Yiddisher Kultur Farband (YKUF)
YIDDISHER KULTUR FARBAND (ykuf)
YIDDISHER KULTUR FARBAND (ykuf) , a U.S. association for preserving and developing Yiddish culture in Yiddish and in English. Yiddisher Kultur Farband was founded in 1937. Other branches of the international ykuf were established in various countries, among them the English branch, which was still active in 1971. The organizing meeting was an international congress of Yiddish culture, the first to be held; about 100 delegates attended, 11 from the United States. The first chairman of ykuf was the writer A. *Mukdoni; the secretary (to 1957) was Zishe *Weinper, a poet and an efficient fundraiser for ykuf. Financial support also came from the Jewish People's Fraternal Order.
ykuf established the monthly Yiddishe Kultur in 1938 and Nachman Meisel, who had edited a Yiddish literary magazine in Poland, became its editor (to 1964). In 1970 the journal appeared seven times a year and its editor was Itche Goldberg. Until 1971 ykuf published over 250 books, including Yiddish fiction and poetry, memoirs, history, and anthologies. With the passing of a generation of secular Yiddish speakers, the activities of the Kultur Farband slowed and the organizational activities atrophied. In 2006 Itche Goldberg, at over 100 years of age, led its limited activities.
bibliography:
ig, Yiddishe Kultur.