European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Talk about yiddish comeback Bykari Laub United press International yiddish the earthy language of Eastern Europe s jews is making a comeback in Israel where in had been despised Lor decades As a Chroal to hebrew and a negative Symbol of the  Diaspora Bui sceptics say this nostalgia is not enough to guarantee the survival of the language that evolved a Mill mum ago from medieval German and also incorporated hebrew. Polish and russian. Before world War ii. Yiddish was spoken by nearly 11 million people including Many american jews. Many yiddish words have sounds that suggest the meaning and became part of modern american Urban Slang shlep to carry nosh to snack Schnotz nose arid Klutz Clumsy person today there Are about one million yiddish speakers around the world including 250,000 of Israel s 3.5 million jews israelis speaking the language include the elderly immigrants from the soviet Union and the Ultra orthodox who Reserve hebrew Lor prayers the major reason Lor the decline of yiddish was the nazi holocaust. 01 the six million jews killed the majority were irom Eastern Europe. Postwar jewish assimilation around the world especially in North America also reduced the number o yiddish speakers alter the War Large numbers of yiddish speaking Eastern europeans came to Palestine which later became Israel and zionist groups waged an aggressive Campaign Nga Insl the language fearing it would prevent the revival of hebrew because of the Many years of cultural Batullo. There was a collective embarrassment about admitting that you come from a yiddish culture said american actor Mike Burstyn. 41, who was raised in the yiddish theater. Burstyn said Hal when he poured with his parents in Israel in the 1950s, members of zionist youth groups would smash theater windows to disrupt performances a 10-percent tax was levied on shows in yiddish and he said his parents were unable to Book their shows at the Mann auditorium in Tel Aviv the country s largest concert Hall. Dan Miron who leaches yiddish and hebrew literature at Tel Aviv University said David Ben Gurion Israel s first prime minister was a leading opponent of yiddish.  1945, a Young holocaust survivor addressed his Wisla drug labor Union movement speaking in yiddish about life As a partisan in nazi occupied Poland. Ben Gurion thanked her for an interesting Story even though it was told in a foreign and ear straining language Miron quoted the Leader As saying. Athens museum focuses on of up pop j q vol Odowo o jewish heritage Sis photo by Dave Dick Nikot Stamu Lakly Cantor of the jewish museum of Greece too Lor artefacts to interpret jewish history. By Wendy Bourland staff writer Hile sensitive to the horrors germans wrought in his country in world War ii. Nikos Stavroulakis. Director of the jewish museum of Greece believes it s Lime to Slop dwelling on the holocaust my feeling More so to this Day. This is such an overpowering presence thai it s very  Stavroulakis 52, Calls the 10-year-old museum in Athens a living museum not a Monument to the dead. The museum shows the Pride and the glory of what used to  in 1939 on the eve of world War ii Greece s jewish population numbered close to 79.000,0.9 percent of the total population. In Salonika the most eminent sephardic settlement in Europe dating Back to the 15th Century the 55,000 jews made up Over 20 percent of the population Over 60,000 greek jews were annihilated most of them having been deported by the germans to Auschwitz. Today 6.000 jews live in Greece More than half of them in Athens Stavroulakis took on the directorship of the jewish museum in 1977 at the request of Nouli vital the retiring president of the Athens jewish Community. Vital gave Stavroulakis artefacts that the bulgarians took from the jews during the War. Because Many important jewish documents irom the 17th Century were lost in unrelated synagogue fires Stavroulakis and his staff had a Challenge on their hands to find what documents and artefacts they could i looked for artefacts to interpret jewish history from the artefacts left  he said by 1984 we had an enormous collection " the museum s collection includes tapestries costumes parchments prayer books jewelry candelabra and ritual items such As circumcision the Anli yiddish Campaign bore fruit when Israel became a nation. Those born in Israel admonished their parents to speak hebrew and the older people slopped using yiddish first in Public and then at Home. Yiddish is considered the language of the Diaspora scattering of jews in is Lor old fashioned people said Dvora Frydrych a Tel Aviv resident in her 40s who picked up yiddish irom her Grandfather but rarely Speaks in. She said she did l iry to pass the language on to her icon age son and daughter they should spend their time to learn some other  she said. Bui a growing number of youngsters Are studying yiddish three years ago yiddish was offered Al Only one of 6,000 schools in Israel. Today in is taught in 25 schools and the demand is growing said Max Dunetz an education ministry official who supervises yiddish instruction nationwide. During a recent yiddish class at Retavia High school in Jerusalem 17-Yoar-old Anna Meshulam struggled through Reading grammar exercises her intonation closer to the Micah left Ana Liana Schwartzman look at the Meta knives there Are even the remains of a synagogue from the City of Para in one Section Complete Wilh pews and pulpit although the focus of the museum in t the holocaust there Are several items from that period. They include yellow cloth stars of David the German forced jews to Wear falsified identification papers photographs and concentration Camp uniforms. Some of the artefacts Are rare. Stavroulakis said it Pearl inlaid Scarf on display in the museum is one Oftle known scarves of that kind in existence the staff acquired the items by begging borrowing and stealing like All  Stavroulakis said laughing in one search Lor artefacts he actually took Somalia a synagogue in Northern Greece i Lound Lour cardboard boxes in the basement they were soaking wet there were vermin inside rat nests while the curator was taken Oft to one Side. I will to myself. Take this and this and this " other museum pieces Ere donated by private citizens a 90 year old woman in Volos who never married turned Over the gowns costumes and embroideries in her dowry. Stavroulakis is proud of his turkish rugs and quit. Page 14 the stars and stripes