YEHUDA GOTHELF

YEHUDA GOTHELF (November 19, 1903-1994)

            He was born in Warsaw, Poland, into a well-to-do merchant household.  He studied in religious primary school, secular high school, and later philosophy and veterinary science at Warsaw University.  In his early youth, he was active in the Zionist youth organizations “Hashomer Hatsair” (The young guard) and “Haḥiluk” (Dissent).  He worked for a time as a teacher in a Hebrew high school in Warsaw.  In 1929 he left for Palestine and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Hadera.  He was also among the active leaders in the administration of Kibbutz Artzi.  Over the years 1932-1935, he was in Poland, as an agent for Hashomer Hatsair.  He then returned to Palestine and in 1948 he became active in Mapai (Workers’ Party in the Land of Israel).  In late 1948 he switched to Mapam (United Workers’ Party) from Hashomer Hatsair and Aḥdut haavoda (Union of labor).  His first publications were in Hebrew serials: Hashomer hatsair and Du-shavuon (Fortnightly) in Warsaw (1927).  During the founding of the Poale-Tsiyon daily newspaper Dos vort (The word) (Warsaw, 1933), he served as a member of the editorial board.  His first publication in Yiddish appeared in Dos vort: “Privat-virtshaftlekhe un khalutsishe kooperatsye” (Private economic and pioneer cooperation).  He also contributed to: Dos naye vort (The new word) in Warsaw (1933-1937); Naye-yugnt (New youth), Hamitspeh (The watchtower), Badereḥ (On the road) in Warsaw, and Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter) in New York.  From 1938 he was a member of the editorial board of Davar (Word) in Tel Aviv.  Among his books: Sefer hashomrim (Book of the guardians), editor (Warsaw, 1934), 538 pp.; Torat hamaase (Theory of action) (Warsaw, 1933), 142 pp.  His pamphlet, Madua parashti mimifleget poale erets-yisrael? (How I distinguish myself from the party of laborers in Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1948), 16 pp., aroused debates among Jewish workers in Israel.  He was also editor of the Yiddish supplement to the Hashomer Hatsair serial Heatid (The future) in Warsaw (1928-1932); and of Sefer hashana shel haitonaim (The annual of newspapers) in Tel Aviv.  In late 1957 he visited Poland and published in Davar a series of articles about the living condition of Jews there.  He edited Yisroel un “der nayer links,” zamlhef (Israel and “the new left,” a collection) (Tel Aviv, 1969), 139 pp.; and he coedited Di yidishe prese vos iz geven (The Yiddish press that was) (Tel Aviv, 1975).  He was also the author of a series of books in Hebrew on general and sociological-community topics.

Sources: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1950), vol. 4, p. 1838; N. Kantorovitsh, on Fun noentn over 3 (New York, 1957), p. 292.

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 123-24.]

MORTKHE-YOYSEF (MORDECHAI-YOSEF) GOTHARD

MORTKHE-YOYSEF (MORDECHAI-YOSEF) GOTHARD (b. October 24, 1891)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland, into an elite Hassidic family.  He studied in religious primary school.  In 1904 he was sent to Jerusalem to study at the Torat Chaim Yeshiva.  Later, he became a community leader.  For a time he worked as a teacher of Hebrew.  He was subsequently general secretary of the Vaad Hachinuch ([Orthodox] board of education) in Jerusalem.  He contributed articles to newspapers in Palestine: Haor (The light), Hatsvi (The gazelle), Haḥerut (Freedom), Doar hayom (Today’s mail), and Haarets (The land).  He was the Palestine correspondent for Hazman (The times) in Vilna, and from 1918 to 1934, for Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper).  He published political reports of matters of concern to Israel.  In 1937 he was working as a lawyer.  He was living in Tel Aviv.

Source: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1947-1971), pp. 1234-35.

SHMUEL GOZHANSKI (SAMUEL GOZHANSKY)

SHMUEL GOZHANSKI (SAMUEL GOZHANSKY) (1867-1943)

            He was born to well-to-do parents in Grodno.  He graduated from the Russian Jewish teachers’ institute in Vilna in 1888.  He worked as a teacher in Russian Jewish schools, initially in Kovno and Bialystok, later in Vilna.  He was one of the most active members of the first Jewish revolutionary socialist circles in Vilna.  In 1889 he was one of the leaders of the first Jewish tailors’ strike in Vilna.  Under the party’s nickname for him, “Der lerer” (The teacher), he played an enormous role in guiding socialist propaganda among Jewish laborers in Vilna, as well as in the actual organization of study circles (kruzhki, using the Russian word at the time), as well to systematize and prepare appropriate teaching materials.  His role gained specially importance over the years 1893-1895, when the pioneering “Group of Jewish Social Democrats,” together with L. Martov, who was then undertaking revolutionary work in Vilna, decided to move the narrow work of their circle to broader means of political agitation.  This kind of work had to be done in Yiddish, and Gozhanski was among these pioneers the only person who had truly mastered the Yiddish language.  He therefore became one of the principal creators of the first socialist labor literature in Yiddish.  He also attracted young intellectuals to this work, people who under his editorial hand wrote or translated various articles and treatises on social themes.  Of his propaganda writings from this era, which he wrote under the pen name “Lonu” (he was later known principally by this literary pseudonym), especially distinguished was the historical importance of the brochure A briv tsu di agitatorn (A letter to the agitators) (initially written in Russian), which appeared in late 1893 or early 1894, as a practical, popularized addition to the brochure of Aleksander (Arkadi) Kremer, Vegn agitatsye (On agitation), which opened a new phase in the development of the entire labor movement—not just the Jewish one—in Russia.  Other pamphlets by him that were quite popular include: A vikuekh mitn mazl (A debate with good fortune), also called Din un yoysher (Judgment and justice)—an agitation against the persuasive belief that wealth and poverty are objects of luck or pure chance; A rede af purim (A speech about Purim), an allegorical agitation against the Hamans of all eras; Di iden frage in rusland far aleksander dem dritn (The Jewish question in Russia for Aleksander III), also known under the title Der hesped (The eulogy), “which was prepared on October 21, 1895,” a general political agitation against Tsarism; Erinerungen fun a papirosn makherke (Memoirs of a female cigarette maker), first published in 1928 in Unzer tsayt (Our time) 7-8 (Warsaw); Di glikn fun ruvn dem berditsever (The joys of Reuben from Berdichev), republished many times later with the title Di skhires (Wages) (Vilna: Di velt, 1906), 76 pp., an analysis of labor wages, based on numerous facts and figures (in compiling this pamphlet, contributions were made by Pati Srednitski-Kremer and Liube Levinson-Ayzenshtat); and a number of other booklets.  In 1896 he was exiled for his revolutionary work to the Yakut region in Siberia, where he joined the semi-anarchist, anti-intellectual movement of the Pole Jan Wacław Machajski.  Returning from banishment in 1902, Gozhanski worked for a short time on the central committee of the Bund in Warsaw, and he also contributed to the Bundist Arbeter-shtime (Voice of laborers), but because of his anarchist inclinations, he left their party activities and moved to Vilna where he worked as a private teacher.  Following the Bolshevik Revolution, as an adherent of the right wing of the Social Democrats (known as the Oborontses), he switched to the left, became a Communist, and for a time was a commissar in Tula.  He was later recalled to Moscow, where he worked in the trade movement and took part in editorial work on the first volume of the Yiddish edition of Lenin’s writings.  Rumors later emerged that, during the show trials of 1936-1938, he was deported.  His subsequent fate remains unknown.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2 (Vilna, 1927), pp. 204-8 (with bibliography); B. Mikhalevitsh, “Erev-bund” (Before the Bund), Royter pinkes 1 (Warsaw) (1921), pp. 35, 42, 44; P. Anman, in Royter pinkes 1 (1921), p. 54; L. Martov, Zapiski sot︠s︡ial-demokrata (Notes of a social democrat), vol. 1 (Berlin, 1922), pp. 162-212; Sh. Agurski, Di sotsyalistishe literature af yidish (Socialist literature in Yiddish) (Minsk, 1935), see index; Di historishe shriftn fun yivo (Historical writings from YIVO), vol. 3 (Vilna-Paris, 1939), see index; John Mill, Pyonern un boyer (Pioneers and builders), vol. 1 (New York, 1946), see index; P. Kurski, Gezamlte shriftn (Collected writings) (New York, 1952), see index; L. Bernshteyn, Ershte shprotsungen (First sprouts) (Buenos Aires, 1956), see index.

