An Archival Novelty: Theatre Habima’s Telegram to Joseph Goebbels

Abstract

This article examines the history of the Jewish (later Israeli) Habima Theatre and its European transcultural experience between 1926 and 1938. The research, based on a variety of largely unknown archival materials (correspondence, administrative documents, posters, and photographs), is organised into four archival novellas that may serve as a model for the study of archives. The central novella focuses on the telegram sent by Habima to Dr. Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda, in 1937. Analysing the telegram and its cultural and historical context provides insights into the phenomenon of artistic migration and its relationship with the politics and cultural milieu of the period.