AVROM VARSHO (ABRAHAM WARSHAW)

AVROM VARSHO (ABRAHAM WARSHAW) (May 11, 1892-February 22, 1974)

            He was born in Antopol (Antopolye), Byelorussia.  He studied in religious elementary school, synagogue study chamber, and with private tutors.  As a young man he became a house painter.  In 1921 he moved to the United States and settled in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  He later lived in Chicago, where he was active in Jewish community and cultural life.  He began writing poetry and stories in the late 1920s.  He debuted in print in Di yidishe velt (The Jewish world) in Philadelphia (1930), and from that point he published stories, poems, impressions, and reportage pieces in: Idisher kuryer (Jewish courier) and Der idisher veg (The Jewish way) in Chicago; Idishe rekord (Jewish record) in St. Louis; Forverts (Forward) in New York and Chicago; Tog (Day), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Feder (Pen), and Amerikaner (American) in New York; among others.  In book form: Yorn fun fayer un blut (Years of fire and blood), stories of Jewish life in the old country and in America (Chicago, 1950), 303 pp., with a preface by the author.  He also published under such pen names as: A. Ben-Shloyme, Kh. Harkman, A. Antipolski, and A. Shleymes.  He died in Miami Beach.

Sources: Der Lebediker, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (New York) (February 17, 1957); N. Kravets, in Der idisher veg (Chicago) (February 1957).