INTERDISCIPLINARY SEMINAR ON JEWISH-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS IN INTERWAR EASTERN GALICIA (modern Ukraine): 1918 -1939
We entertain a figurative conception of Ukrainian and Jewish apartness in a sense of two parallels. Both societies attempted to reach their own, largely incompatible goals. The agendas and political pursuits of both communities were in most instances distinctively opposite and intractable for mutual rapport and rapprochement. At the same time, the picture of Ukrainian-Jewish relations in interwar East Galicia would be incomplete without registering a phenomenon of the periodically arising affinities, that largely were evoked by the third and dominating force, namely the Polish state apparatus. We are in the position to argue that Ukrainian and Jewish objectives could warrant a certain number of common actions. The latter eventuated in encounters between two subjectivities at least within the realm of existential situations. We connote these virtually crossed parallels of subjectivities as the instances of togetherness in action.

Seminar 1 in Two Parts
NEW VISION OF HISTORIC EASTERN GALICIA
Part I: Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish Imagined Communities “Who found this Land.”
Austrian Constitutional Era, 1867 – 1914.
Part II: State, National, and Ethnoreligious Communities “Who claim to own this
Land?” Interwar Period of the Second Polish Republic, 1918 -1939.
Seminar 2
Ivan Franko: for the Jews, against the Jews, or by the Jews
Representation of Galician Jews in his prose, poetry, and journalistic works.
I If there were two antagonistic camps depicted in the cycle of Borysław Laughs stories: Jewish entrepreneurs and Ruthenian workers.
II Pettiness and compassion in the cycle of Jewish Melodies, single verses, and longer poetry.
III Ivan Franko: positioning in support to the Zionist appeal for Jewish national and cultural liberation. Moses by Ivan Franko as a revolutionary interpretation of the Old Testament. His vision of Jewish future in Crossing Passes and in journalistic and scholarly activity.
IV. De-constructing stereotypes of Franko’s philosemitism and antisemitism.
April 21, 6:00 PM Keeping the Faith: Films About Uganda’s Abayudaya Jews
Sponsored by the Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Boulevard,
Culver City, CA 90230
This evening features works by award-winning filmmaker Peter Decherney exploring the history and resilience of the Abayudaya, a Jewish community in eastern Uganda.
Following a garden reception, the program includes screenings of an Abyudaya music video and the short documentaries Days Between Rest (15 min) and The Cave Synagogue (8 min). These films document the community’s experience practicing Judaism under political repression and preserving religious life across generations, offering an intimate portrait of faith sustained through adversity and global connection.
A conversation will follow with filmmaker Peter Decherney and Abayudaya Rabbi Shoshana Nambi, moderated by Rabbi Dr. Norbert Weinberg. They will address the historical context of the Abayudaya, contemporary Jewish life in Uganda, and broader questions of identity, memory, and cultural survival. The evening concludes with audience Q&A.
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