For years there has been an attempt to scan secondary documents e.g. Jura Soyfer and to get a funding for this project. Now we start again.
On the one hand, it is about newspaper articles from the 1950s until today, which have been published around Soyfer theater performances, but also readings, soundtracks, radio plays.
On the other hand, about the magazine „Jura Soyfer“ whose zero number was published in 1989. Until 2997 54 issues were distributed with up to 6.000 copies a number.
About the newspaper articles:
These fill a thick A4 folder that is currently situated in the archive of the Alfred Klahr Society in Vienna.
Smaller and larger, occasionally long and detailed articles from various daily, weekly and monthly magazines are glued onto normal A4 paper. My first sighting of the material three years ago showed that in my opinion these articles would not “survive” for more than 10 years.
What is interesting about this material is not only that it documents where and when which piece was performed, but also the different language style with which the performances were commented and in some cases also announced. Also how much space the respective medium devoted to a discussion of a performance is instructive, since it allows conclusions to be drawn as to which audience should be addressed with it. That is why these are important documents for the history of reception that can also be of value for future research and I am certain that they will also be of value if they can be accessed from all over the world.
Scanning them requires a certain amount of effort because the sometimes low-contrast fonts have to be sharpened or enhanced. Ultimately, in order to be filed in a meaningful way and to be put on the Internet this requires time, meticulousness and a suitable technology.
This also enables theater makers from all over the world to see what has already been done in a certain way, how one could approach theater work today (and in the future), which priorities might have to be set differently and differently over time. Because it makes a difference whether you stage a play in Italy, Russia or in the Arab world – or 1959 or 2020.
About the magazine Jura Soyfer:
The 54 print editions were currently in the office of the Jura Soyfer Society. These issues are still in relatively good condition because they are printed on more durable paper.
These contemporary documents are also interesting because they often deal with other aspects and stories of cultural resistance and the reappraisal of National Socialist rule.
The magazines are also documenting Soyfer symposia in Italy, Georgia and other countries. Some visual material will also be very interesting.
According to the original documents, most of which are already available in the virtual Soyfer archive, this type of secondary literature is future generations will be interesting.
As a historian, it is not uncommon to regret that it is difficult to collect fragments of certain artists, and this often involves a great deal of effort. From a historical perspective, it would be nice if the secondary literature referring to Soyfer was easy and uncomplicated to find. Of course, virtual archives also have their “expiry date” in purely technical terms. But there are also documentations so memory has a perspective.