Guide to the Records of the Yidisher Artistn Farayn (Yiddish Actors' Union) 1908-1940 RG 26

Arranged by Solomon Krystal, 1984. Translated and edited by Rivka Schiller in 2006 with the assistance of a grant from the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation. Additional processing by Sarah Ponichtera in 2013 as part of the CJH Holocaust Resource Initiative, made possible by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org
URL: http://www.yivo.org

Electronic finding aid was encoded in EAD 2002 by Sarah Ponichtera in March 2013. Customized in ARCHON in 2013. Description is in English.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Records of the Yidisher Artistn Farayn (Yiddish Actors' Union) 1908-1940 RG 26

ID: RG 26 FA

Extent: 16.25 Linear Feet

Arrangement: The series are arranged by type of material, namely administrative materials, correspondence, or membership files.

Languages: Yiddish, Polish, German, Russian, Hebrew, English

Abstract

The Yidisher Artistn Farayn , or Yiddish Actors’ Union, advocated for actors’ economic interests while striving to create a professionally run, artistically ambitious, Yiddish theatrical scene in Warsaw. From 1919-1938, its influence gradually increased until it included the majority of actors working in Poland, and collaborated with the most significant Polish Yiddish cultural figures and institutions, including E. R. Kaminska, YIVO, Literarishe Bleter , and the Landrat , or National Council of Class Trade Unions ( Krajowa Rada Klasowych Związków Zawodowych ). This collection contains records of annual conventions, Executive Committee meetings, correspondence with actors and theaters from Poland and around the world, and membership files on almost 600 actors.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection contains administrative materials detailing institutional functions and decision-making processes, correspondence, and membership files, each separated into its own series.

Series I , Administrative Records, contains very early notes on the initial formation of the YAF, as well as the bylaws of the union (both the original handwritten version and a sample of the subsequent print versions, in Yiddish and Polish). Series I also contains records of the annual conventions. There are particularly complete records of conventions 3-15 (1921-1932). Series I contains the minutes of the meetings of the Executive Committee, from 1922-1933, and records of the communal court. There are few financial records, although there are records of the YAF’s drive to collect funds to build a new theater building.

Series II , Correspondence, is divided into subseries that reflect the YAF’s own filing system. Correspondence is separated according to the location of the correspondent, which correlates with the primary subject matter of each group of correspondence. Executive Committee correspondence, dealing with administrative and charitable matters, forms Subseries 1 . Subseries 2 consists of correspondence with international theatrical organizations, either groups that toured Poland, or groups that Polish actors worked for abroad. Subseries 3 contains correspondence with theatrical groups in Poland, organized by the name of each Polish city where the group was located. Correspondence with Polish government organizations as well as non-governmental organizations falls into Subseries 4 . Subseries 5 contains correspondence with permanently established theaters in Poland, organized by the name of the theater. Subseries 6 consists of correspondence with touring acting troupes, organized by the name of their correspondent. This filing system represents the way that the YAF established intellectual control over their activities, which attempted to encompass all theatrical work in Poland.

Series III contains the YAF’s membership files, arranged by member’s name. Many of these files contain membership booklets that include a picture, and the person’s basic biographical information. If the member took the exam held by the YAF in order to qualify for membership, records of the exam are included in their file. Some files also contain correspondence between the member and the YAF, often pertaining to questions or problems they encountered in their dealings with the organization.

Series IV consists of unarranged YAF materials. These materials, though they were originally produced by the YAF, like the rest of the collection, do not possess the same inherent order, and seem to have been assembled over a period of time from a variety of sources. Some of the correspondence is addressed to Zalman Reyzen, and the materials on performances and actors relate to those located in Vilna more than other cities, so YIVO may have had a hand in collecting these materials at some point during the prewar period. Special permission to work with these materials must be obtained from the YIVO Archivist.

Historical Note

The Yidisher Artistn Farayn (Yiddish Actors’ Union), also known as the Zwiazek Artystow Scen Zydowskich (ZASZ), located in Warsaw, Poland, was founded in 1919, and existed until the beginning of WWII (September 1939). Its primary purpose was to represent the interests of actors in their financial negotiations with directors of theaters and theatrical troupes. However, its role went beyond that, as it involved itself in politics, supporting greater autonomy for Polish Jews, and in cultural life, as it attempted to support the development of a professional, artistically ambitious Polish Jewish theater. In fact these goals were connected: demonstrating the advancement of Jewish culture was thought to buttress Jewish claims for greater political freedom.

