Hannah Pollin-Galay: Occupied Words

Happy New Year! אַ גוט געבענטשט יאָר Highlights: Prof. Hannah Pollin-Galay is interviewed about the impact of the Holocaust on the Yiddish language and her most recent book Occupied Words: What the Holocaust Did to Yiddish (U Penn Press, 2024), which explores how Yiddish changed to express and memorialize the trauma of the Holocaust. Prof. Pollin-Galay also reads several excerpts from the book (in English). Prof. Pollin-Galay is Pen Tishkach Chair of Holocaust Studies, Professor of History, Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide & Memory Studies at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. We reached Prof. Pollin-Galay via Zoom at her home in the Amherst, Mass., area on July 21, 2026. The interviewer, Sholem Beinfeld, is co-editor-in-chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis. He was co-editor-in-chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary (Indiana University Press, 2013). His translations from Yiddish into English The Rudashevsky Diary, which was published as the November, 2024, issue of The Jewish Quarterly. Music Leibele Waldman: Der Nyer Yohr Instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: August 26, 2026