In this publication the history of women active in the General Jewish Workers Bund (Bund) is outlined from its foundation 1897 up to 1939. The taken main sources are the women biographies of “Doires Bundistn”, a collection of biographies written in Yiddish by members of the Bund. Through the prism of these texts the work and importance of women in this socialist, Yiddishistic movement in Eastern and Middle Europe are presented. Furthermore a first attempt is made to read this part of Bundist party history concerning its principles of (re-)construction.
The publication consists of two parts which are based on the Bundist self-concept and the geographical dislocation of its main field: Women in the “Russian Bund” (1897-1918) and women in the “Polish Bund” (1918-1939). The impact of the different historical contexts on lifestyle aspects, activities in the movement or rather in the party, the complex of themes concerning the way of living of female Bundists are pointed out in three comparative chapters. In other chapters it is dealt with themes specific for the different periods. The instability of the living conditions for the members of the illegal “Russian Bund” or the larger stability in the time of the “Polish Bund” as a legal party generates important, up to now neglected factors while examining the paradigms of female life styles.