We continue our series of posts on the research conducted by the project’s literary group. This time, we turn to an article by Tetiana Nepypenko, which examines the portrayal of Kharkiv in the 1920s and 1930s in the works of Yiddish writers.
Tetyana Nepypenko is a graduate student in the Volodymyr Morenets Department of Literary Studies, a research associate at the Judaica Center, and a translator of Yiddish, German, English, and Swedish.
The article focuses on Kharkiv during the interwar period, as seen through the eyes of Yiddish writers Der Nister and Yisroel-Yehoshua Singer. For them, the city emerges as a space for cultural experimentation, where a new Jewish identity is taking shape.
The researcher demonstrates that in these texts, Kharkiv becomes a symbol of a break with the traditional world of the shtetl. Here, Jewish culture attempts to reconcile memories of the past with a striving for modernity, and Yiddish literature experiences a brief but exceptionally productive period of development.
“Kharkiv, as seen through the eyes of Jewish authors who came of age in the global ‘centers’ of Yiddish literature — Berlin and New York— is an exotic city that seems to spring from nowhere and lead nowhere.”
What is particularly interesting is that the same urban space evokes opposing reactions. For Der Nister, Kharkiv becomes an almost utopian project for creating a new world, whereas for Singer, it appears as a city of alienation, social contrasts, and the loss of familiar points of reference. It is precisely in this tension between enthusiasm and skepticism that the unique experience of Jewish modernity is born.
Tetyana Nepypenko’s article reminds us that Kharkiv in the 1920s was not only a political and administrative center but also a meeting place for diverse cultures, languages, and literary traditions. That is precisely why the works of Yiddish writers help us view the history of Ukrainian modernism in a much broader context—as a shared experience of many cultural communities.
The full text of the article will be available following the online publication of the project's Imagological Collection on the website.
This publication was produced as part of the project "Jewish Heritage in Ukraine: Interdisciplinary Reflections through the Lens of Archival Documents, Culture, History, and Literature", implemented by the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with the support of UNESCO Ukraine and the European Union.
All publications are produced with the financial support of the European Union. Their content is the sole responsibility of the partners and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union.