Several attempts were made to establish an actors’ union in the 1910s in different cities in Poland, beginning in 1915 in Lodz. The German occupation of Poland during and after WWI provided Polish Jews, and the Yiddish theater in particular, with unprecedented freedom. Whereas under the Russia Czar, permits to perform Yiddish plays were rarely granted and frequently revoked, the German occupation authorities, eager to undermine Russification, allowed ethnic minorities including Jews to freely participate in cultural life. Following WWI, it took some years for refugees who had fled to return to Warsaw, but when a critical mass of actors and activists was reached, in 1919, the Yidisher Artistn Farayn (henceforth referred to as YAF) took shape.

In the early years of its existence, the YAF struggled to exert influence over the energetic but chaotic blossoming of the Yiddish theatrical scene in Poland. New theatrical companies would be established and then disappear, and rifts emerged particularly between actors affiliated with permanent theaters and those that toured the provinces, sometimes only for a single season. They also ironically struggled with the greater freedoms allowed Yiddish theaters and actors: if they called a strike, there was no reason directors could not simply hire actors unaffiliated with the union, and many did exactly that, limiting the YAF’s ability to create meaningful change.

In 1925, the YAF affiliated itself with the Landrat , or the National Council of Class Trade Unions ( Krajowa Rada Klasowych Związków Zawodowych ). This unified them with unions in other professions, broadening their ability to enforce internal discipline and amplifying their voice on the Polish political stage.

The YAF conducted extensive activities aside from bargaining with directors and political activism. As part of its general financial support of retired, ill, and unemployed actors, it provided a stipend to actors who wished to send their children to school. In 1925, they decided to limit this stipend to those who sent their children to Yiddish-language schools, thus buttressing Yiddish education in Poland. They also published their own journals ( Yidish teater and Yidishe bine , among others) and amassed one of the most impressive libraries among the Warsaw trade unions. They held lectures on the history of Yiddish theater, and became involved in education, training young actors and providing certification for experienced actors. Its membership grew to include over 300 (324 in 1938), and accounted for the vast majority of Yiddish actors in Poland at the outbreak of WWII.

References

Mordechai V. Bernstein, “Di organizatsye fun di yidishe artistn,” in Yidisher teater in Eyrope tsvishn beyde velt-milkhomes , vol. 1, Poyln, ed. Itsik Manger, Yonas Turkov (Jonas Turkow), and Moyshe Perenson, pp. 339–436 (New York, 1968)

Marek Web, “Organizacja i samopomoc: Z historii ruchu zawodowego aktorów żydowskich w Polsce,” Pamiętnik Teatralny 41.1–4 [161–164] (1992): 135–174, special issue on Yiddish theater in Poland until 1939.

Web, Marek. "Yiddish Actors Union." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 8 November 2010. 22 March 2013 http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Yiddish_Actors_Union.

Subject/Index Terms

Actors Labor unions, Actors Poland Biography, Documents - Correspondence, Documents - Membership Cards, Documents - Minutes (Administrative Records), Documents - Resolutions (Administrative Records), Theater, Yiddish, Warsaw (Poland), Yidisher artistn-fareyn in Poyln

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions: Permission to use the collection must be obtained from the YIVO Archivist.

Use Restrictions:

Permission to publish part or parts of the collection must be obtained from the YIVO Archives. For more information, contact:

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Acquisition Method: These records were among the Jewish collection looted by the Einsatzstab Rosenberg in Vilna under the Nazis and brought to Germany in 1942. Placed after the war in the U.S. military Offenbach Archival Depot, these documents were returned to the YIVO in New York in 1947.

Related Materials:

Additional materials from the Yidisher Artistn Farayn can be found in the Central State Archives (Vilnius). The YAF gave their records to YIVO in 1935; however materials continued to be created as well as found over the following years, and these records found their way into the Lithuanian Central State Archives. Photocopies of these materials can be found at YIVO; the originals are located in Vilnius.

There were significant contacts between the Yidisher Artistn Farayn and the Hebrew Actors' Union (RG 1843), which was based in New York. Although there was no formal assocation between the two organizations, many individuals participated in both, and the organizations were aware of one another, alternately supporting one another in their aims and coming into conflict.

Preferred Citation: Published citations should take the following form:Identification of item, date (if known); Records of the Yidisher Artistn Farayn; RG 26; box number; folder number; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: Administrative Records, 1919-1940,
Series 2: Series II: Correspondence, 1913-1938,
Series 3: Series III: Membership Records, 1910-1939,
Series 4: Series IV: Unprocessed Materials, 1908-1938,
All

Series I: Administrative Records 1919-1940

This series contains meeting minutes, lists of meeting participants, budgetary materials, and convention materials, including reports, agendas, discussions, lists of delegates and guests. It also includes materials relating to the death and memorialization of E. R. Kaminska, and materials pertaining to the building fund for the establishment of a union-run Yiddish theater building in Warsaw. There are a few folders containing arbitration court disputations and resolutions, correspondence from institutions and individuals regarding the court. There are also some financial records from various Yiddish theaters and acting troupes as well as financial documents for the YAF, including check books, records of deposits and unions dues, and correspondence with banks. Finally, this series contains a small number of membership statistics.