Yitskhok Kharlash

ELYAHU-ELYOSHA GOZHANSKI

ELYAHU-ELYOSHA GOZHANSKI (August 1, 1914-December 21, 1948)

            He was born in St. Petersburg, and at age three his parents brought him to Grodno.  He studied in religious primary school, later graduating from a secular high school.  In 1932 he moved to Palestine and joined Kibbutz Glilim, near Haifa.  The kibbutz sent him to the agrarian school Mikveh Yisrael (Hope of Israel), from which he graduated in 1936.  Afterwards, he went on a trip to see his parents in Grodno.  There he became involved in illegal political work, was arrested, and sentenced to eight years in prison.  As a Palestinian citizen, he was successful in 1938 in returning to Israel.  Back in Israel he became a surveyor and construction worker.  In 1941 the British police arrested him as a leading Communist, and after a year in prison he was freed.  He published pamphlets, as well as stories and many articles—in Yiddish and in Hebrew—in the press publications of his party.  Among his writings: Grodno (Tel Aviv, 1945), 52 pp.—“in place of a gravestone” for his father, Yitzkhok Gozhanski, a well-known lawyer who for many years was head of the community council and a member of the city council in Grodno, and who was murdered by the Nazis.  From 1947 he made three trips to Czechoslovakia and other Eastern European countries, with the aim of creating assistance for the war of independence in the Yishuv in Israel.  On his return home from Prague on the last of these, he was killed when the airplane in which he was flying crashed in the Peloponnesian Mountains.  Shortly after his death, his book appeared: Der mentsh hot gezigt (The man was victorious), “a chronicle of a city,” with forewords by Sh. Mikunis and D. Sfard (Warsaw-Tel Aviv, 1949), 220 pp.

Sources: Obituary in Dos naye lebn (The new life) (Warsaw) (December 31, 1948); “A briv fun elyahu gozhanski tsu a. pomerants” (A letter from Elyohu Gozhanski to A. Pomerants), Grodner opklangen 2 (Buenos Aires, 1948); Y. Papyernikov, “Der letster fli” (The final flight), a poem, and A. G., “Grodne” (Grodno), Grodner opklangen 12 (1948); D. Sfard, in Dos naye lebn (January 10, 1949); A. Pomerants, in Morgn frayhayt (New York) (January 17, 1949).

Yitskhok Kharlash and Aleksander Pomerants

MEYER NAVRONSKI

MEYER NAVRONSKI (b. November 19, 1914)

            He was born in Riga.  He spent WWII in Memel (Klaipėda) and Kovno.  After the war, he was in Camp Feldafing near Munich and in Munich itself.  He published articles in the survivors’ press, such as in Yidishe velt (Jewish world).  He was the editor of camp newspapers: Dos fraye vort (The free word) and Untervegs (Pathways)—in Romanized Yiddish.

YANKEV GAVINOSER

YANKEV GAVINOSER (b. September 21, 1894)

            He was born in Razhinilov [?], Podolia region, Ukraine, into a merchant family, from which he received a Jewish education.  As a youth he emigrated with his parents to Argentina and settled in the YIKO (Jewish Cultural Organization) colony of Rivera.  He worked for several years as a farmer, later graduating from middle school; he then studied to be and became a dentist, and was an active community and cultural leader in Argentina.

            He began writing poetry in 1909, and his first publication appeared in 1912.  He contributed poems, stories, travel narratives, and feature essays to: Tog (Day), Di prese (The press), Di gezelshaft (The community), Dos idishe folksblat (The Jewish people’s newspaper), Di pen (The pen), Dorem amerike (South America), Dos riverer vokhnblat (The Rivera weekly newspaper), Far kleyn un groys (For little and big), Morgn frayhayt (Morning freedom) in New York, and others.  He also published in the socialist and syndicalist Spanish press in Argentina.  His books include: Horizontn (Horizons), sentimental prose on themes of love and nostalgia (Buenos Aires, 1927), 110 pp.  He translated a number of items from Russian and Spanish—among them, the drama Di zun fun der menshheyt (The sun of humanity [original: El Sol de la Humanidad]) by José Fola Igúrbide.  He was living in Buenos Aires.

Sources: Zalmen reyzen arkhiv (The Zalmen Reyzen archive) (YIVO, New York); Bibyoligrafishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic annuals from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928); Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentina (The published Yiddish word in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), p. 185; Volf Bresler, Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Jewish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944), p. 921.

