MOYSHE VALDMAN

MOYSHE VALDMAN (1885-November 30, 1954)

            He was born in Koleziani, Bukovina, to devout, well-to-do parents.  He graduated from senior high school in Czernowitz and studied at Vienna University.  From his youth he was active in the Zionist movement in the former Austro-Hungarian state.  Over the years 1914-1918, he was a war correspondent at Austrian headquarters.  After the rise of independent Poland in 1918, he was sentence to death by a Polish military court for his articles concerning the attitude of the Polish state toward the Jewish and Ukrainian populations, and for that reason he escaped from Lemberg.  He was the legation secretary, 1919-1922, of the Ukrainian Legation in Holland, later in Berlin where he was a member of the central bodies of the Zionist movement in Germany.  He was a member of the executive of the Berlin Jewish community (1924-1933).  Over the years 1935-1939, he traveled about the Jewish communities on behalf of the Jewish National Fund.  He was a member of the Jewish Agency and of the Jewish World Congress.  For a time he lived in Geneva where he worked as a newspaper correspondent with the League of Nations.  He lived in Paris, 1947-1954, where he was vice-president of the local Zionist Federation.  He was press chief of the Zionist Congress, 1925-1946.  Beginning in 1907, he contributed to articles, features, and correspondence pieces to: Togblat (Daily newspaper) and Der morgn (The morning) in Lemberg; Morgnpost (Morning mail) in Vienna; Folksblat (People’s newspaper) in Lodz; Varshever tageblat (Warsaw daily newspaper) in Warsaw, 1916-1918; Tsienistishe shtime (Zionist voice) in Paris; and Mayrev (West) in Tel Aviv; among others.  In German he contributed to Berliner Tageblatt (Berlin daily newspaper), Vossische Zeitung (for which he wrote from Vienna reports on the Austrian parliament), Jüdische Rundschau (Jewish review)—all in Berlin.  He was editor of: Morgnpost (1910-1914) and Jüdische Rundschau (1929-1933); co-editor of Tsienistishe shtime (1948-1954).  Among his books: Di problemen fun mizrekh-eyrope (The problems in Eastern Europe) (The Hague, 1919); Hundert yor shimen dubnov (Shimon Dubnov centennial) (Paris, 1961); Gang aroyf tsu yerusholayim (Ascent into Jerusalem), a poem (Paris, 1876), 24 pp.; Z. shreter, eyner fun monpornas, esey, byografye. biblyografye (Z. Schreter a [painter] from Montparnasse, essay, biography, bibliography) (Paris, 1976), 108 pp.; Fun ale vaytn (All the faraway places), poetry (Paris: Leivick Publ., 1980), 366 pp.; Geschichte von Notenbankwesen in Europa (History of the system of central banking in Europe).  He compiled and edited the anthology H. leyvik zamlbukh (H. Leivick anthology) (Paris, 1963), 124 pp.; collection of poetry, Arye shamri lezikorn (In memory of Arye Shamri) (Paris, 1979), 6 pp.; Farfroyrene shtern (Frozen stars) (Tel Aviv, 1985), 55 pp.; Bohak shel ḥalom, shirim tirgemu miyidish (Brightness of a dream, poems translated from Yiddish) (Tel Aviv, 1985.1986), 111 pp., the work of several Hebrew translators. His collected poetry, translated into Hebrew by K. A. Bartini, was awarded the Manger Prize in 1983.  He died while on a Zionist assignment in Berlin and was buried in Paris.

Sources: Y. Milner, in Unzer vort (Paris) (December 10, 1954); M. Libani, Y. Frenkel, N. M. Gelber, and A. Shpund, in Tsienistishe shtime (Paris) (December 10, 1954); Y. Eydelman and M. Kalkhheym, in Tsienistishe shtime (December 3, 1955); M. Anisfeld, Sh. Segal, Dr. Y. Frey, Dr. M. Ebner, Sh.Yitskhaki, and Dr. N. M. Gelber, in Tsienistishe shtime (December 30, 1955).

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 227, 543.]