MOTL TAFT

MOTL TAFT (b. March 29, 1905)

            He was born in Volhynia, Ukraine.  He studied in religious primary school and in a high school, later becoming a bookkeeper.  He lived in Warsaw until 1939.  He published poems in the Warsaw-based Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) and Foroys (Onward), among others.  He wrote scenic reportage pieces that were staged by well-known Yiddish artists.  During WWII he lived in Biysk, Siberia.  For a short time after the war, he worked with the theater in Shtchetshin (Szczecin), Poland.  He spent the years 1946-1949 in the refugee camp of Bad Reichenhall, Germany.  There he worked as co-editor of the camp bulletin, Der morgn (The morning), printed in Romanized transcription.  He also translated poems from Polish into Yiddish.  He was last living in Israel.

Source: Folkstsaytung (Warsaw) (August 13, 1937).

Benyomen Elis