8 October 2025

Lecture by Dr. Samuel Kassow, “Zalmen Reyzen’s and Max Weinreich’s Image of Interwar Vilna”

On October 20, at 6:30 p.m., the fifth lecture of the academic forum dedicated to the centenary of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, “Zalmen Reyzen’s and Max Weinreich’s Image of Interwar Vilna” will take place in the Statehood Centre (2nd floor) of the National Library. The lecture will be given by Professor Samuel Kassow, a researcher from the United States. The lecture will be held in the Statehood Hall (2nd floor) of the National Library.

For a long time, Vilnius was considered the centre of Jewish cultural leadership in Eastern Europe. In one of his articles about interwar Vilnius, Kassow writes that despite the city’s economic poverty and the fact that other cities, such as Warsaw or New York, there were significantly more Jews living there, for many prominent Jewish figures, especially Yiddishists, Vilnius was the capital of an imagined international state called Yiddishland.

In 1935, one of the leaders of YIVO, Max Vainraich, explaining why Vilnius was chosen as the home of YIVO, highlighted the genius loci (spirit of place) of Vilnius. In the Jerusalem of Lithuania, which was a source of pride for Jews, the city spaces were filled with memories, and the spirit of the place united the past and the present. Weinreich claimed that Jews would only be able to build a better future if they did not forget the past. Another YIVO director and editor of the most famous Yiddish daily newspaper in Vilnius, Der Tog (lit. The Day), Zalmen Reizen, called Vilnius the homeland of Jewish public life (Yiddish: gezelshaftlikhkayt).

In this lecture, which will be held in English, Professor Kassow will present the image of interwar Vilnius that was shaped by the two founders and directors of the YIVO Institute, Max Weinreich and Zalmen Reizen.

Samuel Kassow (born 1946) is an American historian, one of the most prominent researchers of Eastern European Jewish history, and a professor at Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut), where he has taught Jewish history, Eastern European history, and Holocaust studies for many years. His research covers the political, cultural, and social life of Jews in Lithuania, Poland, and Eastern Europe before World War II, the modernization processes of the early 20th century, and the documentation of Holocaust experiences. The professor collaborates regularly with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York, gives lectures, and visits Lithuania every year with a group of students on a study trip to Lithuania and Poland organized by YIVO.

The project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.

Briefly about the event

Date

20 October

Time

18:30

Place

Statehood Centre, 2nd floor

Duration

1,5 h

Attendance

free

Organiser

Judaica Research Centre of the National Library of Lithuania

Sponsor

the project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture

Important

the event may be photographed and/or filmed
the event will be held in English

More information

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