AVROM HALPERN

AVROM HALPERN (August 15, 1893-April 30, 1956)

            He was born in Stanislav (Stanislavov), eastern Galicia, into a Hassidic family.  He graduated from a business academy in Cracow and the Hochschule für Welthandel (College for international commerce) in Vienna.  During WWI he was an officer in the Austrian army, and thereafter he lived in Vienna, Lemberg, and Köln until 1931.  He then emigrated to Uruguay.  From his early student days he was an active Zionist leader.  He was the first director of the Jewish community of Montevideo and a cofounder of the local Jewish writers’ and journalists’ association.  He debuted in print with correspondence pieces from the war front for Togblat (Daily newspaper) in Lemberg (1915), and later was a regular contributor to Viner morgnpost (Vienna morning mail), Togblat in Lemberg, and to the Polish Jewish Nasz Przegląd (Our review) in Warsaw, in which he also published his Polish translation of Urke Nakhalnik’s memoirs.  In Uruguay he was a member of the editorial board of Der tog (The day), later of Urugvayer tog (Uruguayan day).  He authored the pamphlet (in Yiddish and German) Der veg-vayzer far yidishe sokhrim un industryaln in urugvay (Guide for Jewish businessmen and industries in Uruguay) (Montevideo, 1933).  He was the editor of the Jewish annual register Osed (Future) which appeared from 1948 to 1955.  He also edited the Spanish-language Jewish Revista familiar israelita del Uruguay (Jewish family magazine of Uruguay), which began publication in 1941.  He died in Montevideo.

Sources: Der moment (Montevideo) (May 4, 1956); Y. Vaynshenker, Boyers un mitboyers fun yidishn yishev in urugvay (Founders and builders of the Jewish community in Uruguay) (Montevideo, 1957), pp. 77-78.

Khayim Leyb Fuks