»Ein Jude spricht Jiddisch«

Towards the end of the 19th century, Yiddish, the mother tongue of the majority of Jews in Eastern Europe, ceased to be a mere "jargon" and became a full-fledged language of high culture and source of identity politics. Education played a vital role in this process, yet little is known about its development. Taking textbooks written between 1886 and 1964 for courses taught in Yiddish as guideposts...