Isabel Frey (born 1994) is an Austrian Yiddish singer, ethnomusicologist, and political activist based in Vienna. Raised in a secular Viennese Jewish family with grandparents who survived the Holocaust, Frey lived on a kibbutz in southern Israel as a young woman before returning to Europe and adopting a non-Zionist, Yiddishist worldview rooted in the heritage of the Jewish Labour Bund (Bundism).
As a postdoctoral researcher in ethnomusicology at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Frey focuses on Yiddish protest songs as mediums for contemporary social movements. In 2020, she released her debut solo album, Millennial Bundist, featuring adapted historical Yiddish labor and anti-tsarist revolutionary anthems—such as “Daloy Politsey”—alongside contemporary political verses. Her third album, Lider mit Palestine, described as a “compilation of 17 new Yiddish songs responding to the ongoing genocide in Gaza“, was released in July 2025.
In Austria’s political landscape, where public discourse surrounding anti-Semitism and Holocaust memory is highly sensitive, Frey engages in activism through organizations including the Austrian chapter of Jewish Voice for a Just Peace (Jüdische Stimme) and the Standing Together Vienna initiative. During demonstrations in Vienna, she frequently performs anti-war Yiddish folk songs as a form of street protest. Through her music and academic commentary, Frey argues against the instrumentalization of Holocaust history to justify military operations in Gaza. She advocates for a European Jewish identity defined by international solidarity, minority rights, and cultural revival rather than state-centered nationalism.