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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Culture

October 17, 2003

100 YEARS AGO

• The Russian newspaper Osvobozhdenie is reporting that the police in Mohilev are looking for any excuse to start a pogrom. The police have been baiting the local peasants by saying that Jews attacked nearby villages, thereby inciting the peasants to attack Jews. Jews out walking in the municipal garden have also been attacked by policemen. It is widely believed that the governor of the area has given sanction to attack Jews. In a speech to Christians who had assembled at the train station, one of the local leaders was reported to have said, “Brothers! We can attack the kikes; the governor has given his permission.”

75 YEARS AGO

Reports from Warsaw indicate that the Yiddish theater crisis is over. Little by little, the Yiddish theater is regaining its strength and is again filling its ranks with first-class artists. Leading the charge is American Yiddish theater director and playwright Anshl Shor, who is currently engaged in rehabilitating the Kaminski Theater. Shor plans to stage original new works for the discriminating Warsaw audience. Prospects for this year’s season in Riga look good. This year’s plays include Sholem Asch’s “Shabtai Tsvi” and “Kiddush HaShem.” In Bucharest they celebrated the 52nd anniversary of Yiddish theater. The largest Yiddish theater was overflowing with fans who enjoyed an all-star cast perform scenes from early Yiddish plays, including the works of the Broder singers and Abraham Goldfaden.

50 YEARS AGO

The government published some interesting statistics this week. Included among them are the facts that women’s salaries are only half of those of men; the number of blacks in the workforce has increased significantly, but their salaries range from half to a third of those of whites; the salaries of residents of Queens and Staten Island, both boroughs with far fewer Jewish residents than others, are higher than the remaining boroughs, an indication that Jews are not the most successful ethnic group in the area.

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