ABSTRACT
In this chapter we investigate, through the lens of Jewish hometown associations (landsmanshaftn), how memory shapes and is shaped by the Jewish diasporic experience. In particular, we examine the movements of Eastern European Jewish immigrants and their descendants, who travelled transnationally between the United States and the old home, beginning after the First World War, and continuing today. Interactions in the East European homeland confront Jews and non-Jews with different collective memories. These contacts with the local people and with the specific place challenge the Jewish self-understanding, and awaken the consciousness of the meaning of home in the American Jewish diaspora. This chapter demonstrates that the American Jewish notion of Eastern Europe as homeland manifests multiple dimensions of diaspora and memory across time and space. Specifically, we argue that Jewish memorial practices operate in four distinct modalities: nostalgia, trauma, amnesia and invention. This illustrates how memory is socially constructed, and grounded in the diasporic experience.
