170,000 Pre-Holocaust Documents Discovered, Giving Glimpse Into Lost Jewish Culture

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz : Oct 25, 2017
Breaking Israel News

The story behind the document is truly remarkable. When the Nazis occupied Lithuania, they ordered the majority of Jewish documents and artifacts to be destroyed, while some documents and artifacts were sent to Germany to be studied by anti-Semitic researchers. 170,000 documents were hidden by a group of Jewish intellectuals known as the Paper Brigade in six different locations in the Vilnius ghetto.

[BreakingIsraelNews.com] On Tuesday, ten documents that are part of an enormous collection, went on display in New York, giving a rare glimpse into Lithuanian Jewish culture from before the Holocaust. The documents are part of a large and precious trove, saved through a series of brave acts. (Photo: Jewish documents/via BIN)

The Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut [Yiddish Scientific Institute] (YIVO) announced they had discovered 170,000 documents previously believed to have been destroyed by the Nazis in World War II. The trove contains unpublished manuscripts by famous Yiddish writers as well as religious and community documents. Among the finds are letters written by Sholem Aleichem, a postcard by Marc Chagall, and poems and manuscripts by Chaim Grade. The collection also includes a 1751 astronomy manuscript with descriptions and drawings of the solar system and an 1883 Russian censor's copy of a theatrical poem by Abraham Goldfaden, founder of the modern Yiddish theater.

"The troves discovered in Lithuania...

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