The Center’s archive contains unique materials concerning the history of Sholom Aleichem Kyiv State Jewish Theatre (Kyiv GOSET), which was active in 1929–1950 and became a significant cultural element of the Jewish community life. GOSET is an acronym for a Jewish state theatre in the Soviet Union (Russian: Gosudarstviennyi yevreiskii teatr). In 1950, during the Stalinist antisemitic campaign of “fighting cosmopolitism”, all Jewish theatres in the country were closed. The rebirth of the Jewish theatre in Ukraine began in the years of independence, in the 1990s.
Photographs and documents from personal archives of remarkable GOSET artists (such as Anna Sheinfeld, Arkadii Nuher, and Sheva Fingerova), and a notebook with the memoirs of the actor Dmytro Zhabotynsky can be of great interest for researchers of Jewish theatre.
The archive includes materials related to the activity of Kyiv GOSET: posters, theatre programmes, photos of actors and scenes of the plays, documents (actors’ references, certificates, and orders), articles from newspapers and magazines about the tours of GOSET, and reviews of performances.
In addition, there are materials concerning:
- the activity of contemporary Jewish theatres and theatre companies in Ukraine and abroad (programmes of performances, posters, and photos); for example, materials about Mazltov Kyiv Jewish Musical Drama Theatre (1989–1993);
- the exhibitions and festivals of modern Jewish art (invitations, programmes, and posters), for example, those of Wandering Stars International Theatrical Art Festival (2000–2007);
- the Jewish theme in modern Ukrainian theatre productions (1987–2019);
- media reactions to the activity of Jewish theatre companies in Ukraine at the turn of the twenty-first century (articles, reviews, and interviews).
Overall, the Jewish Theatre Collection includes more than 1,200 units of storage. Its materials can be useful for theatre historians, historians of the Soviet era, culture and literary scholars who study the Jewish theme in drama as well as everyone interested in Jewish culture and art.
The archive holds: | Number of pages | Notes |
Posters of the Sholom Aleichem State Jewish Theatre (GOSET) of the Ukrainian SSR | 10 | 10 posters, 1946–1949 |
Posters of performances of Ukrainian theatres and theatre companies presenting the Jewish topic | 5 | 5 posters, 1989–1991 |
Programmes of Sholom-Aleichem GOSET | 25 | 1936–1949 |
Documents of actors of Sholom Aleichem GOSET | 13 | 1943–1962 |
Album of Anna Sheinfeld’s theatrical family | 72 | Photos, posters, and programmes of performances, 1912–1950 |
Materials of Anna Sheinfeld’s family archive | 150 | Photos and documents, 1912–1955 |
Photos of Jewish actors | 286 | Photos of 49 actors, 1929–1955 |
Materials from the inventory of the archive of Ukraine’s State Museum of Theatre, Music, and Cinema | 11 | Inventory of theatre posters from the museum collection |
Media on Ukrainian Jewish theatres | 217 | Newspaper articles about the activity of Jewish theatres, 1925–2003 |
Media on Ukrainian Jewish theatres (in Yiddish) | 62 | Newspaper articles, 1919–1948 |
Materials concerning remarkable Jewish theatre artists in Ukraine | 92 | Articles and paragraphs from newspapers and other sources, 1936–2005 |
Notebook with memoirs of Dmytro Zhabotynsky, actor and director of Sholom-Aleichem GOSET | 86 | 1957–1962 |
Preparatory materials for Moisei Loiev’s book The Stolen Muse: Sholom Aleichem Kyiv State Jewish theatre (Kharkiv – Kyiv – Chernivtsi, 1925– 1950) | 188 | Correspondence regarding the publication of the book, author’s remarks, printed copies of the book pages with corrections, photos, 2002–2004 |
Newspaper articles and other materials about Jewish theatres in Ukraine | 70 | Paragraphs and articles from newspapers and magazines, 1938–2000 |
Jewish art festivals (programmes and invitations) | 74 | Programmes, invitations to performances and concerts, 1999–2005 |
Jewish theme in Ukrainian theatre | 132 | Programmes of performances, photos, media reviews, 1987–2019 |
Demo album “Jewish drama in Ukraine’s contemporary theatres (programmes of performances and photos)” | 62 | Programmes, photos of scenes from performances, 1999–2001 |
Mykhailo Hleizer’s sketches of costumes for the play Tevye the Dairyman at Ivan Franko Drama Theatre | 29 | 1989 |
Jewish theatres and companies in Ukraine and the world (programmes of performances, invitations, media reviews) | 145 | 1948–2005 |
History of Jewish theatre in Ukraine (chronology) | 17 | Information about the activity of Jewish theatres (titles and years of performances, directors, painters, and composers) |
Posters of Sholom-Aleichem GOSET | 12 | 1945–1948 |
Materials from the actor Kh. Ostrovsky’s archive | 36 | Photos and documents, 1940 – the 1950s |
Materials from the archive of the actor and director Arkadii Nuher and actress Sheva Fingerova | 48 | Photos and memoirs, 1930–1990 |
Materials of the exhibition “History of Jewish Theatres: Ukraine, 20th century” (2019) | 25 | Invitations, posters, CD with the exhibition materials |
Banners from the exhibition “History of Jewish Theatres: Ukraine, 20th century” | 11 | Banners for the exhibition (organizers: Museum of Theatre, Music, and Cinema of Ukraine, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Center for Studies in History and Culture of East European Jewry), 2019 |
Oleksandr Khodchenko’s sketches for the exhibition “History of Jewish Theatres: Ukraine, 20th century” | 6 | Sketches, 2019 |
Posters of theatre festivals and performances presenting the Jewish theme in Ukrainian and foreign theatres | 66 | Posters, 1989–2004 |
Posters of theatre festivals and performances presenting the Jewish theme in Ukrainian and foreign theatres | 28 | Posters, 1983–2006 |