LAUSR

ABSTRACT When scholars speak of cultural centres, and particularly when they refer to pre-Second World War Jewish literature and the Jewish press, they generally mean those that existed in the large cities of Europe and America. This article suggests that researchers should take note of the fact that cultural centres evolved also in smaller and more remote locations. Whereas the centres in the big cities catered to a Jewish population that was largely well educated and modernized, those located in rural areas had to accommodate a less educated and more traditional public. Consequently, these cultural centres, such as the one discussed in this article, frequently played a far more significant social role than did those in the large cities. Understanding how these small town centres developed and operated will contribute to a more comprehensive mapping of Jewish culture in pre-Second World War Europe. It will likewise document the irrecoverable loss that Jewish culture suffered as a result of the Holocaust.