ELYE TROTSKI

ELYE TROTSKI (June 23, 1879-February 6, 1969)

            He was born in Romny, Poltava district, Ukraine.  He graduated from a senior high school, went on to study in Ekaterinoslav and later at the technical senior school in Vienna; he graduated as a mining engineer.  He began to write in Russian in 1901.  He published articles and correspondence pieces in the Russian-language press of St. Petersburg and in the Russian Jewish Rassvet (Dawn).  In 1908 he became the Berlin correspondent for Russkoe slovo (The Russian word) in St. Petersburg.  During WWI he was living in Copenhagen, Denmark, and from there he corresponded to various newspapers.  He returned to Berlin in 1929.  In 1933 he made his way to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he mastered Yiddish and became a contributor to Idisher tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires.  He also wrote articles for: Der shpigl (The mirror) in Buenos Aires; Tsukunft (Future), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), Tog (Day), Tog-morgn-zhurnal (Day-morning journal), and Der amerikaner (The American) in New York.  He served on the editorial board of Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Yiddish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944), and he was a founder of ORT (Association for the Promotion of Skilled Trades) and OZE (Obschestvo zdravookhraneniia evreev—Society for the Protection of the Health of the Jewish Population) in South America, a member of the central organization of ORT in Geneva, Switzerland, and a member of the executive of the association of Russian Jews in New York.  In book form, he published: Goles daytshland, ayndruk fun a rayze (Diaspora German, impressions from a trip) (Buenos Aires, 1950), 207 pp.  In 1949 he settled in the United States and lived in New York until his death.

Sources: Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentine (The published Yiddish word in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941); “Undzere mitarbeter” (Our contributors), Tsukunft (New York) (February 1943); Idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (June 23, 1954); G. Swet, in Aufbau (New York) (June 25, 1954), in German; Sh. Izban, in Der amerikaner (New York) (July 30, 1954).

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