HELEN BURKO

HELEN BURKO (1916-February 13, 1994)

            She was born in Sarni (Sarny), Volhynia.  She was a Yiddish and Hebrew writer, wife of Yoysef Perlshteyn.  She studied in a Tarbut school.  During WWII she was in Tashkent, from 1945 in camps for survivors in Austria, and from 1949 in Israel.  She published articles, reportage pieces, stories, and novels in Tog-morgn zhurnal (Day morning journal) in New York, Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal, and Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires.  She was a regular contributor to the weekly newspaper Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Tel Aviv, in which she also published her novels.  Among her books: Di tokhter fun yerusholaim, roman fun haynttsaytikn lebn in yisroel (The daughter from Jerusalem, a novel of contemporary life in Israel) (Tel Aviv: Nili, 1955), 608 pp., which also appeared in German; A khasene on khupe vekdushn (A marriage without wedding ceremonies) (Tel Aviv: Aleyn, 1968), 135 pp.; Got lebt nisht in vald, roman (God doesn’t live in the forest, a novel) (Tel Aviv: Nay-lebn, 1970), 415 pp., which also appeared in Hebrew and German (Gott lebt nicht in Walde), after being published earlier in Keneder odler and Libe un gloybn (Love and belief); Yurek der yeshive-bokher (Yurek the yeshiva boy) (Tel Aviv: Nay-lebn, 1979), 340 pp.  Novels of hers that appeared in newspapers would include: Heyrat on libe (Marriage without love) in Tog-morgn zhurnal (1969); Dos harts fun a mame, nakhes fun kinder (The heart of a mother, pleasure from children) in Yidishe tsaytung (1975, 1983).  In Hebrew: Hagibor haaḥaron shel al-fata (The last hero of Fatah) (Tel Aviv, 1970), 255 pp.; Lo keday lihyot isha (It’s not worth being a woman) (Tel Aviv, 1973), 153 pp.; Raayato shel ḥayal, roman (A soldier’s wife, a novel) (Tel Aviv, 1973); Ima’le kakh osot kulan (Mama, that’s how everything’s done) (Tel Aviv, 1979), 380 pp.; Hameahevet, ahavata she bat yisrael leterorist (The lover, the love a Jewish girl for a terrorist) (Ramat Gan, 1979), 252 pp.; Daf ḥadash beḥayai (A new chapoter in my life) (Ramat Gan, 1981), 197 pp.; Ḥaki li leyad hashaar (Wait for me by the gate) (Tel Aviv, 1981), 247 pp.; and Yomana shel bat meumetset (Diary of an adopted daughter) (Tel Aviv, 1983), 124 pp.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 75-76.