AḤARON BEN-TSIYON GAVZE

AḤARON BEN-TSIYON GAVZE (February 25, 1876-October 1942)

            He was born in Lekhevitsh (Pol. Lachowicze; Bel. Lyakhavichy), Baranovichi region, Poland.  He received a traditional Jewish education.  He studied in the yeshivas of Minsk, Kovno, Vilna, and Slobodka.  He was supposed to become a rabbi, but after his father’s death, he devoted himself to learning Hebrew and secular subject matter.  In 1894 he became a clerk in the Warsaw synagogue library.  That same year, he began publishing correspondence pieces in Hamelits (The advocate) under the pseudonym “Aguz.”  In 1907 he became a contributor to Hatsfira (The siren).  He was its night editor, writer of Warsaw local news, editor of provincial news, and also the proofreader.  In 1908 he became an internal contributor and night editor of Warsaw’s Haynt (Today), where he worked until the tragic end of his life.  From 1917 forward, he edited the Warsaw local news.  In times of police persecutions, when Haynt was confiscated, closed, and often had to appear under another name and another editor, he was the editor of Tog-nayes (Daily news).  In 1938 he was on the managing committee and supervisory council of the cooperative “Altnay” (Old-new), which published Haynt on a cooperative basis.  During WWII, when the Germans occupied Warsaw, he remained in the Warsaw Ghetto.  He stood at the head of aid work on behalf of Jewish writers and their families, who stayed in the Warsaw Ghetto.  He was taken during an Aktion in the summer of 1942, and during the first planned deportation of Warsaw Jews (in October 1942), he took potassium cyanide at Umschlagplatz (collection point in Warsaw for deportation).

Gavze is seated in the lower right corner

Sources: Dr. R. Feldshuh, Yidisher gezelshaftlekher leksikon (Jewish communal handbook) (Warsaw, 1939); Sh. Pyetrushke, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (May 27, 1943); M. Mozes, in Poylisher yid (New York) (June 1944); R. Oyerbakh, in Kidesh hashem (Sanctification of the name), ed. Shmuel Niger (New York, 1946); Y. Turkov, Azoy is es geven (That’s how it was) (Buenos Aires, 1948); A. Levin, in Bleter far geshikhte (Pages for history), quarterly 7.1 (Warsaw, 1954); B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954); B. Kutsher, Geven amol Varshe (As Warsaw once was) (Paris, 1955); M. Grosman, “Haynt” (Today), Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956).

SHMUEL-NISN (SAMUEL NISSAN) GODINER

SHMUEL-NISN (SAMUEL NISSAN) GODINER (1892-1942)

            He was prose author and playwright, born in Telekhan (Tsyelyakhany), Minsk region (later Polesia), Byelorussia.  His father, Yisroel-Dovid, was religious man, engaged in scholarship, and for a time a tenant innkeeper in the village of Vyado.  Godiner received a traditional education, studying Jewish subjects with his father, and later under the influence of illegal socialist literature, he was captivated by the revolutionary movement and was one of the founders of the youth movement dubbed the Kleyner Bund (Little Bund).  In 1908, he and his parents moved to Warsaw, where he became an apprentice in a locksmith’s workshop.  At age seventeen he began to work in a metal factory.  At the same time, he devoted himself to acquiring an education on his own.  He read great quantities of the Russian, Polish, and German literature.  In Warsaw he made his first attempts at composing poetry and stories, and he showed his writings to Y. L. Peretz who encouraged him to write more.  At the end of 1912, he was drafted into the Tsarist army, served in the Caucasus, participated in the first fighting of WWI, and in 1914 he was wounded while traversing the Carpathian Mountains on the battle front.  In early 1918 he was captured by the Austrians, but he was soon successful in escaping from their camp to Warsaw, and from there he returned to Russia.  He remained for a short time in the army, and when the Russian civil war started, he joined the Red Army; he later joined the Communist Party.  In 1921 he came to Moscow as a student and entered the Valery Bryusov Institute for Literature and studied there for two years.  He initially wrote poetry (never published), but from 1921 he wrote only prose.  At first, he wrote mainly about the war themes and Russian civil war, and in a distinctive symbolist style.  His first story, entitled “Reges” (Moments), was published in Emes (Truth) in Moscow in 1921, and later published work in Shtern (Star) in Minsk, Der shtrom (The stream) in Moscow, and other magazines and newspapers.  He became recognized as one of the groundwork-layers of Soviet Yiddish prose.  He also wrote dramatic works, translated many books from Russian, and compiled a literary anthology.  Gordiner went to Birobidzhan on two occasions, and there he helped found Yiddish schools and libraries, and to strengthen cultural work.  He penned a long story, “Birobidzhaner” (A man from Birobidzhan), among the first immigrants there. In 1934 he was seated on the presidium with the most prominent Yiddish authors—Perets Markish, Dovid Hofshteyn, Izi Kharik, and Yekhezkl Dobrushin—at the first conference of the councils in the Jewish Autonomous Region. He demonstrated great mastery in his chef d’oeuvre, Der mentsh mit der biks (The man with the rifle), in which he described the events in WWI and the civil war. Soon after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in the June of 1941, he volunteered to fight at the front. He fought there together with the partisans.  He died there in 1942.