Arrangement: Materials are arranged by subject, and within each subject (for example, conventions or meeting minutes), chronologically.

Folders: 50 folders

Box 1

Folder 1: Organizing committee records 1921: Preliminary meeting minutes, list of meeting participants (including Michael Weichert, Ignacy Schipper, Isaac Nozik, Ajzyk Samberg, Adolph Berman, and others), budgetary materials, report from Warsaw delegates, discussion of upcoming conference.
Folder 2: Bylaws 1919-1928: Bylaws of the YAF in Yiddish and Polish, both handwritten and printed copies
Folder 3: Third National Convention, September 20-21, 1921 1921: List of attending delegates and guests, records of speeches, meeting minutes, and resultions, report on travelling Yiddish theater, minutes of the meeting devoted to "Little Poland"
Folder 4: Fourth National Convention, August 15, 1922 1922: Resolutions, authorizations for individual delegates to take part in the conference, lists of delegates and guests, minutes, newspaper reports.
Folder 5: Fifth National Convention, September 4-6, 1923 1923: Participating delegates and guests, Report from the Central Committee of the YAF, agenda and minutes of the meetings, M. Weichert's lecture notes, minutes of the meetings of the research committee and the editorial committee. Newspaper announcement and reports.
Folder 6: Sixth Conference, September 22-24, 1924 1923-1924: Lists of delegates and guests, invitations and greetings, agenda and report, minutes of the Standing (permanent) Committee, resolutions concerning the building of a theater building, repetoire, and about the founding of a drama-music studio, newspaper reports and advertisements.
Folder 7: Seventh Conference, August 25-17, 1925 1925: Lists of delegates and guests, greetings and addresses, minutes of the meetings, minutes of the standing committee, minutes of the committee devoted to implementing convention resolutions, report on the activities of the central Executive committee for the year 1924-1925, report from the search committee, press release and newspaper reports.
Folder 8: Eighth Convention, September 13-15, 1926 undated: Reports and resolutions
Folder 9: Ninth Convention, June 21-23, 1927 1927: Agenda, delegate and guest cards, reports and resolutions
Folder 10: Tenth Convention, July 17/18, 1928 1928: Circulars, invitations, greetings.
Folder 11: Tenth Convention, second part 1928: Lists of delegates, resolutions.
Folder 12: Tenth Convention, third part 1928: Newspaper announcements and reports.
Folder 13: Eleventh Convention, June 25-56, 1929 1929: Greetings, resolutions, circulars, lists of delegates
Folder 14: Eleventh Convention, second part 1929: Press release and newspaper reports
Folder 15: Twelfth Conference, July 22-24, 1930 1929-1930: Agenda, list of votes, lists of candidates, reports of a commission to make a referendum to vote on new officers
Folder 16: Thirteenth Convention, December 23-24, 1930 1930-1931: Minutes of the national convention, press release and newspaper reports
Folder 17: Thirteenth Convention, second part 1931: Minutes of the Plenary Session of the Main Council, January 8, 1931

