Night of the Murdered Poets Commemoration: Mikhoels – The Canary in the Coalmine

74 years ago the Yiddish and Jewish world in the Soviet Union changed forever. Jews and the Yiddish language became enemies of the state. A group of the Soviet Union’s most well-known Yiddish writers and journalists, brightest scientific minds, cultural icons and even Communist party apparatchiks were executed in Moscow’s infamous Lubyanka Prison after false accusations of treason – and actor and director Solomon Mikhoels was the canary in the coal mine.

Kadimah and the Jewish Labour Bund together commemorate what is today known as the Night of the Murdered Poets, through poetry readings, commemoration and reflection. This year, our program focuses on Mikhoels, who was not one of the 12 murdered, but whose death was the writing on the wall for the future of Yiddish culture in the USSR.

The event will be held in English with Yiddish performances and excerpts. You don’t need to know Yiddish to attend.