MORTKHE-ARYE KOKHAV

MORTKHE-ARYE KOKHAV (b. February 15, 1908)

            The adopted name of M. A. Shtern,[1] he was born in Shidlovits (Szydłowiec), Radom district, Poland.  He was orphaned at an early age and raised by a grandmother and relatives.  For a time he traveled through Polish towns with organ-grinders, and he later worked in a business selling pots and pans in Warsaw.  In 1934 he published his first story—“Khanele” (Little Hannah)—in Lubliner togblat (Lublin daily newspaper), and he later published reportage pieces and stories in A. M. Vaysenberg’s Inzer hofening (Our hope).  He was in Russia during WWII.  He spent the years 1946-1948 in a Holocaust survivors’ camp in Germany and contributed to refugee newspapers: Undzer hofenung (Our hope), Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper), and Undzer veg (Our way), as well as in the collections Hemshekh (Continuation) and Shriftn (Writings).  He also published in: Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York; and Ashmoret (Night watch), Nayvelt (new world), and Lebnsfragn (Life issues) in Tel Aviv.  From 1949 he was living in Israel.

Sources: Dr. R. Feldshuh, in Tsukunft (New York) (February 1949); Y. Gar, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), pp. 174-75.

Benyomen Elis

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[1] Translator’s note. Lest it be lost on anyone, “Shtern” (Star) in Yiddish is “Kokhav” in Hebrew. (JAF)