SOAS’s Rediscovering Stencl page Link to Loshn un lebn digital Archive

Rediscovering Stencl

By SOAS Special Collections|15th November 2021|Collections & Research|0 comments

As a major project to digitise the papers of Abraham Nahum Stencl (1897-1983) draws to a close, we take a closer look at the collection and the work involved in increasing accessibility to this important Yiddish language resource.

The papers of Abraham Nahum Stencl (PP MS 44) have been at SOAS since they were donated by his great niece in 1983. These include original writings by Stencl, as well as correspondence with contemporary writers, poets and playwrights and documents and proofs relating to his work as editor of the journal ‘Loshn un leben’.

Stencl was born in Poland and raised in a religious Jewish family. He studied at the yeshiva in Sosnowiec (where his brother was rabbi) before leaving home in 1917. Attracted by agricultural work, he initially joined a Zionist community, the HeHalutz group, despite not sharing their Zionist views, but left the group and Poland in late 1918 after being served conscription papers by the Russian Army. He travelled to the Netherlands in 1919 to work in the steel industry before emigrating to Berlin in 1921. He was to flourish in the bohemian lifestyle that Germany offered, frequenting the Romanisches Café and meeting like-minded writers and intellectuals. He began writing and publishing Yiddish poetry in a pioneering modernist style and established a Polish-Yiddish literary group. Stencl stayed in Berlin until 1936 when he was tortured by the Gestapo. He eventually settled in London’s Whitechapel, where he published the journal, Loshn und Lebn, from 1946 to 1981. Stencl made it his life’s work to keep the Yiddish language alive and became known to many as ‘The Poet of Whitechapel’.

The Rediscovering Stencl project led by SOAS Library aims to improve access to the collection in three main ways: by enriching the existing catalogue to the collection (and incorporating previously uncatalogued material); digitising key materials from the collection and making these available online; producing a bi-lingual Yiddish/English finding aid to the collection.

The project start was delayed due to lockdown restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID pandemic. Work began on digitising material in the summer of 2020. In addition to Stencl’s writings which had previously been catalogued, a further 1018 uncatalogued original writings were digitised, as well as a substantial run of issues of Loshn und leben (1940-1981) bringing the total number of digitised images from the collection to 24947. These are all available to search online here.

Stencl was born in Poland and raised in a religious Jewish family. He studied at the yeshiva in Sosnowiec (where his brother was rabbi) before leaving home in 1917. Attracted by agricultural work, he initially joined a Zionist community, the HeHalutz group, despite not sharing their Zionist views, but left the group and Poland in late 1918 after being served conscription papers by the Russian Army. He travelled to the Netherlands in 1919 to work in the steel industry before emigrating to Berlin in 1921. He was to flourish in the bohemian lifestyle that Germany offered, frequenting the Romanisches Café and meeting like-minded writers and intellectuals. He began writing and publishing Yiddish poetry in a pioneering modernist style and established a Polish-Yiddish literary group. Stencl stayed in Berlin until 1936 when he was tortured by the Gestapo. He eventually settled in London’s Whitechapel, where he published the journal, Loshn und Lebn, from 1946 to 1981. Stencl made it his life’s work to keep the Yiddish language alive and became known to many as ‘The Poet of Whitechapel’.

The Rediscovering Stencl project led by SOAS Library aims to improve access to the collection in three main ways: by enriching the existing catalogue to the collection (and incorporating previously uncatalogued material); digitising key materials from the collection and making these available online; producing a bi-lingual Yiddish/English finding aid to the collection.

The project start was delayed due to lockdown restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID pandemic. Work began on digitising material in the summer of 2020. In addition to Stencl’s writings which had previously been catalogued, a further 1018 uncatalogued original writings were digitised, as well as a substantial run of issues of Loshn und leben (1940-1981) bringing the total number of digitised images from the collection to 24947. These are all available to search online here.