NOSN BERLIN

NOSN BERLIN

In the 1880s, he was living in London.  He was by trade a raincoat maker.  He worked in the sweatshops of London, and he was among the first to cluster around Arn Liberman, founder of the first Jewish socialist association “Agudas hasotsyalistim haivrim belondon” (The socialist Jewish association of London).  He began writing in the 1870s, and later he contributed to Moris Vintshevski’s Der poylisher idl (The Polish Jew) which commenced publication in London on July 25, 1884.  He also published in the progressive New York weekly, Der folks-advokat (The people’s advocate), which was put out by Mikhl Mints, edited from July 1888 through December 1889 by Zelik Zelikovitsh; and Arbayter-fraynd (Workers’ friend) in London, edited by F. Krants.  In book form: Di emese ṿelt, oder ayne rayze in gehenem letoyves haklal (The real world, or a trip to hell on behalf of the public) (London, 1886), 40 pp.  This booklet was a satire on the order of Jewish life, on the master craftsmen who fleeced the workers, on the benefactors, on the Jewish newspapers and editors, on the messengers from Palestine, and on the socialists and anarchists as well.  The satire was written in the form of a dialogue.  Berlin was a pioneer of the semi-publicist proletarian writers of fiction in the 1880s.

Sources: Geshikhte fun der yidisher arbeter bavegung in di fareynikte shtatn (History of the Jewish labor movement in the United States), vol. 2 (New York, 1945), see index; K. Marmor, Di onheyn fun a yidisher literatur in amerike (The beginning of a Yiddish literature in America) (New York, 1940), see index; and Marmor, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (October 16, 1938); Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft (June 1940).