MOYSHE KATS (MOSES KATZ)

MOYSHE KATS (MOSES KATZ) (March 27, 1898-September 26, 1955)

            He was born in Kuzmir (Kazimierz), Lublin district, Poland.  He studied in religious elementary school and synagogue study hall.  At age sixteen he moved to Warsaw and became a metal worker.  In 1919 he emigrated to Germany and worked there in an iron foundry while at the same time studying.  In 1933 he moved on to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and from there in 1937 made his way to Argentina.  He began to write in his youth.  He first published in German newspapers.  He began publishing in Yiddish in 1937 in Argentina.  He contributed poems, stories, and novels to: Di idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper)—among other items, the serialized story “Di nekome fun a held” (The revenge of a hero)—Di prese (The press), Der veg (The way), Di morgntsaytung (The morning newspaper), Dos naye vort (The new word), Nay-lebn (New life), Di folksshtime (The people’s voice), Der shpigl (The mirror), Der holts-industryal (The wood industry), Argentiner beymelekh (Little Argentinian trees), and others—in Buenos Aires; Rozaryer lebn (Rosario life); Tsukunft (Future) and Nyu-yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper) in New York; Folksshtime (Voice of the people) in Warsaw; Der veg in Mexico City; Folksblat (People’s newspaper) in Montevideo; and Dos yidishe vort (The Yiddish word) in Chile; among others.  His work was also represented in such anthologies as: Poylishe yidn in dorem-amerike (Polish Jews in South America) (Buenos Aires, 1941); and Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Yiddish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944).  His published books include: Azoy hot es zikh ongehoybn (That’s how it began), a novel in five parts describing fourteen years of the German republic and the rise of Hitlerism in Germany (Buenos Aires, 1946), 525 pp.; Ost und West: Erzählungen und Novellen (East and West, stories and novellas) (Buenos Aires, 1942), 112 pp.  He also wrote novels, stories, and reportage pieces on Jewish life for the German-, Dutch-, and Spanish-language press.  Among his pen names: M. Kh. Mako, Maks Holender, and Ben Hacohen.  He died in Salsipuedes, Córdoba Province, Argentina.  He left behind in manuscript: “Pleytim in frak” (Refugees in dress coat) and “Di naye velt” (The new world)—both novels; a play in German; and two novellas in Yiddish; among other items.

Sources: Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentine (The published Yiddish word in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), p. 115; Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (January 31, 1941; June 25, 1941; March 27, 1942; September 29, 1955); Botoshanski, in Mame yidish (Mother Yiddish) (Buenos Aires, 1949), p. 264; Kh. Brakazh, in Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (May 1942); Y. L. Gruzman, in Der shpigl (June 1946); Falik Lerner, in Dos yidishe vort (Chile) (March 22, 1946); Kh. Lazdoyski, in Folksblat (Montevideo) (March 5, 1942); Lazdoyski, in Der veg (Mexico City) (August 1, 1946)

Khayim Leyb Fuks