Newspapers and magazines — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Newspapers

Vilna’s culture, which blossomed in the 19^th century, can be expressed by the appearance of newspapers and magazines.  Following a few unsuccessful attempts, the magazine 'Flowers of the North' made its debut in Vilna in 1841. Most of its writers belonged to the Lithuanian Maskilim, as well as those from Vilna, and their articles covered a wide range of subjects. Due to problems with the Russian censorship only one issue appeared in 1844. Having no alternative, the writers turned to Jewish newspapers and magazines in Central Europe, such as ‘HaYona, ‘HaTchiya and “Kerem Hemed’.

At the beginning of the 1860s, Hebrew-language newspapers made their appearance (HaMagid, HaMelitz ,HaLevanon, HaZefira), as well as the Vilna newspaper HaCarmel. They served as a stage for a new and fundamental discourse of the Maskilim circles in Vilna. This trend became more widespread at the beginning of the 20^th century where local newspaper stands displayed a variety of newspapers in different languages which were used as a means of expression for the various ideological movements, such as: Dos Idishe Folk, Unzer Fraynd, Der Tog and HaZman. In this context, the children’s newspapers should be mentioned, such as Der Grininke Beymelekh, and Life and Nature.

Source:  Vilna as a modern cultural center

Vilna had two daily newspapers that were published almost continuously during the period of independent Polish rule. Tag (Day), the Yiddish-speakers’ newspaper, appeared until the Soviet occupation of Vilna during WWII. For reasons of censure, the newspaper often changed its name, but the word Tag always remained. For most of this period, the newspaper’s editor was Zalman Reisin. Bund members and undercover communists worked on the editorial board. Reisin was hostile to Zionism, but supported Territorialism. In the literary weekend supplement, he promoted the city’s writers and poets, and published Polish newspaper reviews and articles about theatre and other local issues. He also published a Zionist daily in Yiddish, Jüdische Zeitung (Jewish Times) to Unsere Freund (Our Friend) to Zeit (Time).

 Other dailies appeared from time to time, such as the evening commercial paper Avant Courier - which dealt mostly with crime, disturbing family issues, suicides and murders - the government-supporting paper Unsere Stimme, editions of Warsaw papers, and others.

Party political, literary and professional journals in both Yiddish and Hebrew were published in Vilna. Most of them lasted less than a year. Many were dedicated to literature and art. Between 1929 and 1930, the Hebrew magazine Galim (Waves) appeared, and included in its content articles from Eretz Israel. The writers' group that concentrated around Galim established the "Hebrew Writers Association." Galim also organized two balls, in which the poet Itzhak Katzenelson participated. After Galim was closed, the Zramim (Currents) magazine appeared, in which the poet Uriel Akavia, the author S. Ben-Zion, the historian Prof. Joseph Klausner, K. Bertini, Yisrael Heilprin and others were contributors. Zramim operated for about nine months, and brought out 18 editions. The Yeshiva (Talmudic college) Council in Vilna, headed by Hayim Ozer Grodzenski, published the weekly Das Wort (The Word), the voice of "Agudath Yisrael," between 1924 and 1938.

A number of socialist weeklies were circulated in Vilna, including Baginen (At Dawn), published between 1932 and 1937. The Democratic Party brought out its own magazine, which discussed the territorialist ambitions of the secular Yiddishists. Two Yiddish communist weeklies were closed by the authorities in 1937. In 1932, a trial publication of a weekly brought out every Sabbath was closed due to a protest by the "Guardians of the Sabbath" Society.

"The Society of Jewish Writers and Journalists" dealt with the publication of books on culture, literature and history, the commemoration of spiritual leaders and evening discourses on literature, theatre and art. These evenings included a public gathering in honour of writers that visited the city. The society also maintained a loan fund, a fund for the infirm, and a pension fund. The author of its regulations and first chairman was S. Ansky. In 1921, marking the end of the 30-day mourning period since the murder of Yosef Haim Brenner in Jaffa, a memorial evening was held at the people's university founded by "Tarbut." They joined protests over the 1929 riots in Eretz Israel, and in 1937 sent a representative to the World Congress for Yiddish Culture (Yiddisher Kultur Farband - YIKUF) that gathered in Paris. The society declared the struggle against the "Shund" – novels and other publications considered a step down in quality – and published a list of recommended novels and books for reading and purchase. The list was distributed for free, in large numbers.

From: Yad Vashem

The Fareyn fun yidishe literatn un zhurnalistn in Vilne – Union of Yiddish Writers and Journalists in Vilna, was a professional association, active in Vilna from 1916 until the outbreak of the Second World War. Its membership was comprised of newspaper editors and writers employed in Yiddish-language publishing enterprises, and other Yiddish-language authors residing in Vilna.

The union was founded in 1916 in wartime Vilna, which was then under German occupation. The proponent of the union was the Bundist leader, Beinush Michalewicz (Izbicki), and 15 writers who declared their support for it. However, the group remained inactive until the end of the war. The union was revived in 1919 by S. Ansky, who wrote the by-laws of the new association.

Ansky became its honorary chairman, and A. Waiter, its secretary. In April 1919, Waiter was killed during a pogrom perpetrated by the Polish military. The leadership of the union was passed on to S. Niger, and after his departure to the U.S., to Zalman Reisen. In subsequent years, the post of chairman was occupied by Reisen, S.L. Zitron, Moishe Zilburg, Falk Halpern, Dan Kaplanovich, and Moishe Shalit. For most of the union's existence, A.I. Grodzenski served as its secretary.

Among its activities, the union arranged for the publication of books by its members, established a loan “kassa”, introduced pensions for retired writers, organized strikes, conducted negotiations with publishers and newspaper owners, and arbitrated disputes between its members. The union maintained contact with Poland’s Union of Yiddish Writers and Journalists in Warsaw, as well as with regional unions. It was also instrumental in establishing a Yiddish Pen-Club center in Vilna, and in organizing, in June 1927, a land conference of the Yiddish press. Finally, it maintained for its membership a well-stacked reading room.

The Union of Yiddish Writers and Journalist in Vilna was dissolved, ca. 1940.

Source: Yivo

Magazines devoted to health and medicine were also published in Vilna. The most important and popular was the Folkszezunt (Public Health), which appeared in Vilna in the years 1940-1923 founded and edited until his death, by Dr. Tzemach Shabad (1935-1864), and Avraham Kotik, who was a writer, translator and activist in popular education and popular education.