He moved to Chernivtsi for three years and, together with his supporters from the academic association 'Jewish Culture', organised the First ‘Yidishe Shprakh’ Conference from 30 August to 3 September 1908 with over 70 participants, at which, among other things, the standardisation of Yiddish orthography and grammar and the creation of a network of Yiddish language schools throughout Europe were discussed (Fishman, p. 325). The choice of Chernivtsi as the conference venue was not accidental, as the city was relatively geographically convenient for most of the European participants (especially those from Russia, Romania and Galicia). In addition, Chernivtsi was a place with a relatively liberal attitude towards Jewish nationalism and was even the first provincial capital of a crown land of the Habsburg Monarchy to have a Jewish mayor (Eduard Reiss, 1905-07). The opening of the conference took place in the Musikvereinssaal, as the Jewish National House, which was originally intended to be the venue, did not open until late autumn 1908 (it is possible that Benno Straucher, the president of the Jewish community, wanted to prevent the conference from being held in the Jewish National House).
The organisers put together an extensive programme, covering topics such as grammar, spelling, the orthography of the literary language and the current development of Yiddish theatre, culture and the press. With a few exceptions, the conference was attended by the most important Yiddish intellectuals, including Ester Frumkin (Vilnius), Chaim Zhitlovski (New York), Scholem Asch (Warsaw), Isaak Leib Peretz (Warsaw) and Abraham Reisen (Krakow). The conference also saw the publication of its own newspaper - Dr Birnboym's vokhnblat - which was to be expanded to support the Yiddish language movement locally, but which Birnbaum had to close after only six issues.
The core of the conference, however, was the recognition of Yiddish as the national language of the Jewish people. Not all participants supported this demand, however, as Hebrew was seen as the link in the Jewish chain of existence and Yiddish as the language of Jewish exile. After heated arguments, a compromise was reached, and it was decided to declare Yiddish as the language of the Jewish people.
The resolution was published in the local press: ‘The First Jewish [sic] Language Conference recognises Jewish [sic] as the national language of the Jewish people and demands its social and cultural equality. The conference considers it necessary to declare that every participant in this conference, as well as every member of the organisation to be created, remains free to relate to the Hebrew language according to his personal convictions' (Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 September 1908, p. 5).
Text: Markus Winkler und Olha Demchuk
Sources:
Eröffnungsrede Nathan Birnbaums
Joshua A. Fishman: The Tshernovits Conference revisted. The First World Conference for Yiddish, 85 years later. In: ders. (Hg.): The Earliest Stage of Language Planning. The "First Congress" Phenomenon. Berlin, New York 1993.
Konferenz 2008 in Tscherniwzi in Erinnerung an die Sprachkonferenz 1908
Webseite von Iosif Vaisman mit diversen Dokumenten zur Konferenz
Markus Winkler: Nathan Birnbaum in Czernowitz: Ideenwelten und Publizistik. In: Analele Stiinţifice ale Universităţii „ Alexandru Ioan Cuza“ din Iaşi (Serie Nouă). Tomuri XIII–XIV 2010–2011. Editura Universităţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza“ Iaşi 2011, S. 243–262
