YOYSEF LIFSHITS

YOYSEF LIFSHITS (b. February 27, 1894)

            He was born in Warsaw, Poland.  He graduated from a Russian high school and studied dentology in Warsaw and Berlin.  Over the years 1927-1939, he chaired the central committee of the Bundist youth organization “Tsukunft” (Future) in Poland, and he was a member of the party council of the Bund in Poland.  In September 1939 he fled Warsaw, was arrested in Vilna by the Soviet authorities, and was imprisoned for eleven months, before being exiled to the Vokuta labor camp.  With the amnesty for Polish citizens, he was freed, joined the Polish army, and with it he traveled through Iran, Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt before coming to London—there he worked in a military hospital until 1945.  In 1948 he moved to the United States.  He went on to complete a course of study in dental surgery in Montreal, Canada.  From 1953 he lived in New York.  He was active in the Bund and Workmen’s Circle.  He published the illegal pamphlet: A ruf tsu der yugnt (A call to youth) (Warsaw, 1916), 16 pp.  He was a contributor to: Yugnt-veker (Youth alarm)—initially, Sotsyalistishe yugnt-shtime (Voice of socialist youth)—in Warsaw.  He also wrote articles for: Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) in Warsaw; Der fraynd (The friend), Unzer tsayt (Our times), and Der veker (The alarm) in New York; Foroys (Onward) in Mexico City; Lebns-fragen (Life issues) in Tel Aviv); and Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris; among others.  He also published under the pen name “Yosh.”

Sources: Y. Sh. Herts, Di geshikhte fun a yugnt (The history of a youth) (New York, 1946), pp. 176, 186, 187, 276, 282, 302, 323, 400, 414, 420, 450; P. Shvarts, in Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956), p. 430; M. Vaykhert, Varshe (Warsaw) (Tel Aviv, 1961), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks