KALMEN HAYZLER (KALMAN HEISLER)

KALMEN HAYZLER (KALMAN HEISLER) (March 11, 1899-June 6, 1966)

            He was born in Komarne, eastern Galicia, into a family of tailors for women.  At age five he was sent to a Gentile Polish school, but after a short period of time they turned him over to a religious Jewish elementary school.  At age twelve he began to learn tailoring and for a time spent his days studying Talmud and nights at the workbench.  In 1914 his family moved to Prague, Bohemia.  There he attended lectures on Yiddish literatur which the local Jewish student organization had arranged, went to “Judeo-German theater,” studied German, read Heine and Morris Rozenfeld in German translation.  Inspired by Rozenfeld, that a tailor could be such a poet, he began under his influence to write poems.  In 1921 he made his way to the United States.  For many years he was employed in a factory making women’s coats.  The building now houses the principal of education for the Cloak Pressers Union, Local 32, New York.  He published his first poems in the weekly newspaper Unzer shtime (Our voice), organ of the Żydowska Partia Socjal-Demokratyczna (ŻPS, Jewish Social-Democratic Party) in Lemberg, 1920.  Thereafter, he published poetry in: Di tsayt (The times), Der amerikaner (The American), Idish (Yiddish), In-zikh (Introspection), Yunge kuzhnye (Young smithy), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Der tog (The day), Forverts (Forward), Frayhayt (Freedom), Gerekhtikeyt (Justice), Tsukunft (Future), Getseltn (Tents), Der idisher kemfer (The Jewish fighter), Naye yontef bleter (New holiday pages), Nyu yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper), and Proletarisher gedank (Proletarian idea)—all in New York; Pyoner (The pioneer) and Unzer vinkl (Our corner) in Newark, New Jersey; Di idishe velt (The Jewish world) in Philadelphia; Der kamf (The struggle) in Toronto; Di prese (The press) in Buenos Aires; Tsushteyer (Contribution) in Lemberg; Di post (The mail) in Cracow; Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in Warsaw; Shveln (Thresholds) in Lodz; Oyfgang (Arise) in Sighetu Marmației; Naye yidishe dikhtung (New Yiddish poetry), an anthology in Romanized transcription, edited by Kh. Giniger et al.  In Russian translation, his work appeared in Leonid Grebnev’s Evreyskaya poeziya, antologiya (Yiddish poetry, anthology) (New York, 1947); in English translation in Commentary and Jewish Spectator in New York, and Jewish Forum in Australia.  Among his books: Mentshn (People), with a foreword by Yankev Glatshteyn (New York: Eygene, 1927), 47 pp.; Kumarner parshoynen (Komarne characters) (New York: Galicia, 1930), 80 pp.; Gesheenishn un geshtaltn (Events and images), three dramatic poems (New York: Farband-ring, 1938), 208 pp.; Oz yashir kalmen hayzler (And then Kalmen Hayzler) (New York, 1949), 16 pp.; Mayne kumarner, nebekh (My poor Komarne folks) (New York: Di letste galitsyaner, 1953), 104 pp.  From his book Gesheenishn un geshtaltn, the poem “Dem rebns yortsayt” (The anniversary of the rebbe’s death) was dramatized and staged by Jewish survivors at a displaced persons camp in Cremona, Italy.  He lived in New York until his death.

            In his imagistic poetry, Kalmen Hayzler brought the expressiveness and the aroma of the Galician Jewish town.  The poems were light, both elegiac and imbued with humor.

Sources: Hemshekh-antologye (New York, 1945), pp.165-72 (with Hayzler’s bio-bibliography in Yiddish and English through 1938); M. Dantsis, in Tog (New York) (June 21, 1947); Shmuel Niger, in Tog (September 19, 1949); A. Gordon, in Fraye arbeter shtime (New York) (December 18, 1953); M. Khokhem, in Der id (New York) (June 18, 1954); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (October 8, 1954); Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen (In essence) (New York, 1956), see index; N. Mayzil, ed. and comp., Amerike in yidishn vort, antologye (America in the Yiddish word, an anthology) (New York, 1955); Sh. Slutski, Avrom reyzen biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen’s bibliography) (New York, 1956), no. 4970; Sh. Meltser, in Al naharot (Jerusalem) (1955/1956), p. 431; Kh. Liberman, in Forverts (New York) (September 30, 1957); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (New York) (March 23, 1958); M. M. Shapir, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (June 28, 1958); “A briv fun a. ts. grinberg tsu kalmen hayzler” (A letter from A. Ts. Grinberg to Kalmen Hayzler), Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (March 1959); Who Is Who in World Jewry (New York, 1955); Enrico Botturi, in Il Mattino (Milan, 1947); Philip Slomowitz, in Detroit Jewish News (December 17, 1954); Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (New York), vol. 5, p. 303; Dov Sadan, in The Field of Yiddish, Studies in Language, Folklore and Literature (New York: Columbia University, 1954), p. 136.