VIVI LACHS: London Yiddishtown: East End Jewish Life in Yiddish Sketch and Story, 1930-1950

Vivi Lachs is a historian of the Jewish East End, a Yiddishist a performer and a researcher at Queen Mary University. Her books on the subject are Whitechapel Noise: Jewish Immigrant Life in Yiddish Song and Verse, London 1884-1914 and her latest book London Yiddishtown: East End Jewish Life in Yiddish Sketch and Story, 1930-1950. Vivi is a popular performer and sings with the bands Klezmer Klub (Whitechapel, mayn Vaytshepl) and Katsha’nes (Don’t Ask Silly Questions). She runs the Great Yiddish Parade bringing Yiddish songs of protest and union activism of the 1890s back onto the streets of London and leads tours in the local area. 
 
This talk will introduce you to the Jewish East End of the 1930s and 40s through three of its local Yiddish writers. Vivi will talk about the community and read excerpts of her translations of their stories: Katie Brown’s hilarious sketches about generational conflict, Summer Lisky’s gripping stories of combatting fascism in London and Arnold Kaizer’s humorous satire of community and synagogue antics. And these stories are told with humour, intensity, and passion. No Yiddish, London or any other knowledge necessary. You will see the links between these immigrant tales and your own