STUDY QUESTIONS

Israel Aksenfeld, "The Headband" (18863) in The Shtetl, trans. and edited by Joachim Neugroschel (New York, 1979)

1) According to the narrator, what is the difference between a "shtetl" and a "shtot"?

2) What message does Aksenfeld convey in his use of irony to describe such settlements?

3) How does the Jewish community of "Nosuchville" compare to that of Breslau?

4) Based on the narrator's description of Breslau, which group -- Germans, Jews, Poles -- appears to be associated with "modernity" and "progress"?

5) Why would commodities and services have been less expensive in Breslau than in the shtetl settlements of Poland?

6) In his description of a weekend afternoon in Breslau, does the narrator convey any hints of ethnic tensions?