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The last Yiddish speaker of Lviv

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 30.05.2014 11:55
  • Boris Dorfman: A Mentsh - A film directed by Uwe and Gabriela von Seltmann
91-year-old Boris Dorfman has been dubbed the last Yiddish speaker of Lviv, Ukraine, and the relics of his world are explored in a poignant new documentary film.

Boris
Boris Dorfman at a monument for Jews murdered by the Nazis, Rudno, near Lviv. Photo: Gavriela von Seltmann

Director Uwe von Seltmann and his Polish wife Gabriela screened Boris Dorfman: A Mentsh this week at the 54th Krakow Film Festival.

“I came to Lviv for the first time about 15 years ago, and I met Boris Dorfman there,” von Seltmann told Polish Radio correspondent Nick Hodge.

“From the first moment, I was fascinated by him and his language.

“A Yiddish friend of his once told me about Boris: er iz a mentsh.

“And this is the highest compliment the Yiddish language has. A mentsh is someone who is honest, who is open – a decent person who is doing something special.”

Von Seltmann also discusses the challenges faced by Lviv's much depleted Jewish community, and the possibility of a renaissance.

Prior to the war, Lviv (then the Polish city of Lwow), had a community of over 100,000 Jews, but the vast majority died as a result of the Nazi occupation. In 1945, Poland's borders were shifted west, in line with Joseph Stalin's designs at the Yalta Conference, and most ethnic Poles were compelled to emigrate.

Boris Dorfman sings the popular 19th century song "Oyfn Pripetshik" (On the stove) at the beginning of the broadcast.

Aerial
Aerial view of Lviv. Photo: wikipedia
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