Among his books are the following: Tog antkegn (Toward the day) (Moscow: Der emes, Kultur-lige, 1924), 127 pp.; Der mentsh mit der biks, a novel in two volumes (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1928, 1933), several reprint editions; Figurn afn rand, dertseylungen (Figures on the edge, stories) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1929), 251 pp.; Oys religye zamlung fun literatur (Out with religion! Literature collection) (Moscow: Bezbozhnik, 1929), 56 pp., with A. Vevyorke; Dzhim kuperkop (Jim Kuperkop), a dramatic pamphlet in eleven scenes (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk: F.S.S.R. Publ., 1930), 131 pp. (staged by Artef [Communist-inspired Yiddish theater] in New York); Kavkom hersh, dertseylung (Kavkom Hersh, a story) (Kharkov: State Publishers of National Minorities, 1933), 15 pp.; Verk, ershter band, dertseylungen (Works, vol. 1: stories) (Moscow: Emes, 1933), 378 pp.; Muterland, roman (Motherland, a novel) (Moscow: Emes, 1935), 480 pp.; Di akore fun rohatshev (The fortress of Rogachov), a story (Moscow: Emes, 1936), 16 pp.; Di gliklekhe muter elke (Elke, the happy mother), a story (Moscow: Emes, 1936), 48 pp.; Yudke komunareytshikl (Yudke, the little communard), a story (Moscow: Emes, 1936), 48 pp.; Di heylike shklover levone (The heavenly Shklov [Szkłów, Škłoŭ] moon) (1936); Der ershter (The first) (Moscow, 1938), 12 pp.; A nakht bam tseyln (A night counting), a story (Moscow: Emes, 1938), 11 pp.; Zaveler trakt (Zavel highway), a story (Moscow: Emes, 1938), 190 pp. (New York: Ikuf, 1950), 247 pp.; Linitisher yatn (Linitish guys), a story (Moscow: Emes, 1939), 17 pp.; Der yontef fun frayndshaft (The festival of friendship) (Moscow: Emes, 1939), 46 pp.; Andere mentshn (Other people), stories (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 288 pp.  His work was included in: Deklamater fun der sovetisher yidisher literatur (Reciter of Soviet Yiddish literature) (Moscow: Emes, 1934); Der arbeter in der yidisher literatur, fargesene lider (The worker in Yiddish literature, forgotten poems) (Moscow, 1939); the anthology Birebidzhan (Birobidzhan) (Moscow, 1936); Far der bine: dertseylungen, pyeses, lider (For the stage: stories, plays, poems), with musical notation (together with Yekhezkl Dobrushin and Elye Gordon) (Moscow: Central People’s Publ., 1929); Bafrayte brider, literarishe zamlung (Liberated brethren, literary anthology) (Minsk” State Publishers of Byelorussia, 1939); Farn heymland in shlakht! (For the homeland in battle!) (Moscow: Emes, 1941); Komyug, literarish-kinstlerisher zamlbukh ([Jewish] Communist Youth, literary-artistic anthology) (Moscow: Emes, 1938); and Osher shvartsman, zamlung gevidmet dem tsvantsik yortog fun zayn heldishn toyt (Osher Shvartsman, collection dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of his heroic death) (Moscow: Emes, 1940).  His translations include: Lidiya Seifullina’s Erd-zaft (Juice of the earth) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1924), 158 pp., and her Virinyeya (original: Virineya) (Moscow: Emes, 1925), 146 pp.; Fedor Gladkov, Tsement (Cement [original: Zement]) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1927), 334 pp.; Mikhail Rozanov, Kostya ryabtsevs togbukh (Kostya Ryabtsev’s diary) (Moscow, 1928), 222 pp.; Yuri Oliosha, Kine (Envy) (Warsaw: Literarishe bleter, 1934), 137 pp.; Maksim Gorki’s Klim sangins lebn (The life of Klim Samgin [original: Zhizn’ Klima Samgina]) (Moscow, 1937).  Godiner also compiled (together with Yisroel Rabinovitsh) Af barikadn, revolyutsyonere shlakhtn in der opshpiglung fun der kinstlerisher literatur (At the barricades, revolutionary battles in the lens of artistic literature) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1930), 300 pp.

Sources: M. Mizheritski, in Royte velt (Kharkov) (September-October 1931); M. Kashtshevatski, in Royte velt (August 1931); Y. Bronshteyn, Atake (Attack) (Minsk, 1931), pp. 194-218; A. Vevyorke, Der stil fun der proletarisher literatur (The style of proletarian literature) (Kharkov, 1932), p. 28; D. Manyevitsh, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (May 2, 1932); Shmuel Niger, in Tog (New York) (December 16, 1934); A. Abtshuk, Etyudn un materialn tsu der geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur bavegung in FSRR (Studies and material for the history of the Yiddish literature movement in the Soviet Union) (Kharkov, 1934), pp. 27-29, 50, 51, 61; M. Natovitsh, in Eynikeyt (Moscow) (February 24, 1945); N. Y. Gotlib, Sovetishe shrayber (Soviet writers) (Montreal, 1945), pp. 88, 92; Ester (Godiner) Miler, preface to Shmuel Godiner’s novel Zaveler trakt (New York, 1950), pp. 9-13; David Knaani and Arye Shamri, translators, Lo amut ki eḥye (I will not die, but live on) (Merḥavia, 1957).

Zaynvil Diamant and Aleksander Pomerants

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 123; and Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 65-66.]

HEINRICH (TSVI) GABEL

HEINRICH (TSVI) GABEL (November 21 [or May 12], 1873-July 29-1910)

            He was born in Lemberg [other sources give: Buczacz], and was by profession a lawyer.  In 1907 he was selected to be a deputy to the Austrian Reichsrat (Imperial council); he was also a Zionist activist, a fighter for Jewish rights and for recognition of Yiddish and Hebrew, as well as a speaker and writer on current affairs.  In Lemberg he contributed to Tagblat (Daily newspaper) and to the Zionist Wschod (East), and editor of Przyszlosc (Future).  He died in Vienna.

Sources: Gershom Bader, Medina veḥakhameha (The state and its sages) (New York, 1934); Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1.

AVROM-YITSKHOK GABIS

AVROM-YITSKHOK GABIS (December 19, 1892-July 1978)

