New Yiddish Animation from St. Petersburg

The Jewish Community Center of St. Petersburg, Russia, produced a children’s animation in Yiddish titled An Emeser Kontsert (A True Concert), directed by Marina Sokol. Children who study the language at the local Yiddish-oriented Sunday club Undzere Traditsyes (Our Traditions) recite a poem by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (1920-2013).

Born in Vienna and raised in Czernowitz (then Romania, now Ukraine), Schaechter-Gottesman grew up in a Yiddish-speaking family surrounded by a multilingual environment. Luckily, she survived the war in the Czernowitz ghetto, along with her mother, husband and several other family members. Later on, after moving to New York, she authored eight books of Yiddish poetry. Several of her relatives continue to play important roles in today’s Yiddish culture.