Sunday 22 October 2017

MORTKHE MILER

MORTKHE MILER (1895-January 23, 1945)
            He was born in Vakhnovke (Vakhnovka), Kiev district, Ukraine.  He grew up in Yanov (Yaniv), Podolia.  Until age ten he studied in religious elementary school and then went to work.  At age fourteen he moved to Winnipeg, Canada.  He published poems, prose, and one-act plays in Canadian Jewish publications, such as: Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal, Der idisher zhurnal (The Jewish journal) in Toronto, Dos idishe vort (The Jewish word) in Winnipeg, and Y. Y. Sigal’s Nyuansn (Nuances) in Montreal, among others.  Together with Yekhezkl Bronshteyn, he published a book of poems, Tsvey veltn (Two worlds), the second part of which, entitled “Zun un benkshaft” (Son and nostalgia), was Miler’s work (Winnipeg: Vinipeg, 1919), pp. 94-112.  On his own he published: Siluetn, lider (Silhouettes, poems) (Winnipeg: Vinipeg, 1927), 96 pp.; Hamer (Hammer) (Winnipeg: Vinipeg, 1928); and Fun shturem, geklibene lider (From the storm, selected poems), mimeographed (Edmonton: Y. L. Perets shul, 1936), 68 pp.  He died in Winnipeg.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Y. A. Rontsh, in Der kamf (Toronto) (May 13, 1927); Keneder odler (Montreal) (February 11, 1946); Tsukunft (New York) (March 1946): Dos idishe vort (Winnipeg) (January 14, 1947).
Yankev Kahan


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