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The concert where Paul Robeson was warned not to sing in Yiddish

JL;DR SUMMARY In 1949, African-American singer and activist Paul Robeson performed in Moscow amid a climate of intense antisemitism following the murder of Solomon Mikhoels and the imprisonment of Jewish figures. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryJewish MusicYiddishSoviet UnionPolitical ActivismSolomon MikhoelsStalinPaul RobesonItzik Feffer

Places mentioned

Moscow, Russian Federation
"In 1949, Robeson was invited to the USSR as an honorary guest of the Soviet government, with great fanfare."
United States
"It was in the U.S. that they met the actor and singer Paul Robeson, an admirer of the Soviet Union and a great friend of the Jewish people."
United Kingdom
"Three Soviet Jewish luminaries, including Mikhoels and a leading Soviet Yiddish poet, Itzik Feffer, traveled all around the United States and the United Kingdom to raise the money."
Fairfax, Virginia, United States
"In 2000 we all moved to Fairfax, Virginia, where she died in 2013."

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Cairo Item ID 41619
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-01-15 05:30:50 UTC
Curated 2025-01-15 08:31:20 UTC