KHAYIM PUPKO

KHAYIM PUPKO (October 4, 1890-August 12, 1976)

            He was born in Vilna, and there he received both a Jewish and a general education.  He graduated from the Vilna teachers’ institute in 1911.  He went on to study in St. Petersburg and Odessa Universities.  Later, he was a teacher and director of Jewish primary and secondary schools in Kherson, Vilna, and elsewhere.  He served as executive secretary of “Tsabak” (Central Educational Committee) in Vilna, a member of the administration of “Vilbig” (Vilner yidisher bildungs gezelshaft, or Vilna Jewish Education Society), Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization), and other groups.  From 1936 he was living in the United States.  He was the organizer and secretary of Tsiko (Central Yiddish Cultural Organization), manager of its publishing wing, administrative director of the journal Tsukunft (Future), and a member of the leadership of YIVO, the Jewish Culture Congress, and the general Jewish encyclopedia.  He wrote mainly on school and cultural matters for: Vestnik ope (OPE herald); Shul pinkes (School records), Vilner tog (Vilna day), and Far unzer shul (For our school) in Vilna; and the anthology Vilne (Vilna), Kultur un dertsiung (Culture and education), and Tsukunft in New York; among others.  He died in New York

Sources: Avrom Reyzen, Unzer shul (New York) (December 1935); Tsukunft (New York) (May-June 1962); Arbeter-ring boyer un tuer (Builders and leaders of the Workmen’s Circle), ed. Y. Yeshurin and Y. Sh. Herts (New York, 1962), pp. 295-96.

Khayim Leyb Fuks