FISHL HELERSHTEYN

FISHL HELERSHTEYN (1898-April 23, 1948)

            He was born in Vilna, into a poor working family.  He received a Jewish education, and at the same time graduated from a Russian public school.  While still young, he became a Yiddish typesetter.  Until 1940 he was active in the Jewish labor movement in Vilna.  For many years he chaired the local Jewish publishers union.  He spent 1940-1945 in Russia.  He went with the Russian army into Lublin, remaining there in Poland, and later became a typesetter at the first Yiddish newspaper in postwar Poland—Dos naye lebn (The new life).  He published—under the pseudonyms “Fishele” and “A zetser” (A typesetter)—humorous-satirical poems and rhymes in Ovnt-kuryer (Evening courier) and Tsayt (Times) in Vilna; Dos naye lebn in Lodz (1945-1948); and elsewhere.  He died in Lodz.

Sources: Dos naye lebn (Lodz) (April 30, 1948); M. Valdman, in Dos naye lebn (May 21, 1948).