Moscow State Yiddish Theater
593 Total
DESCRIPTION
The Moscow State Yiddish Theater (MSYT) collection is an important and rich resource on the history of the GOSET (Gosudarstvennyi evreiskii teatr, Russian acronym of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater) and Soviet Yiddish culture in general. The collection comprises 581 items, including 147 photographs, 2 drawings, and 432 documents and books in Russian, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Hebrew, German, and French. It contains documents from the 1900s to the 1970s; most are from GOSET’s golden years, the 1920s-1930s. In scope and significance, this collection complements other archival collections of GOSET’s materials, two in Russia (at the Russian State Archives for Literature and Art and the A.A. Bakhrushin State Theatrical Museum in Moscow) and one in Israel (at the Israel Gur Archive and Museum of Theatre at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem).
Formerly, the MSYT collection was the family archive of Iustina Minkova (1895-1979) and Solomon (Zalmen) Zil’berblat (1897-1977), Yiddish actors and members of the GOSET troupe (we are grateful to Alex Russakovsky for sharing invaluable information and rare materials about this family). Both Minkova and Zil’berblat were among the first cohort of Soviet Yiddish actors, who started their careers in 1919 as students at the Petrograd Yiddish theatrical studio founded by European-trained director, Aleksei Granovskii. In the 1920s, after moving to Moscow, Granovskii and his troupe were able to transform the modest studio into the famous GOSET, one of the best avant-garde theaters, competing with the major Moscow troupes led by Evgenii Vakhtangov, Vsevolod Meierkhold, and Aleksandr Tairov. Minkova was among GOSET’s leading actors, playing major roles in the theater’s most successful shows—Eti Meni in Sholem Aleichem’s “200,000” and Goneril in William Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” In 1935, she was awarded the prestigious title of Honorary Actor by the Soviet government. Minkova’s husband, Zil’berblat, mostly played supporting roles. His only major role was Hershele, the main character in Moisei Gershenzon’s “Hershele Ostropoler.” Zil’berblat was also active in the actor’s union, performed some administrative tasks in the theater, and organized extracurricular events such as celebrations of important events related to the theater’s history and Yiddish culture. He was also an avid collector of books and documents on the history of GOSET and Yiddish theater in general.
The documentary part of the MSYT collection (432 items) includes the theater’s internal memos and letters, draft playbills, scripts annotated by actors, administrative correspondence, minutes of the local actors’ union meetings, various bills, press coverage (clippings from and full issues of newspapers and magazines) of the performances, and show posters. These documents illustrate important aspects of Soviet Yiddish theater and history of Jewish life in the USSR, such as:
- The artistic achievements and cultural contribution of the Soviet Yiddish theater (examples of the Soviet and European critical acclaim of GOSET’s art can be found in MSYT.00348, MSYT.00352, MSYT.00092, and MSYT.00096)
- Soviet state support of Yiddish culture (evidence of GOSET’s financial troubles and attempts to solve them by placing the theater’s administration and repertoire under close supervision of the party and state organs can be seen in MSYT.00194 and MSYT.00535)
- Communist ideological control of Soviet Yiddish culture (the introduction of tighter state control over the theater in the 1930s during the Cultural Revolution in the USSR is illustrated by MSYT.00269 and MSYT.00515)
- The use of Yiddish theater as a propaganda tool in the USSR (examples of GOSET’s cultural work for the Red Army, before and during the World War II, can be found in MSYT.00184, MSYT.00340, and MSYT.00519)
- Internal workings of the theater and the everyday lives of actors (notes and letters detailing the work of the theater and the lives of the actors are represented by MSYT.00186, MSYT.00207, and MSYT.00305)
In addition to the documents, the MSYT collection contains several books on the history of the Yiddish theater and books by Yiddish authors, such as biographies of GOSET’s principal star and the informal leader of the Soviet Jews, Solomon Mikhoels, by Mikhail Zagorskii (1927, MSYT.00554), Osip Liubomirskii (1938, MSYT.00563), and Iakov Grinval’d (1948, MSYT.00562)
The graphic part of the MSYT collection contains drawings (2 items) and photographs (147 items). They include:
- Headshots of GOSET actors (two 1930s drawings by Aleksandr Kostomolotskii, including a portrait of Iosif Shidlo, MSYT.00401, and many more individual photographs of other actors, such as MSYT.00052, MSYT.00065, and of the entire troupe, such as MSYT.00089 and MSYT.00564;
- Portraits of GOSET actors in make-up and costume on and off-stage (Liia Rozina as Mirele in Abraham’s Goldfaden’s “The Witch” in 1922, MSYT.00026, Iustina Minkova and Solomon Mikhoels as Et-Meni and Shimele Soroker in Sholem Aleichem’s “200,000” in 1923, MSYT.00076, Veniamin Zuskin as Naftole Goz in Ekhezkel Dobrushin’s “Court in Session” in 1933, MSYT.00072, and many others)
- Photographs of GOSET actors on tour and on vacation (unique photographs of the troupe visiting Marc Chagall in Paris in 1928 during their European tour, MSYT.00035, photographs of the troupe on a vacation trip to Abkhazia in 1931, MSYT.00036)
- Photographs of set designs of GOSET performances by leading Soviet Jewish artists (such as Meir Akselrod’s set design of the GOSET production of David Bergelson’s “Midas haDin” in 1933, MSYT.00011, MSYT.00016)
- Family photographs of Iustina Minkova and Solomon Zil’berblat (starting from the 1920s, MSYT.00265, to the 1950s, MSYT.00158)
HIGHLIGHTS
![The Moscow State Yiddish Theater’s performing tour show poster in Kursk, [1937-1941]](https://iiiflb.blavatnikarchive.org/iiif/3/baf__1a20ce624d77fa778c86671c939091b206afc64b8ae7fee81e478cbc0144db48/125,414,3619.329,2721.3/max/0/default.jpg)
