how the trend has developed and where it may be going is thoughtful, colorful, and very well informed.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gruber, Ruth Ellen

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Part One: Afterlife

1. Cities without Jews

2. A Virtual Jewish World

Part Two: Jewish Archaeology

3. "There Is No Future without Memory"

4. Touching the Past

5. What to Do?

Part Three: Museum Judaism? Representing Jewish Culture

6. Seeing Is Believing

7. The Tourist Track

8. Structuring Memory

Part Four: Klezmer in the Wilderness

9. Making (and Remaking) Jewish Music

10. Klezmer in Germany

11. Whose Music?

Afterword

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ruth Ellen Gruber is the author of Upon the Doorposts of Thy House (1994) and Jewish Heritage Travel (1992/1999). She lives and writes in Italy and Hungary.