The lost neighborhood: the image of the Jewish shtetl in the memories of non-Jews

The paper presents some results of the study of the image of the Jewish town (shtetl), as it appears in the oral tales of the non-Jewish locals. The presentation is based on the folklore and ethnographic data collected in 2012 during the field research in Western Belarus and in Bessarabia. The oral stories of local old residents from the settlement Zheludok (Grodno region, Belarus) and the village Vertiujeni (Floreshti district, Republic of Moldova) will be analyzed to show the mechanism
of “Jewish history” reconstruction of former Jewish settlements where the Jewish population is now missing. The only evidence of Jewish heritage are the monuments of material culture (houses, synagogue, Jewish cemetery), and the only source of information – the memories of local residents about their neighbors – the Jews. As the collected material shows, the text about the “Jewish past” broadcasting by and among the non-Jews, combines ethnographic details and myth-making, and largely reflects the ethno-cultural stereotype of the Jew, characteristic to the folk tradition.
 

The paper presents some results of the study of the image of the Jewish town (shtetl), as it appears in the oral tales of the non-Jewish locals. The presentation is based on the folklore and ethnographic data collected in 2012 during the field research in Western Belarus and in Bessarabia. The oral stories of local old residents from the settlement Zheludok (Grodno region, Belarus) and the village Vertiujeni (Floreshti district, Republic of Moldova) will be analyzed to show the mechanism
of “Jewish history” reconstruction of former Jewish settlements where the Jewish population is now missing. The only evidence of Jewish heritage are the monuments of material culture (houses, synagogue, Jewish cemetery), and the only source of information – the memories of local residents about their neighbors – the Jews. As the collected material shows, the text about the “Jewish past” broadcasting by and among the non-Jews, combines ethnographic details and myth-making, and largely reflects the ethno-cultural stereotype of the Jew, characteristic to the folk tradition.