Estimados/as lectores y amigos/as:
In mid-2018, with the help of the ICUF Federation and its member institutions, the Pinie Katz Documentary Center and Library (CeDoB) was born. Its main purpose is to preserve, rescue and transmit the history of the Progressive Jewish movement in Argentina. This mission requires the performance of numerous tasks of organization, archiving and research.
Frente del I. L. Peretz de Villa Lynch, 1952
Throughout the 20th century, outstanding cultural, educational and solidarity organizations of the Jewish left thrived in Argentina. From the first workers’ schools that were shut down in the 1930s, to the ICUF institutions of the present, the movement has a storied history. From the beginnings of Jewish immigration to Argentina throughout the 20th century, European Jews wrote, spoke, and organized in the Yiddish language, and advanced a Yiddishist cultural agenda for their communities.
This period of relative flourishing, however, was also fraught with political instability and repression, constraining leftist movements of all sorts and impacting our relationship to and ability to access this vital history.
CeDoB PInie Ktz (2021)
Today, after almost four decades of democracy, although the struggle for social justice continues, we can express ourselves freely. Today, more than ever, it is incumbent on us to recover and communicate those stories, and the CeDoB exists to fulfill that objective. Greater awareness of our history is fundamental to building our present and dreaming our future.
Charla con jóvenes del movimiento
CeDoB contributes to this goldene keyt (golden chain) of knowledge through historical outreach and education conducted in tandem with its archival work. It promotes educational activities open to the public, as well as opportunities organized especially for groups of children, teenagers, and students.
Our archive is open to researchers, where they are able to find personal archives, valuable interviews, pedagogical records, works of art and photographic collections, among other resources. We have our own main head office in Lavalleja N.° 182 (Buenos Aires city), where we continue building an important Progressive Jewish library; our library includes extensive collection of YKUF/ ICUF Farlag, the YKUF/ICUF publishing house, and our Heymland collection, of Soviet literature in Yiddish translation.
Our current catalog contains more than 5,000 books, and we continuously receive valuable donations.
Di Idishe Froi, tomo N. °47 (noviembre de 1969), imagen de tapa por Basia Kuperman
CeDoB have acquired and begun digitizing a variety of Yiddishist periodicals: ICUF Journal, Aporte, Tiempo, Tribuna, Nai Teater, Di idishe froi, Comentarios y opiniones, Aquí y ahora. Our archive also maintains the archive of the Idisher Folks Teater (IFT), and we are reconstructing others that belonged to various ICUF institutions.
Foto recuperada del evento de inauguración del Teatro IFT (1952), sostenida por Noemí Fafán, experta en conservación.
We are developing important translation projects from Yiddish into Spanish, as well as editing previously unpublished materials that will prove vital to international Yiddish studies and Jewish history research. Similarly, we are engaged in biographical work, reconstructing the lives of ICUF activists.
In early 2020 we began the publication of ourPinie Katz CeDoB newsletter, which is sent digitally to more than 5000 readers throughout Argentina and worldwide.
Primer Libro de Actas de ICUF Argentina, recuperado y traducido al castellano por el CeDoB Pinie katz junto con Isaac Rapaport
ECeDob works every day to document and maintain Argentinian Jewry’s Yiddishist cultural history. We are committed to bring awareness to this political-cultural legacy.
Progressive Jews have worked to build and defend this «other way» of understanding our Jewish heritage, an understanding inextricably linked to traditions of secularism and collective struggle, both within our communities and alongside mass social movements in wider society.
The challenge ahead of us is to expand! With your contribution, you will help us to translate documents, publish books, restore photos and objects, and finance digital resources.
Mujeres del movimiento judeo-rogresista en el Encuenrto Nacional de Mujeres realizado en La Plata (2019)
We are grateful for your solidarity. Today, the bricks are books!
Micrografía de I. L. Peretz realizada por Guedale Tenenbaum, preservada en el CeDoB Pinie Katz.
With your help, we will be able to continue building, and our work will be the bedrock for generations of future Yiddishists and Progressives who continue to struggle for equity, justice, and doikayt.
With fraternal greetings,
Pinie Katz CeDoB team
To make payments from abroad, in foreign currency, send an e-mail to cedob@icufargentina.org stating your willingness to become a member and indicating: name, surname, amount to be paid and method of payment (monthly, annual, exceptional). In response to such request, a payment coupon will be sent by e-mail with the equivalent amount in Argentine pesos, which can be paid only by Visa or Mastercard credit card, and which is enabled for international payments. In case of any inconvenience with the payment, you should consult with your local financial institution.
