How Yiddish found a home in Sweden (online lecture in Yiddish)
Yiddish scholar Jan Schwarz will describe how “mame-loshn” is supported in academia, media and publishing
The cover of the Yiddish children’s book “The Torah Scholar and the Thief,” produced by the Swedish publishing house Olniansky Text Courtesy of Olniansky Text
By Forverts Staff May 12, 2025
Sweden is unique among European countries in not only recognizing Yiddish as a minority language but in providing long-term governmental support, making it the envy of Yiddish enthusiasts worldwide.
The publishing company, Olniansky Text, for example, has released dozens of Yiddish books for adults and children, including two translations of the Harry Potter series. A Yiddish seminar that takes place every summer brings Yiddish scholars and entertainers to Sweden from around the globe. And the television program “Woodskis värld” (Woodski’s World) features a Yiddishist traveling to different cities to speak with Yiddish speakers.
In an online lecture in Yiddish, Jan Schwarz, a Yiddish literature scholar at Lund University, will explain this development and demonstrate how Yiddish studies and culture have found a place in academia, entertainment, media and publishing in this Nordic country with some 20-25,000 Jews.
The talk, which will take place on Sunday, May 18 at 2 p.m. ET, is sponsored by the UJA Committee for Yiddish and the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University.
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