Karl-Johan Illman in memoriam

In memoriam of Karl-Johan Illman, professor emeritus, Åbo Akademi University.In memoriam of karl-Johan Illman, professor emeritus, Åbo Akademi University

Blau-Weiss in Stockholm 1916–1925

Blau-Weiss in Stockholm was a youth group the major goal of which was to keep the children of immigrants Jewish. The faith in a national ideal was a means to achieve this goal. Blau-Weiss was a Zionist youth group and advocated in its educational work the “national idea”. This contradicted the “liberal” teaching, then dominant in the Stockholm community, that Jews were not a people not a nationality but only believers in the Jewish faith. The “nationalization” of the Blau-Weiss by-laws was most likely a response to the formation of a Jewish youth organization by the more assimilated, native born Jewish elite closely affiliated with the community. In 1918 more than a year after the founding of Vandrareföreningen BlauWeiss which had until then been the only Jewish youth group in Stockholm, the Judiska Akademiska Klubben came into existence to strengthen the feeling of Jewish belonging and to work for “increased interest in Jewish cultural matters”. This goal would be achieved by lectures, discussions and studies about Jewish subjects

Jidische Volkschtime

The Jidische Folkschtime in Stockholm like its predecessor, Jüdische Volkstimme in Copenhagen, was a limited inter-Scandinavian publication. Stockholm’s first Yiddish language product was printed in 1916, a flyer called Marcheshvan 5677. In the flyer the aim of the newspaper is defined: “In a few day the Jidische Folkschtime, the organ of the Scandinavian Zionist Union, will begin publishing a weekly newspaper. Its major task will be to participate in the deepening and the spreading of the national-renewal concept among the Jews in Scandinavia and neighboring lands. The Jidische Folkschtime will not merely be a party organ. The Zionist movement has always remained in close contact with the various expressions of folk life and even more now than ever, when one observed the Zionists in the fore front, everywhere – whenever any type of folk work is taking place. As befitting Zionist organ, the Jidische Folkschtime will, naturally, be a general Jewish newspaper. In it all contemporary problems of Jewish public life will seriously and carefully receive the thoughtful consideration that the present hour demands. The reader will be informed about everything happening in the Jewish world.

Jidische Volkschtime

The Jidische Folkschtime in Stockholm like its predecessor, Jüdische Volkstimme in Copenhagen, was a limited inter-Scandinavian publication. Stockholm’s first Yiddish language product was printed in 1916, a flyer called Marcheshvan 5677. In the flyer the aim of the newspaper is defined: “In a few day the Jidische Folkschtime, the organ of the Scandinavian Zionist Union, will begin publishing a weekly newspaper. Its major task will be to participate in the deepening and the spreading of the national-renewal concept among the Jews in Scandinavia and neighboring lands. The Jidische Folkschtime will not merely be a party organ. The Zionist movement has always remained in close contact with the various expressions of folk life and even more now than ever, when one observed the Zionists in the fore front, everywhere – whenever any type of folk work is taking place. As befitting Zionist organ, the Jidische Folkschtime will, naturally, be a general Jewish newspaper. In it all contemporary problems of Jewish public life will seriously and carefully receive the thoughtful consideration that the present hour demands. The reader will be informed about everything happening in the Jewish world.

Zionism in Sweden

The first Zionist Congresses left the Jewish majority in Sweden relatively untouched. It is true that Professor Gottlieb Klein, the influential Rabbi of Stockholm, a student and personal friend of the great German reformer, Abraham Geiger, and to a lesser extent his colleague in Gothenburg, Dr. Koch, did oppose the Jewish national movement, but not until January 1910, when the first Zionist society was founded in Stockholm, did Swedish Jews seriously consider this alternative to their “prophetic” Judaism. Efforts by the Zionists in Sweden to gain public attention for themselves were mainly ineffectual until Kurt Blumenfeld, the General Secretary and Chief of Information for the World Zionist Organization in Berlin, visited Stockholm and Gothenburg in 1912 to deliver several open lectures.                             

Zionism in Sweden

The first Zionist Congresses left the Jewish majority in Sweden relatively untouched. It is true that Professor Gottlieb Klein, the influential Rabbi of Stockholm, a student and personal friend of the great German reformer, Abraham Geiger, and to a lesser extent his colleague in Gothenburg, Dr. Koch, did oppose the Jewish national movement, but not until January 1910, when the first Zionist society was founded in Stockholm, did Swedish Jews seriously consider this alternative to their “prophetic” Judaism. Efforts by the Zionists in Sweden to gain public attention for themselves were mainly ineffectual until Kurt Blumenfeld, the General Secretary and Chief of Information for the World Zionist Organization in Berlin, visited Stockholm and Gothenburg in 1912 to deliver several open lectures.                             

Zionism in Sweden

The first Zionist Congresses left the Jewish majority in Sweden relatively untouched. It is true that Professor Gottlieb Klein, the influential Rabbi of Stockholm, a student and personal friend of the great German reformer, Abraham Geiger, and to a lesser extent his colleague in Gothenburg, Dr. Koch, did oppose the Jewish national movement, but not until January 1910, when the first Zionist society was founded in Stockholm, did Swedish Jews seriously consider this alternative to their “prophetic” Judaism. Efforts by the Zionists in Sweden to gain public attention for themselves were mainly ineffectual until Kurt Blumenfeld, the General Secretary and Chief of Information for the World Zionist Organization in Berlin, visited Stockholm and Gothenburg in 1912 to deliver several open lectures.                             

Blau-Weiss in Stockholm 1916–1925

Blau-Weiss in Stockholm was a youth group the major goal of which was to keep the children of immigrants Jewish. The faith in a national ideal was a means to achieve this goal. Blau-Weiss was a Zionist youth group and advocated in its educational work the “national idea”. This contradicted the “liberal” teaching, then dominant in the Stockholm community, that Jews were not a people not a nationality but only believers in the Jewish faith. The “nationalization” of the Blau-Weiss by-laws was most likely a response to the formation of a Jewish youth organization by the more assimilated, native born Jewish elite closely affiliated with the community. In 1918 more than a year after the founding of Vandrareföreningen BlauWeiss which had until then been the only Jewish youth group in Stockholm, the Judiska Akademiska Klubben came into existence to strengthen the feeling of Jewish belonging and to work for “increased interest in Jewish cultural matters”. This goal would be achieved by lectures, discussions and studies about Jewish subjects

Blau-Weiss in Stockholm 1916–1925

Blau-Weiss in Stockholm was a youth group the major goal of which was to keep the children of immigrants Jewish. The faith in a national ideal was a means to achieve this goal. Blau-Weiss was a Zionist youth group and advocated in its educational work the “national idea”. This contradicted the “liberal” teaching, then dominant in the Stockholm community, that Jews were not a people not a nationality but only believers in the Jewish faith. The “nationalization” of the Blau-Weiss by-laws was most likely a response to the formation of a Jewish youth organization by the more assimilated, native born Jewish elite closely affiliated with the community. In 1918 more than a year after the founding of Vandrareföreningen BlauWeiss which had until then been the only Jewish youth group in Stockholm, the Judiska Akademiska Klubben came into existence to strengthen the feeling of Jewish belonging and to work for “increased interest in Jewish cultural matters”. This goal would be achieved by lectures, discussions and studies about Jewish subjects