The Vojvodina Gallery: Biographical Portraits of Four Jewish Cultural Workers

Abstract

The article introduces four cultural workers of Jewish origin from Vojvodina, who were portrayed in the publication Vojvodina Gallery (1927). This unique biographical portrait gallery of influential people living at that time in the Vojvodina region, served as a starting point for this study. Vojvodina’s Jews were well represented in this publication; out of the three hundred and six individuals about sixty (or twenty percent of all entries) were of Jewish origin. Without the existence of the Vojvodina Gallery some of them would almost have been completely forgotten. Rediscovery of this publication is a reminder of the “lost generation” of Jews whose lives and careers were cut short by the Holocaust. The four personalities presented in this essay shed light on different aspects of Jewish cultural activities in Vojvodina: fine arts, literature, charitable work, and Jewish scholarship.