ABSTRACT
The Hebrew Absorption of German Literature in the Yishuv
Na'ama Sheffi
German culture had a strong and multifaceted influence on modern secular Hebrew culture, from Bauhaus architecture to German classical-music repertoire, to the ever-growing literary corpus of German works translated into Hebrew and the direct influence of German models on modern Hebrew literature. This essay focuses on the Yishuv's attitude to German culture — mainly its literature — throughout the Nazi era. By way of portraying this particular approach, it will also examine literary translation and its significance, and sketch the unique literary bond between Germans and Jews, from the inception of a Jewish state in the late eighteenth century up to its establishment in 1948. Finally, it will suggest guidelines for understanding Hebrew-German literary connections from Israel's independence up to the 1970s.
