HENEKH LEYZEROVITSH

HENEKH LEYZEROVITSH (May 13, 1872-October 16, 1944)

            He was born in Bendkov (Będków), Warsaw district, Poland, into a laboring family.  He was orphaned at an early age and raised by relatives in Lodz.  At age thirteen he became a weaver.  After WWI he moved to Vienna where he joined the anarcho-communist movement.  In 1923 he immigrated to the United States, and until 1930 worked as a weaver in Paterson, New Jersey, later returning to Lodz, but in 1937 he once again made his way to America.  He began writing poetry in 1919 for Folksblat (People’s newspaper) in Lodz, before becoming a contributor to the anarcho-communist publication Der nayer mensh (The new man) in Vienna (1920-1921).  In the United States he published poetry and reportage pieces in: Zeglen (Sails) in Paterson (1925-1926); Di feder (The pen) in New York (1924-1943); Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York; and Der shtern (The star) in New Jersey (1923); among others.  When he was in Poland in the 1930s, he published as well in Nayer folksblat (New people’s newspaper) in Lodz.  He died in Clifton, New Jersey.

Sources: Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; information from Moyshe Frid in Paterson.

Khayim Leyb Fuks