Abstract

In 1935, Herbert Sonnenfeld, a Jewish press photographer, captured four images of young Jews dancing a traditional Jewish folk dance known as the hora. This dancing occurred at Rüdnitz, a Zionist preparation camp where young Jews went to receive professional vocational training that would enable them to obtain visas and escape the Nazi regime. My thesis takes these photographs and argues that dance engaged in while at the Rüdnitz camp should be regarded as a form of resistance to authoritarianism, as teaching and perpetuating this style ensured the survival of Jewish cultural heritage, something the Nazi regime hoped to destroy. From a methodological standpoint, this work first tackles the question of what counts as resistance and transitions into how affordance theory supports the idea that dance takes on a revolutionary valence in this context. The main argument then discusses both literal and symbolic ways in which folk dance at Rüdnitz camp can be viewed as dance. Not only did the Nazi regime establish various laws that limited the Jewish right to artistic expression, but their rhetoric dehumanized this group. Dancing at Rüdnitz not only resisted antisemitic laws but also the regime's debasing rhetoric. Likewise, dancing the hora (a circle dance) symbolized equality and inclusivity at a time when the Nazi regime chose to exclude and marginalize many ethnic groups. There are of course nuances to this argument, such as certain difficulties inherent when analyzing photographs. However, Levine's affordance theory serves as a response to these concerns, as it specifically addresses the revolutionary actions latent in this instance of folk dance. This argument is significant to us today because the few living survivors of the Holocaust are concerned that the world is forgetting what happened to them. Investigating the occurrence of Jewish folk dance at Rüdnitz camp is one step towards telling their stories and highlighting a forgotten aspect of their lived experience.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Comparative Arts and Letters

Rights

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