In 2006, the Forum of Dialogue, in cooperation with Słowo/obraz/terytoria printing house, published a bilingual, lavishly illustrated book – Warsaw Yiddish Avant-garde: an Anthology of Texts. The publication presents one of the most interesting aspects of Yiddish culture in Poland and was created by a group of young Warsaw Yiddishists – students and alumni of the Warsaw University. The texts were selected by Karolina Szymaniak, who edited them with Monika Polit. All the texts collected in the anthology, with the exception of excerpts from Perec Markisz’s essays from the collection titled Farbajgejendik (Passing By), were published in magazines affiliated with Warsaw Yiddish avant-garde, such as Ringen, Chaliastre, Albatros and Di Wog, including texts by Uri Cwi Grinberg, I.J. Singer, Ojzer Warszawski, Alter Kacyzne and Josef Opatoszu, and graphic art created by interwar artists, such as Henryk Berlewi and Marek Szwarc.

Even though the texts selected for the anthology are not necessary perfect literature-wise, they are representative of the trends and styles of that period. The anthology includes a range genres and art forms, although sometimes they are presented only fragmentarily. The book is constructed in such a way that it may be easily used as teaching material on the phenomenon of Warsaw Yiddish avant-garde. It includes many manifestos and texts mentioned in memoirs or history of literature books.

Warsaw Yiddish Avant-garde: an Anthology of Texts introduces a still unknown aspect of Yiddish literature – the interwar avant-garde. It is a collection of texts created in the early 1920s by members of a Warsaw artistic group called Chaliastre (Hałastra – The Rabble). Even though the group was very short-lived, their activity is now considered one of the most important phenomena of post-classical Yiddish literature, and its name has virtually become a symbol of Yiddish modernism

Karolina Szymaniak, introduction