            He was born in Zaloshen, Bessarabia, and educated in the town of Vodroshkov.  He studied in religious primary school, later devoting himself to acquiring his own education.  From 1909 he was in Argentina; he lived eight years in Buenos Aires and supported himself doing physical labor.  From 1918 he was an employee in the Jewish agrarian cooperative of “Fondo-Komunal,” in the colony of Dominguez, Entre-Rios Province.  From 1940 he worked with the headquarters of the agrarian cooperatives (“Fraternidad Agraria”) in Buenos Aires.  He was active in Poale-Tsiyon, past head of the “Jewish Laboring Youth” association, a delegate to the first Jewish cultural conference in La Plata in 1915, and a representative to the first Jewish agrarian cooperative in Argentina in 1916.  He was a leading activist in the Jewish cooperative movement in Argentina.  He began his literary writings with dramas and stories.  He wrote about cooperative and agrarian matters.  He was a regular contributor to the journal Gezelshaft (Community) in Buenos Aires (1918).  He later wrote for the yearbooks of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires.  In Yorbukh tshi”d (Annual for 1953/1954) (Buenos Aires, pp. 113-32), he contributed: “Di antviklung un der itstiker matsev fun der higer yidisher yik”o-kolonizatsye” (The evolution of the contemporary situation of the local Jewish YIKO colonization); in Yorbukh tsht”v (Annual for 1954/1955) (Buenos Aires), he wrote “50 yor baron hirsh-kolonizatsye” (Fifty years of Baron Hirsch’s colonization).  He also contributed to the D”r yarkhi-bukh ([Memorial] book for Dr. Yarkhi), edited by P. Bizberg (Buenos Aires, 1953), a collection in Yiddish and in Spanish; and for Argentiner yivo-shriftn (Argentine writings of YIVO) (Buenos Aires, 1942), he wrote “Di yidishe agrar-kooperativn in 1928-1935” (The Jewish agrarian cooperatives in 1928-1935), and in its fifth issue, he wrote “Nit-yidishe meynungen vegn der yidisher kolonizatsye in argentine” (Gentile understandings of Jewish colonization in Argentina).  He served as editor of Kolonist kooperator (Colonist cooperative), organ of “Fraternidad Agraria.”  He also authored the booklet: Vuhin firt di oysvanderung fun dorf in shtot? (Where does emigration lead from village to city?) (Buenos Aires, 1947), 24 pp. (reissued by Argentiner yivo-shriftn in its fourth number).  He died in Buenos Aires.

Sources: M. Bursuk, in Afn shvel (New York) (January-February 1955); Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (January 1948).

ARTUR GABID

ARTUR GABID (1902-1942)

            This was the pen name of Arn Itkin, born in Lodz, the son of the writer Leyb Itkin who was also a Hebrew teacher.  Gabid graduated from secular high school and studied at Warsaw University.  Because of illegal political activities, he had to flee Poland.  He left for Paris, where he graduated as an engineer.  He was an active leader in the French Communist Party and a contributor to its press as a feature writer and essayist.  Because of Trotskyism, he was expelled from the Party in 1934.  He returned to Lodz, worked in a factory, grew close to the Bund, and began to write in Yiddish for Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) in Warsaw (1935-1939); he also published in Inzl (Island) in Bialystok (1935-1939), edited by Zishe Bagish, and for Nayer folksblat (New people’s newspaper) in Lodz.  When the Germans occupied Poland, he left for the East, spent some time in Bialystok, later returning to Poland where he lived until 1942 in a village in Galicia.  Through the efforts of the underground committee of the Bund, he was brought from there to Warsaw and was inside the Warsaw Ghetto.  In December 1942, he was brought to Umschlagplatz (collection point in Warsaw for deportation) and he perished.

Sources: B. Goldshteyn, Finf yor in varshever geto (Five years in the Warsaw Ghetto) (New York, 1947), p. 287; Dos naye lebn 30 (311) (Warsaw, 1949); Kh. L. Fuks, in Fun noentn over 3 (New York) (1957), p. 265.

ZEV-VOLF BRESLER

ZEV-VOLF BRESLER (October 22, 1892-March 21, 1983)

            He was born in Lodz and studied at a religious primary school and a prayer house for Gerer Hassidim.  In 1909 he began to acquire a secular education.  He founded Ḥevre meorere yeshanim (Society to awaken the sleeping) with the goal of spreading secular education among the lads in the synagogue study halls.  He took part in the drama section of Lodz’s Hazamir (The nightingale) and acted in Hebrew theater.  In 1920 he published in Lodz, with Heshl Yedvab, Aḥdut-yisrael (Unity of Israel), a Zionist weekly newspaper, in which he published his first articles on Zionist themes.  In 1928 he was in Warsaw and published articles in Yidishe hantverker (Jewish artisan).  In 1930 he emigrated to Latin America.  He stayed for a short in Santiago, China.  From 1933 he was living in Buenos Aires.  He contributed to: Lodzher folksblat (Lodz people’s newspaper), Yidishe vokhnblat (Jewish weekly newspaper) in Santiago, Di prese (The press) and Der shpigl (The mirror) in Buenos Aires, Brazilyaner yidishe tsaytung (Brazilian Jewish newspaper), and others as well.  He wrote theater criticism and feature articles.  Among his books: Monish—nekht haynt un morgn, a muzikalish stsenish peretsyade in dray aktn (Monish, yesterday, today, and tomorrow—a musically staged Peretziana in three acts) (Buenos Aires, 1935), 72 pp.; Ven ben guryon iz antlofn (When Ben-Gurion escaped), a play in three acts (Buenos Aires, 1953), 80 pp.  He edited: Penemer un penemlekh (Appearances, big and small) (Buenos Aires, 1935); Argentiner lebn (Argentine life), biweekly serial (Buenos Aires, 1954); Leksikon fun idishe gezelshaftlekhe tuer in argentine (Handbook of Jewish social leader in Argentina), three volumes (Buenos Aires, 1941-1943).  In 1944 he founded the publishing house “Yidish.”  In 1952 he published in Rio de Janeiro Leksikon fun yidishe gezelshaftlekhe askonim un kultur-tuer (Handbook of Jewish social workers and cultural leaders).  He died in Buenos Aires.

ALTER BRESLER

ALTER BRESLER (1866-1930)

            He was born in Stolbtsy (Stowbtsy), Byelorussia.  Over the year 1895-1907, he and A. Kotik published in Warsaw a series of popular science booklets which he translated and adapted serially some by himself and some with Kotik.  Bresler also published current events articles in Hatsfira (The siren) and in Avrom Reyzen’s anthology Progres (Progress).  In the years after WWI, he published two short works on ethics.  His name was well known in Warsaw in connection with his lending library of Jewish and general literature.  “Bresler’s Library” at No. 5 Nowolipki was one of the first lending libraries in Warsaw.  Among his books: a summary treatment of H. T. Buckle’s History of Civilization in England as Di geshikhte fun tsivilizatsyon in england (Warsaw, 1895), 64 pp., second edition (Warsaw, 1901); Dertseylungen vegn vilde mentshn (Stories about wild people), translated from Dmitri Korobchevski (Warsaw, 1895), 44 pp.; Arbet un kapital (Labor and capital), translated from Aleksander Bogdanov (Warsaw, 1895), 56 pp.; Vi hobn mentshn gelebt mit eynike toyzent yor tsurik? (How did people live several thousand years ago?), translated (together with Kotik) from Boris Pavlovich (Warsaw, 1895), 64 pp.; Yoysef perl (Joseph Perl), a biography adapted from various sources (Warsaw, 1899), 42 pp.; Di mentshlekhe antviklung (Human evolution), translation from P. Streissler (Warsaw, 1901), 66 pp.; Perets smolenskin (Peretz Smolenskin), a biography (Warsaw, 1904), 64 pp.; Vegn tsienizm (On Zionism) (Warsaw, 1905), 32 pp.; Vos darf men un vos kon men ton? (What should and what can one do?) (Warsaw, 1906), 20 pp.; Robert Oven (Robert Owen), translated from A. V. Kamenskii (Warsaw, 1907), 82 pp.; Gaystikeyt (Spirituality) (Warsaw, 1912/1913), 16 pp., using the pen name: Y. Yitskhaki.  The last of this was a pamphlet critical of Jewish nationalism.  He died in Warsaw.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Bal-Makhshoves, Geklibene shriftn (Collected works) (Vilna, 1910), pp. 76-83; A. Taytelboym, Varshever heyf (Warsaw court) (Buenos Aires, 1947); M. Zonshteyn, Yidishe varshe (Jewish Warsaw) (Buenos Aires, 1954), pp. 89-92.

