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Dovid Katz?s monumental examination of Lithuanian Jewish Culture is the most comprehensive work ever to appear in English on the cultural, linguistic and spiritual worlds of the Litvaks. This exquisite huge folio volume provides an introduction to Jewish history and culture starting with antiquity and leading up throughthe rise of Lithuanian Jewry approximatelyseven centuries ago. It covers traditional rabbinic culture of Ashkenazic Jewry, specifically Lithuanian rabbinic and kabbalistic traditions, the Hasidic-Misnagdic conflict,and the various modernistic 19th and 20th century movements, including Yiddishism, Hebraism, Zionism, Socialism, and Jewish Art. Sections are devoted to the life of the Litvaks in the interwar republics, in emigration centers in America, Israel and around the world, including the post-Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe.A comprehensive volume, the first book on Lithuanian Jewry which gives equal emphasis on religious and secular Jewish life. ... Read more

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Lithuanian Jewish Culture by Dovid Katz
Amazing! Dovid Katz, who writes with "the precision of a scholar, and the heart of a poet" (in the words of bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer) has produced yet another outstanding work of erudition, feeling, and profound beauty. In "Lithuanian Jewish Culture" the remarkable, annihilated world of the Litvaks is breathtakingly brought to vibrant life. Katz celebrates Litvak culture in all of its multi-hued and often contentious diversity: Hasidic and Mithnagdic, Hebraist and Yiddishist, Zionist and Bundist, - and everything in between! - are all treated with understanding and love.

Professor Katz is unique in that he not only strives to give the Litvaks dignity in death, but also in life. Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the Lithuanian government is persecuting Jewish partisans, heroes whose only crime is defending their lives against German invaders and their local Lithuanian henchmen during the Holocaust. At great cost to himself, the Professor is bravely standing up to the same people who (just a generation ago) turned on their Jewish neighbors. With 97% of the Litvaks lying murdered in mass graves and the surviving remnant persecuted by government officials, the fight continues.

Dovid Katz will be remembered for all time as one who did not remain silent as the last chapter in the glorious history of Ashkenaz came to its bitter close; he has proven himself great in his life as well as his work.
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Gender equality permeates all areas of action in the EU enlargement process. Although in principle equality has been achieved in all candidate countries, women have not yet practically benefitted from this since institutional mechanisms for implementation are missing. ... Read more

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In the years leading up to World War II, libraries played an increasingly significant role in the culture lives of East European Jews. Amid the squalor, books provided many with an opportunity to escape for a while and offered renewed hope and willpower. Maintaining libraries was also an act of resistance, helping the people keep a hold on their humanity and a cultural link with the past. This work details the story of libraries in five of the largest ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe: Ldz and Warsaw in Poland, Kovno and Vilna in Lithuania, and Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. ... Read more

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FASCINATING - illuminates a (mostly) unknown phenomenon
There is no way that a description of European Jewish life in the Holocaust can be other than lacerating.That said this small exploration of the resistance of the mind and escape from the physical prison which trapped the Jewish community by their holding tenaciously to the cultural attachment to the written word is remarkable. People, from little children to the elderly, despite the utter horror of their surroundings, made use of books.The image of libraries - still with an overdue system intact - of libraries to which one had to contribute a book to become a borrower - and of the desperate Warsaw fighters hidden behind a case of books are simply a few of the remarkable images that fill this work. If an escape or resistance of the spirit were possible surely this was it; what did those doomed people read to escape from or place a context to their unimaginably horrible experience. It is hard not to take some pleasure in the idea that there were such books - Shavit tells quite precisely what they were and who read them - but sadly notes books were hidden for readers who never returned, the Yiddish literature that has survived in largest quatities was, ironically, that confiscated by the Nazis, and in the end a few of the thumbed, tattered books remained but finally there were no more readers. ... Read more

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Have we entered the era of a new form of Cold War? This book shows thatimperialistic tendencies need not only take the form of overt military aggression.Giedraitis crosses disciplinary boundaries to take a fresh look at themultiple ways that post-socialist Russia is exercising geopolitical dominationover its former occupied territories. On the front lines of this newbattleground are the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Due toWestern Europe's "addiction" to Russian oil, what happens in Lithuania - thefocus of this work - could have far reaching consequences for the rest ofEurope's energy supplies - and their economies.Supported by interviews and quantitative data, the dangers of three types ofdependency relations - political, economic, and energy - are explored. Giedraitisillustrates Lithuania's precarious balance between the new Westernopportunities of the European Union and NATO, and threats from theirformer occupier to the East.This book is intended for those interested in neo-colonial dependency relationsin post-socialist countries, such as the Baltics. Russia has massivemineral reserves, and fuel-hungry economies surrounding it. Is its aim only tosell energy at market values? Is evidence of Russian political disruption inLithuania chance, or does Russia have ulterior motives? Giedraitis analyzesthese questions, and proposes some sobering answers. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! They were Not Silent is a documentary about the Jewish Labor Committee's anti-Nazi movement in America before, during and after World War II. The film features rare archival footage and photographs along with interviews with labor veterans, Holocaust survivors and scholars. It explores how international Jewry worked to help Jews and non-Jews in Germany, Poland, and elsewhere in Europe.The JLC's role has changed over the years. A trade unionist who has focused on JLC history, Kenneth Burt, says he hopes that the documentary will encourage new interest in the organization. ... Read more

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This study is centered on women and bicycles. Thehistorical-archival analysis of primary and secondarysources reveals the patterns of discrimination ofwomen, their disqualification from participation inpublic sphere as well as professional sport. Thiswork displays how the newly invented bicycle wasperceived as a threat to traditional gender roles andobtained a name of "social revolutionizer." Throughthe analysis of textual and visual publications Iexamine how the bicycle was re-contextualized inLithuania and "gendered" within the popular discourseof mass media from the time of its emergence untilits appropriation for women. The results of myresearch prove the assumption that the shift indiscourses actually means only the alteration ofform. The institutionalized mechanisms of disciplinebecame institutionally unbound, dispersed powerembodied in self-surveillance and beauty practices. ... Read more

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Cities of the World represents a compilation of government reports and original research on the social, cultural, political, and industrial aspects of the nations and cities of the world. VOLUME 3: EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN MIDDLE EAST. Most of the country profiles included here are based on official personnel briefings issued as Post Reports by the U.S. Department of State. The Post Reports are designed to acquaint embassy personnel with life in the host country. Consequently, the reports concentrate on cities in which the U.S. Government has embassies or consulates. To increase coverage of other important cities, the editors have added information on a large number of cities-31 of which are new to this edition-not reported on by the Department of State. ... Read more