Naye Prese

Naye Prese (Yiddish: נײַע פּרעסע) was a Yiddish-language communist daily newspaper published in Paris, France. The first issue was published on January 1, 1934. The initiative to start publishing Naye Prese was taken by a sector of Jewish members of the French Communist Party. Prior to the founding of Naye Prese there had been other Yiddish-language communist periodicals which had been banned by the French state authorities.^[1]

Naye Prese

Type	daily newspaper
Political alignment	Communism
Language	Yiddish
Ceased publication	1993
Headquarters	Paris
Country	France
Media of France List of newspapers

Naye Prese was one of two daily Yiddish newspapers published in Paris during the interbellum period, the other being the pro-Zionist Parizer Haynt.^[1] Moreover, Naye Prese was the sole communist Yiddish daily in Europe at the time.^[2]

The Jewish membership of the French Communist Party was rather limited, numbering around 200–300 at the time of the founding of Naye Prese. But communist ideas had widespread support amongst the Jewish communities in France. Initially Naye Prese had a readership of around 10,000. Many of its readers were émigré Polish Jews, who had been militants of the Communist Party of Poland but had not joined the French Communist Party after settling down in France. In 1936, after an intensive election campaign of the French Communist Party amongst the Jewish communities and the formation of the Popular Front government, the readership reached 20,000.^[1][2]

Leo Katz served as the chief editor of Naye Prese, before joining into exile in Mexico.^[3]

Naye Prese was banned during the German occupation of France.^[4]

During the early 1950s, Naye Prese had a daily edition of 8,700. It was the largest of the three Yiddish left-wing dailies in Paris at the time. In the summer of 1951, French authorities ordered the deportation of the editor of Naye Prese, Jacob Gromb. Gromb, a Polish-Jewish immigrant who had become a French citizen in 1950, was charged by the authorities with not having 'assimilated enough' to French society. There were widespread protests against this decision, also outside of communist quarters. When the Gromb case was decided in court, the deportation order was revoked.^[5]

On November 7, 1969, the Friends of Naye Prese issued a statement, with the backdrop of the 1968 Polish political crisis, condemning anti-Semitic policies of the Polish government.^[6]

Naye Prese was closed down in 1993.^[7][8]

Bibliography

In 1945, 20 yor naye prese 1934-1945 ('20 years of Naye Prese 1934-1945') was published.^[9]

References

1. . Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
2. Frankel, Jonathan/Diner, Dan (ed.). Dark times, dire decisions : Jews and Communism. New York City: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 72, 173
3. Adina Cimet-Singer. "The Last Battles of Old-World Ideologies in the Race for Identity and Communal Power: Communists vs. Bundists vs. Zionists in Mexico, 1938-1951". Tau.ac.il. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
4. Frankel, Jonathan/Diner, Dan (ed.). Dark times, dire decisions : Jews and Communism. New York City: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 181
5. [1] May 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
6. [2] May 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
7. Frankel, Jonathan/Diner, Dan (ed.). Dark times, dire decisions : Jews and Communism. New York City: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 78
8. (in French). Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
9. (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.