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 122.]

KHANE (HANNAH) BRESLOV

KHANE (HANNAH) BRESLOV (1902-1940)

            Her maiden name was Gantsevitsh.  She was born Lechovich (Pol. Lachowicze; Bel. Lyakhovichi), Minsk region, Byelorussia.  She attended a private high school for girls.  For a time she lived in Moisés Ville, Argentina.  She was active in Hadassah and in the Mizrachi Women’s Organization.  She wrote a book entitled Folk un land, oyneg shabes fortagn (People and country, Friday afternoon reports), which her husband, Menakhem Breslau, brought out after her death (Denver, Colorado, 1941), 202 pp.

ARN BRESTOVITSKI

ARN BRESTOVITSKI (April 3, 1916-September 19, 1944)

            He was born in Utyan (Utena), Lithuania, and in 1923 he moved with his parents to Vilna.  His father, Binyomin, a bookkeeper by trade, was one of the early builders of the Yiddish school and culture movement in Vilna, an active leader in the democratic Folks-partey (People’s party) and later in Frayland (Freeland) league; and from time to time he wrote articles on pedagogical issues in Vilna school publications and in Vilner tog (Vilna day).  His son received a secular Jewish education, graduating from the “Mefitse haskalah” (Society for the promotion of enlightenment [among the Jews of Russia]) school and the Sofia Gurevich High School.  In 1934 he entered the History Faculty at Vilna University, and in 1937 he became a research student at YIVO.  He was a member of the Jewish Scout organization “Bin” and a co-founder of the territorialist youth organization “Shperber.”  He wrote articles on topical social issues for territorialist publications and for Vilner tog under the pseudonyms: A. B., B. Arens, Solomontshik Aronoldi, and Brestaun.  During his university studies, he worked on such major research projects as: “Yidn in poylishn oyfshtand 1863” (Jews in the Polish uprising of 1863), “Gavriel riser” (Gabriel Riser), and “Etyudn tsu der geshikhte fun der yidisher arbeter-bavegung” (Studies on the history of the Jewish labor movement).  His major research work was on the subject: “Di yidishe prese in vilne” (The Yiddish press in Vilna).  He died, together with his father, in the Klooga concentration camp in Estonia.

K. BRENER

K. BRENER

            He was in the Kovno ghetto.  Two poems of his remain extant: “Lebn” (Life” and “Lid fun vesherai” (Song of the laundry).  In the latter, he described backbreaking labor in the ghetto laundry and mentioned the names of the overseers and tormentors.  His fate remains unknown.

Source: Sh. Katsherginski, Lider fun getos and lagern (Songs of the ghettos and camps) (New York: Tsiko, 1948), pp. 40, 194, 195.

LIBER BRENER

LLIBER BRENER (b. November 8, 1904)

            He was born in Trisk (Turiysk), Poland.  He studied in religious elementary schools and in a yeshiva, later graduating from the Jewish teachers’ seminary run by Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization).  From 1929 he was living in Częstochowa, where he worked until 1933 as a teacher of Yiddish at the Peretz School and lectured on Yiddish literature at the local branch of the Kultur-lige (Culture league).  From 1934 until the Nazi invasion, he was a contributor to Taz [the Jewish health organization] and a leader of the children’s colonies.  In the Częstochowa ghetto, he was one of the most active underground anti-Nazi fighters.  On January 15, 1945, he was liberated from the Hasag concentration camp and among the first to start building Jewish life in Częstochowa following the Holocaust.  He served as chair of the Jewish committee and one of the founders of the Jewish Cultural Association in Poland.  He began publishing in the publications of Tsisho, such as Shulvezn (School system), among others, contributed to illegal Yiddish and Polish printing, and published articles in the revived Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) in Warsaw, as well as in: Bleter far geshikhte (Pages for history), Dos naye lebn (The new life), and Yidishe shriftn (Jewish writings)—in Warsaw; Tshenstokhover yidn (Częstochowa Jews) (New York, 1947); and he was regular contributor to Lebns-fragn (Life issues) in Tel Aviv.  Among his books: Vidershtand un umkum in tshenstokhover geto (Uprising and death in the Częstochowa ghetto) (Warsaw: Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, 1951), 176 pp.  He translated from Russian Der groyser rusisher shrayber n. v. gogol (The great Russian writer, N. V. Gogol [original: Velikii russkii pisatel’ N. V. Gogol’]) by N. L. Stepanov (Warsaw, 1952); and from Polish Der alter doctor (The old doctor [original: Stary Doktor]) by Ida Merżan (Warsaw, 1968).  He moved to Israel in 1958 and lived in Bet-Yam.

Sources: Dr. P. Fridman, in Yorbukh 1950-1951; B, Orenshteyn, in Yivo-bleter 37, pp. 301-6.

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 122.]

