BASHEVE MASTBOYM

BASHEVE MASTBOYM (b. 1892)

            The sister of Yoyel Mastboym, she was born in Mezritsh (Międzyrzecz) or possibly Shedlets (Siedlce), Poland.  Under the influence of her older brother, Yudl, she joined the revolutionary movement when quite young and was active in the Polish Socialist Party (PPS [Polska Partia Socjalistyczna]).  In 1912 she made her way to London.  She published poetry and stories in a variety of Yiddish-language newspapers and periodicals, among them: the monthly Yugend-shtrahlen (Youth beams [of light]) in 1915; Dos naye leben (The new life), an anthology, in London (1916); and the daily newspaper Di tsayt (The times), edited by Morris Meyer—all in London.  In book form, she brought out a poetry collection: Durkh zun un volkn (Through sun and cloud) (Warsaw: P. Braubard, 1923), 35 pp., which included several short stories as well.  In the later 1920s she became ill and was brought to a London institution for the incurable.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2, under the biography of Yoyel Mastboym; D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 2 (Tel Aviv, 1947), pp. 1039-40; information from Y. Fishman and Y. Leftwich.

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