ZALMEN VASERTSUG

ZALMEN VASERTSUG (b. May 22, 1904)

            He was born in Lubin (Labun), near Vlotslavek (Włocławek), Poland.  At age nine his parents sent him to Dombrovits to study in religious elementary school.  He studied secular subject matter with private tutors.  Over the years 1923-1925, he studied at the Tachkemoni Rabbinical Seminary and in the state seminary for teachers of Jewish religion, both in Warsaw.  He served as assistant educator, 1925-1927, at the children’s home of Janusz Korczak at Krochmalna 92.  In 1927 he became a teacher of Jewish history at the Hebrew high school in Kutne (Kutno).  He began publishing articles on pedagogical issues in Dos kind (The child), a monthly periodical of the Center for Orphan Care (edited by M. Peker).  In 1927 he debuted in print with a story, “Motyes tfile” (Motye’s prayer), in Tog (Day) in New York.  That same year, he moved to Argentina and became a teacher in an YIKO (Jewish Cultural Organization) colony and published in Di idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires a series of “Chats about Education and the Child,” as well as stories for children.  He later became a member of the editorial board of the newspaper.  He contributed to the anthology Ineynem (Altogether) and to Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Yiddish literature in Argentina).  In book form: Far di kinders-vegn (For the children’s way) (Buenos Aires, 1932), 126 pp.; Naye kvaln (New springs), textbook for the second and third school year, with Avigdor Shpritser (Buenos Aires, 1940); Mit eygene oygn, eseyen un reportazhn (With one’s own eyes, essays and reportage pieces) (Buenos Aires, 1945), 235 pp.; Farshvekhte yerushe, drame fun der hitler-epokhe in 9 bilder (Desecrated inheritance, a drama from the Hitler era in nine scenes) (Buenos Aires, 1949), 56 pp.; Yanush kortshak, lerer un dertsier (Janusz Korczak, teacher and educator) (Buenos Aires, 1953), 210 pp.  He was last living in Buenos Aires and serving as secretary of the Vaad Hakehilot (Council of communities) in Argentina.

Sources: Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort un teater in argentine (The published Yiddish word and theater in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), vol. 1; N. Khanin, A reyze ariber tsentral un dorem amerike (A trip through Central and South America) (New York, 1942), p. 242; Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Yiddish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944); Y. L. Gruzman, in Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (November 1945); Y. Botoshanski, in Mame yidish (Mother Yiddish) (Buenos Aires, 1949); Botoshanski, in Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), “Yidn 5” (New York, 1952), p. 383; B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (New York) (March 26, 1959).

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