Thursday 31 May 2018

YITSKHOK (JERZY) EDISON


YITSKHOK (JERZY) EDISON (February 9, 1918-2003)
            The adopted name of Yitskhok Erlikhson, he was born in Wierzbnik-Strachowice, Kielce, Poland.  He studied in religious primary schools and in a professional trade school.  He went on to specialize in the chemical processes in producing leather and was employed in the men’s clothing industry.  During the war years, he turned up in Soviet Russia, where he was arrested and sent to perform hard labor in the forests of northern Russia.  After being freed from deportation, he joined the Polish army.  He returned to Poland in 1944.  For a time he held governmental posts aimed at establishing the leather industry.  He moved to Paris in 1947 and there he began to write.  He published in: Unzer vort (Our word) in Paris; Di tsayt (The times) in London; and Der amerikaner (The American) in New York; among others.  His published two books: Mayne fir yor in sovet-rusland (My four years in Soviet Russia)[1] (Paris, 1953), 296 pp.; and Poyln nokh der bafrayung (Poland after liberation)[2] (Paris, 1956), 166 pp.  Both volumes were published with the financial assistance from the cultural division of the Joint Distribution Committee in Paris.

Sources: Y. Shmulevits, in Forverts (New York) (November 24, 1953; May 8, 1956); Sh. Rozhanski, in Idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (January 10, 1954); Y. Rapaport, in Di tsukunft (New York) (March 1954); D. Blits, in Naye prese (Paris) (November 6, 1954); L. Domankevitsh, in Unzer vort (Paris) (February 11, 1956); Gar and F. Fridman, Biblyografye fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books concerning the Holocaust and heroism) (New York, 1962), see index.
Yankev Birnboym



[1] There are English, Polish, Ukrainian, and French translations. (JAF)
[2] There are Polish and German translations. (JAF)

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