Known as a center of early 20th-century avant-garde and experimental theatre, Paris does not tend to figure on the map of pre-World War II Yiddish theatrical production specifically. This pop-up talk will realign our understanding of Yiddish theatre in Paris and ask whether or not we can consider Paris as the capital of a Western European Yiddish theatre during the first half of the twentieth century. Not only were there important Yiddish theatrical productions in Paris, but Parisian Yiddish theatre would make its mark outside of Yiddish-speaking circles, garnering praise from luminaries of French theatrical production, such as Romain Rolland. This talk will focus mainly on the years of the Popular Front (1934-1938) to highlight the extent to which binaries between shund (trash) and “high-brow” theatre dissipated in favor of support from both Jewish and non-Jewish outlets focused on fostering the creation of a Yiddish Parisian diaspora nation that situated theatre as one of its most important buttresses.

Nick Underwood received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2016. His current project, Yiddish Paris: Jewish Diaspora Nationalism in Interwar France, based on his dissertation, is a cultural history of immigrant Yiddish-speaking Jews from Eastern Europe in interwar France. Nick’s work appears in Urban History, French Politics, Culture & Society, and East European Jewish Affairs, and he has delivered talks in the US and France. He also serves as Project Manager for the Digital Yiddish Theatre Project.