YOSEF ḤAIM BRENNER

YOSEF ḤAIM BRENNER (September 11, 1881-May 1, 1921)

            He was born in the tiny town of Novo-Mliny, Chernihiv region, to poor, simple, laboring parents.  He lived at his parents’ home until age ten.  He moved through a number of different yeshivas, though he spent a longer period of time in the town of Pochep, where he studied in the yeshiva of R. Heshl-Note Gnesin.  Together with the son of the head of the yeshiva, the subsequently well-known Hebrew storyteller Uri-Nisn Gnesin, he threw himself into the study of modern Hebrew literature.  Together they brought out a handwritten daily newspaper, entitled Hakol (The voice), and a monthly journal, Haperaḥ (The flower), in which he published his first compositions.  From Pochep he moved to Bialystok and studied with his uncle to be a scribe of scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzot.  In 1897 he settled in Homel (Hamel, Gomel), where he met Z. Y. Anokhi and Hillel Zeitlin.  For a short time, he worked as secretary for Mordekhai ben Hillel Hacohen.  Zeitlin had a great influence on him, as both men got along well.  In Homel, he grew close to the Bund and became editor (together with B. Kohen-Virgili) of its local organ, Der kamf (The struggle).  After a short period of time being settled in Bialystok, he moved to Warsaw, where he came to know Y. L. Peretz, Avrom Reyzen, and H. D. Nomberg.  He returned to Homel, where he gave Hebrew lessons and campaigned on behalf of Zionism and socialism.  In 1902 he once again moved to Bialystok, and there he worked with Avrom Reyzen in Avrom Kotik’s publishing house of Bildung (Education).  In 1903 he was called to military service, and he served for one year in Oryol.  When war broke out between Russia and Japan in 1904, he deserted from the army; he was caught and for a long time he was stuck in a number of different prisons, until a group of Bundists beat off the guards while they were conveying him from one prison to another.  Brenner then made his escape to London.  There he worked in the Poale-Tsiyon movement, wrote for the Jewish Chronicle articles about Hebrew literature, and while working as a typesetter in Y. Naroditski’s publishing house, he published the journal Hameorer (The awakening).  In 1908 he left London and came to Lemberg, visiting other cities in Galicia as well.  He published articles in Tageblat (Daily newspaper) in Lemberg and brought out the collection Revivim (Showers).

            In 1909 Brenner made aliya to Israel.  He settled, as a simple laborer, in the colony of Ḥadera.  From there he moved to Jerusalem where he became one of the editors of Hapoel hatsair (The young worker).  However, to realize his ideal of being a farmer, he settled in Ein Ganim.  There he became acquainted with Aharon-David Gordon, the founder of the idea of “religion of labor,” and later he immortalized him in his story Mikan umikan (From here and there).  From Ein Ganim he moved on to Yafo (Jaffa), where he was active in the association Ḥoveve Habima Haivrit (Fans of the Hebrew stage).  A storm arose against him when he published an article about Christianity.  He was suspected of helping the missionaries.  His published answer and the intercession on his behalf of well-known Hebrew writers put much of this suspicion to rest.  On the eve of WWI, Brenner married.  When the war broke out, he took Turkish citizenship.  For a short time he worked as a teacher at the Herzliya High school in Tel Aviv, though later he completely devoted himself to helping war refugees.  In 1920 when Palestine was under British occupation, he became a member of the Migdal camp of Gedud Haavoda (The Labor Legion), assisted the highway workers by editing their serial publication Hasolel (The paved road), and was one of the participants at the founding conference of the Histadrut Haovdim (Federation of Labor)—Hanukkah, 1920—in Haifa.

            Brenner began publishing in Hamelits (The advocate) and later in: Hashiloaḥ (The shiloah), Haolam (The world), Hazman (The time), Luaḥ aḥiasef (Calendar of aḥiasef), Hatsofe (The spectator), Hapoel hatsair, and Haaḥdut (Unity), among others.  In Yiddish he published in: Di yidishe velt (The Jewish world) in London; Nayer veg (New path) in Vilna; Kunst un lebn (Art and life), Tsukunft (Future), and Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter) in New York; Yidisher arbeter (Jewish laborer), Haynt (Today), and Lemberger tageblat (Lemberg daily newspaper), among others.  He translated Herzl’s Das Neue Ghetto into Yiddish as Dos naye geto, a drama in four acts; Vladimir Zhabotinsky’s Far vos viln mir davke erets-yisroel (Why we want the Land of Israel), under the pen name Y. Mekhaber; and from Yiddish into Hebrew he translated a few scenes from Avrom Reyzen and Y. L. Peretz’s Vi heist (What’s it called).  He also produced in Yiddish a pamphlet entitled Avrom mapu, zayn lebn un literarishe tetikeyt (Avraham Mapu, his life and literary activities) (Lemberg: Asher Bukhbinder, 1908), 24 pp.  Among his Hebrew-language books: Meemek akhor (From a gloomy valley [Out of the Depths]) (Warsaw, 1900), 79 pp.; Baḥoref (In the winter) (1904); Meever legivulin (Beyond the limits) (London, 1907), 84 pp.; Lo klum (Nothing); Shekhol vekhishalon (Breakdown and bereavement) (New York, 1920), 282 pp.; Ben mayim lemayim (Between water and water) (Warsaw, 1910), 84 pp.; Mikan umikan (Warsaw, 1910), 192 pp.; Kol kitve y. ḥ brener (Collected writings of Y. Ḥ. Brenner), eight volumes in numerous editions; Kovets sippurim (Collection of stories).  After his death, there appeared in print: Pirke keria mimikhtavin leyom hazikaron bemaalat 25 shana lemoto (Reading from the writings on the day of remembrance a full twenty-five years after the his death) and Igrot y. ḥ brener (Letters of Y. Ḥ. Brenner), prepared for publication by Menaḥem Poznanski, vol. 1 (Tel Aviv, 1940), 466 pp., vol. 2 (Tel Aviv, 1940), 185 pp. (Poznanski prepared a new edition of Brenner’s correspondence with the addition of new Hebrew and Yiddish letters).  In Yiddish: Arum a pinteke (Around the point), a novel translated from Hebrew by B. Slutski (Berlin, 1923), 204 pp.; Vinter (Winter), translated by D. Malkin (Warsaw, 1936), 278 pp.; Haketavim hayidiyim, di yidishe shriftn (The Yiddish writings), ed. Yitzḥak Bakon (Beersheba: Chair in Yiddish, Ben-Gurion University, 1985), 302 pp.  There were works in which Brenner figures as a hero, among them the drama by Arn Tsaytlin’s Brener.  He translated into Hebrew Tolstoy’s Khoziain i rabotnik (Landlord and worker) as Baal habayit ufoalo (Jaffa, 1919), 89 pp. and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment as Haḥet veonsho, among others.  Aside from those mentioned above, Brenner used the following pseudonyms: Yiḥb”r, Ḥ. B. Tsalal, Yosef Ḥaver, Ben Shlomo, Bar-Yoḥai, Y. Ḥ. B., R. Ḥaim, B. Zeira, Y. M., and Yosef Shlomos.

