Yankev Shternberg and the modernization of Yiddish theatre in interwar Romania

Abstract

The end of the First World War brought the theatre audience back to the performance halls. The Yiddish theater, with a few decades of experience and an already assured popularity, was already considered to be the vector for the preservation and promotion of the Yiddish culture and Jewish identity in the Romanian lands. In this context, from the musical to the avant-garde performance, the artistic concept proposed by poet and director Yankev Shternberg modernized the Yiddish theater left by Avram Goldfaden and turned it into a true ferment for the revival movement of the Yiddish culture in Romania.

Keywords

• yiddish theatre
• modernism
• romanian jewry
• interwar romania
• eastern european jewish culture