Box 2

Folder 18: Fifteenth Convention, June 14-15, 1932 1932: Agenda, minutes
Folder 19: Fifteenth Convention, second part 1932: Materials related to delegates (authorizations, cards, lists), lists of guests, materials relating to resolutions (texts of resolutions, minutes of meetings)
Folder 20: Fifteenth Convention, third part 1932: Circulars, correspondence, press releases and newspaper clippings
Folder 21: Fifteenth Convention, fourth part 1932: Agenda and Minutes of the Plenary Session of the Main Council, February 3, 1932
Folder 22: Materials from later conventions 1933-1936: Delegate cards, programs, and resolutions from the conventions in May 1933, May 1934, July 1935, and September 1936
Folder 23: Minutes of Executive Committee Meetings 1922: Meetings of: March 21, August 15, August 16
Folder 24: Meeting minutes 1924: Report of the Central Executive Committee from the Special Delegate Conference December 1, 1924; Minutes of the first meeting after the statement; Minutes of the Exam Committee's meeting, December 15
Folder 25: Meeting minutes 1925: Meetings of: January 7-8, Jan 31, Feb 9, 22-23, July 29, November 7, Nov 10, December 13, 24, and 28. Minutes of the meeting of the committee to organize a memorial for Esther-Rokhl Kaminska.
Folder 26: Meeting minutes 1926: Meetings of: Jan 12, 21, 28, Feb 1, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, Mar 1, 8, 9, 15, 19 April 18, 28, June 7, July 8, 11, 20, Aug 27, Sept 12, 16, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, Oct 3, 6, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 25, Nov 1, 2, 9, 14, 15, 22, 23, 26, 29, Dec 7, 12, 13, 15, 19, 20.
Folder 27: Meeting minutes 1927: Meetings of: Jan 6, 7, 11, 16, 17, 23, 25, Feb 16, 17, 20, 27, Mar 1, 8, 15, 20, 23, 27, 28, Apr 3, 5, 11, May 5, 20, June 20, July 4, 10, 20, Aug 2, 16, 25, Sept 4, 8, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, Oct 4, 5, 9, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, Nov 2, 4, 8, 9, 19, 29, Dec 19, 28. Minutes of a meeting between the director of the Joint in Poland, I. Giterman, and a delegation from the YAF consisting of Fisher, Marcela, and Yuviler, Jan 21, 1927.
Folder 28: Meeting minutes 1928: Meetings of: Jan 1, 23, 30, Feb 21, 24, Mar 26, Apr 4, 27, May 10, July 17, Aug 12, Sept 22, Oct 3, 4, 18, 25, Nov 2, 4, 15, Dec 10, 14, 19, 22, 24, 27. Minutes of the meetings of the Councils of the Kaminska and Skala theaters, Jan 2, Dec 21. Minutes of the special meeting of the Executive Committee of the Warsaw Troupe, Oct 31.
Folder 29: Meeting minutes 1929: Meetings of: Jan 2, 15, 17, 25, 28, 30, Feb 3, 4, 5, 15, 19, 26, Mar 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 20, 24, 30, July 3, Aug 14, 15, Sept 2, 3, 4, 19, 26, Oct 1, 9, 10, 15, 16, Nov 5. Joint meeting of the old and new officers.
Folder 30: Meeting minutes 1930: Meetings of: Jan 30, Feb 12, Mar 3, 18, Apr 9, 19, May 3, 5, 17, 27, June 5, 30, July 2, 13, 21, Nov 6, 7, 8, 14, 18, 19, 25, 27, 29, Dec 22, 25, 26, 27, 28. Resolution and decision regarding the matter of the liquidation of the directorate. Meeting of the commission to consider the matter between members Kh. Mazoh and M. Vayntroyb.
Folder 31: Meeting minutes 1931: Meetings of: Jan 2, 6, 10, 13, 17, 20, 22, 27, 30, Feb 6, 7, 9, 19, 21, Mar 2, 8, 9, 14, 18, 21, 25, 29, Apr 7, 13, 20, 24, 27, May 8, 27, 29, June 1, 3, 4, 11, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, July 2, 5, 9, 12, 15, 30, Aug 7, 9, 16, 19, 21, 23, Sept 3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 16, 20, Oct 6, 10, 12, 14, 18, 20, 27, 28, Nov 1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 10. Joint meeting betwen the Executive Committee and the Commission for the Liquidation of the Directorate, Feb 9. Joint meeting of the Executive Committee and the officers.
Folder 32: Meeting minutes 1932: Meetings of: Jan 17, 25, 28, 31, Feb 5, 8, 13, 18, 19, 21, 22, Mar 7, 8, 14, 21, Apr 1, May 11, 15, 18, 21, 24, June 3, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, July 5, Aug 4, Sept 14, 15, Oct 4, 6, 8, 17, 18, 27, Nov 5, 10, 13, 17, 21, 23, Dec 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 17, 18, 19, 24, 26, 30. General meeting called by a group of members, May 12. Letter to all members. Meeting with the theater, Feb 19. Meeting with the officers, Mar 9. Meeting with a group of members, May 10.
Folder 33: Meeting minutes 1933: Meetings of: Jan 3, 4, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 25, 27, 29, Feb 1, 3, 8, 9, 13, 16. Meeting with theatre employees, March 1934. Articles and obituaries on the seventh yartzeit of Esther-Rokhl Kaminska.

Box 2A

Folder 34: Circulars and Notices 1925-1930
Folder 35: Circulars and Notices 1931-1932
Folder 36: Circulars and Notices 1933-1935
Folder 37: Minutes of the Meetings of the Directorate of the Yiddish Theater in Poland 1930-1931

Box 3

Folder 38: Theater newsletters and bulletins 1928-1932
Folder 39: Materials relating to the Leksikon fun yidishn teater 1928-1940
Folder 40: Communal court records 1924-1926
Folder 41: Communal court records 1927-1928
Folder 42: Communal court records 1929
Folder 43: Communal court records 1930
Folder 44: Communal court records 1931
Folder 45: Communal court records 1932
Folder 46: Communal court records 1933
Folder 47: Communal court records 1934-1935

Box 4

Folder 48: Financial Records 1922-1928: Box office receipts for the years 1922-1925; Dollar account 1928, General account 1928, Troop payments for the 1926 season
Folder 49: Records of the Fund to Build a YAF Theater 1920-1931
Folder 50: Membership Records 1926-1933