            An immense personality, packed with contradictions—Brenner was the most tragic writer in our bilingual literature.  In 1921 when he returned to Jaffa, he was murdered by Arabs during the pogroms and buried in a joint grave with the pogrom victims at the old cemetery in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1947-1971), vol. 3m pp. 1117-20; Z. Zilbertsvayg, Teater-leksikon, vol. 1; Brener-bukh (Brenner volume), on his life and work, edited by Shloyme Gradzenski (New York, 1941), 376 pp.; Shmuel Niger, Shmuesn vegn bikher (Conversations about books) (New York, 1922), pp. 74-97; Y. Tsineman, Di geshikhte fun tsienizm (The history of Zionism), vol. 1 (Paris, 1947); Geshikhte fun der tsienistisher arbeter-bavegung in tsofn-amerike (History of the Zionist workers’ movement in North America), vols. 1 and 2, see index; Dr. Y. Tenenboym, Galitsye, mayn alte heym (Galicia, my old country) (Buenos Aires, 1952), see index; H. Tsaytlin, in Tsukunft (June, July, September, October 1938, and February 1940); Avrom Reyzen, Avrom Reyzen, Epizodn fun mayn lebn (Episodes from my life), vols. 2 and 3 (Vilna, 1929-1935); A. Reyzen, in Tsukunft (June 1921); B. Rivkin, in Idisher kemfer (May 18, 1945); R. Shazar-Katsenelson, in Yisrael 14 (Tel Aviv).

Yekhezkil Keytelman

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 540.]

KHANE (HANNAH) BRENER

KHANE (HANNAH) BRENER

            She was in the Kovno ghetto.  She published a poem entitled “Brekhn di keytn” (Break the chains), in which she expressed the hope that “the world would yet open its doors for us.”  Her subsequent fate remains unknown.

Source: Sh. Katsherginski, Lider fun di getos and lagern (Songs from the ghettos and camps) (New York, 1948), p. 317.

GOLDE BRENER

GOLDE BRENER (b. ca. 1890)

           She was born in Lithuania.  She moved to South Africa, where she published poems in Di naye tsayt (The new time) in 1912 and in other serials.  From 1914 she was living in Australia.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Y. M. Sherman, in Dorem-afrike (Johannesburg) (March 1952).

YISROEL-MEYER BRENDER

YISROEL-MEYER BRENDER (January 9, 1888-December 1, 1927)

            He was born in Stanislavov, eastern Galicia, into a merchant household, received a Jewish education, graduated from high school—and later from the law faculty of Cracow University—became a doctor of law, and was a lawyer in various cities in Galicia and also in Vienna.  He published sketches and poems in various Polish Jewish and Yiddish serials in Galicia.  In 1915 he took over editorial duties for Vokhnblat (Weekly newspaper) in Copenhagen, served as secretary there for the Auxiliary Committee for Jewish War and Pogrom Victims, general secretary for the Scandinavian Jewish Central Auxiliary Committee, and editor of Folks-hilf (Popular assistance).  In 1927 he founded Skandinavyen yidishe korespondents (Scandinavian Jewish correspondence); and in 1924 he published in Berlin the weekly Yidishe ilustrirte tsaytung (Jewish illustrated newspaper).  He died in Berlin.  Among his books: In shturem fun lebn (In the storm of life), poems (Cracow, 1911), 80 pp.; Zumer-nekht (Summer nights), stories (Cracow, 1912), 92 pp.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Dr. Y. Tenenboym, Galitsye, mayn alte heym (Galicia, my old country) (Buenos Aires, 1952), p. 172; Argentine pinkes galitsye (Argentine records of Galicia); Gershom Bader, Medina veḥakhameha (The state and its sages) (New York, 1934); Dr. M. Naygreshl, in Fun noentn over (New York: World Jewish Cultural Congress, 1955), p. 321.

AHRN (ARTSY) BREZINSKI

AHRN (ARTSY) BREZINSKI (d. July 12, 1941)

            He was born in Batki Wielkie, Bialystok region, into a family of timber merchants.  He studied in religious elementary school and yeshiva.  At age ten, he was already renowned in the area as a prodigy and as proficient in Hebrew, Yiddish, and world literature.  In 1914 he first published a story in Byalistoker tageblat (Bialystok daily newspaper), edited by A. Sh. Hershberg.  After WWI, he became a contributor to Byalistoker lebn (Bialystok life), edited by Peysekh Kaplan.  In 1929 he wrote for Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Bialystok.  From 1931 he was on the editorial collective of Undzer lebn (Our life) in Bialystok.  In 1933 he was editor of Gut-morgn (Good morning) in Bialystok.  He published stories in: Tog (Day) in New York; Di post (The mail) in London; and Velt-shpil (World play) in Warsaw.  In the 1930s he was awarded a prize for his story “Iser der bukhhalter” (Iser the bookkeeper) in a short story competition in the Forverts (Forward) in New York.  In 1934 he traveled to Palestine and published a travelogue in Byalistoker lebn.  Among his books: Undzer khoreve heym: dertseylungen, bilder, reportazhn (Our ruined home: stories, images, reportage) (Bialystok, 1936), 109 pp.  In 1940, under Soviet dominion, he wrote for Byalistoker shtern (Bialystok star) and was a proofreader for a Byelorussian railway workers’ newspaper.  On June 19, 1941, he was arrested by the Soviet authorities and thrown in a Bialystok jail.  On Saturday, July 12, 1941 he and fifty other Bialystok Jews were shot by the Germans.

Sources: M. Grosman, Heymishe geshaltn (Images of home) (Tel Aviv, 1953); R. Rayzner, Der umkum fun byalistoker yidntum, 1939-1945 (The destruction of Judaism in Bialystok, 1939-1945) (Melbourne, 1948); Byalistoker leksikon (Bialystok handbook) (Bialystok, 1935); B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954); B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954); Mark, Der oyfshtand in byalistoker geto (The uprising in the Bialystok ghetto) (Warsaw, 1950); Rokhl, in Arbeter-vort (Paris) (March 5, 1948); Ab. Kahan, in Forverts (New York) (May 13, 1931); A. Volf Yasni, in Yidishe shriftn (Yiddish writings), vol. 3 (Lodz, 1946).