''Sovetish Heymland'' (

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

סאָוועטיש היימלאַנד - "Soviet Homeland") was a

-language literary magazine published by poet and controversial figure (for his participation in the Soviet official "

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...

" campaign)

Aron Vergelis Aron Vergelis (Yiddish: אהרן װערגעליס; Russian: Аро́н А́лтерович Верге́лис; 7 May 1918, in Liubar (now in Zhitomyr Oblast) – 7 April 1999, in Moscow) was a Soviet poet and Jewish journalist who wrote in Yiddish ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

as a bi-monthly from 1961 to 1965, then as a monthly until 1991. With the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, the journal no longer received state support. In the early 1960s, ''Sovetish Heymland'' had a circulation of 25,000, the highest ever circulation for a Yiddish-language periodical. The circulation fell to 16,000 in 1966; to 10,000 in 1971; to 7,000 in 1978; and to 5,000 in 1985. Although the journal's circulation had fallen dramatically, donations solicited from the United States, France and Argentina in the early 1990s enabled Vergelis to continue publishing the journal under the name ''Di Yidishe Gas'' (Yiddish די יידישע גאַס - "The Jewish Street") from 1993 until his death in July 1999. ''Sovetish Heymland'' was developed in the period after the death of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

in 1953 as a forum for those Yiddish writers who had survived the repressions of Soviet Yiddish which had occurred in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The title referred back to the Moscow-based Yiddish literary periodicals ''Sovetish'' (1934–1941) and ''Heymland'' (1947–1948), indicating a continuity of Yiddish literary output. In addition to being the official Yiddish periodical of the

Union of Soviet Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers (russian: Союз писателей СССР, translit=Soyuz Sovetstikh Pisatelei) was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded ...

, one of the main aims of the journal was to disseminate Soviet propaganda among Yiddish-speaking Jewish

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. In addition, the publication of a highly literary Yiddish-language journal was meant to show that Yiddish and Yiddish cultural institutions were not disappearing, but that there was in fact a Yiddish revival occurring in the

, and that ''Sovetish Heymland'' in particular was taking the lead in maintaining Yiddish culture. As part of this propaganda, Vergelis published numerous anti-

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

and anti-

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

articles. Vergelis' controversial reputation as a tool of

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...

and the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

government is based largely on these articles, as well as several articles attacking his critics from outside the Soviet Union. In addition, the fact that ''Sovetish Heymland'' was authorized by the government indicated to some that Vergelis was merely a mouthpiece for Soviet propaganda. In addition to literary articles, the journal published materials on Jewish folklore, history, language and literature in Yiddish, the magazine also collected biographical and bibliographical material about Jewish writers. In the 25th anniversary issue of ''Sovetish Heymland'' in August 1986, Vergelis announced that the journal had published 76 novels, 109 novellas, 1,478 short stories, 6,680 poems, and 1,628 articles dealing with literary criticism and the arts. It was also one of the few periodicals to encourage the younger generation of Soviet Yiddish writers. As the only Yiddish-language journal that was officially allowed by the Soviet authorities from the 1960s through the 1980s, ''Sovetish Heymland'', under the editorship of Vergelis, was connected with almost all of the period's cultural output. Vergelis became an "unofficial censor of all Yiddish-language literature and the chief

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

consultant on matters relating to Soviet Jews."Chernin, Velvel. "Institutionalized Jewish Culture in the 1960s to the mid-1980s," ''Jews and Jewish Life in Russia and the Soviet Union,'' ed. Yaacov Ro'i, pp. 226-236, 1995.

References

{{reflist

External links

*Brumberg, Joseph, and Brumberg, Abraham. ''Sovyetish Heymland. : An Analysis''. New York: Anti-defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1966. *Estraikh, Gennady. ''Yiddish in the Cold War''. Oxford: Legenda, 2008. *Estraikh, Gennady.
Sovetish Heymland
" ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''. *Mogilner, Boris. ''Af Der Khṿalye Fun Glasnosṭ''. Mosḳṿe: Farlag "Soṿeṭsḳi Pisaṭel", 1988. Print. ביבליאטעק פון ״סאוועטיש היימלאנד״ ; No 10 (94). *Singerman, Robert. ''Jewish Serials of the World: A Supplement to the Research Bibliography of Secondary Sources, Volume 2''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. Defunct newspapers published in Russia Jewish anti-Zionism in Russia Jewish anti-Zionism in the Soviet Union Jewish socialism Jews and Judaism in Moscow Magazines established in 1961 Newspapers published in Russia Newspapers published in the Soviet Union Secular Jewish culture in Europe Yiddish-language mass media in Russia Yiddish newspapers