(MORTKHE) GERSHON FOGEL

(MORTKHE) GERSHON FOGEL (b. June 28, 1915)

            He was born in Krushnevits, Kutne district, Poland.  He was orphaned at age one.  Until age fifteen he studied in yeshiva, later becoming a laborer; from 1934 until WWII he was active in the Jewish labor movement in Lodz, later in the ghetto there where he was active in the underground work.  He organized strikes, penned call-outs, and contributed work to Untererdishe byuletinen (Underground bulletins).  He spent 1944-1945 in Auschwitz and German concentration camps.  He later lived in Lodz until 1949.  He began writing for: Der holts-arbeter (The lumber worker) and Der boy-arbeter (The construction worker) in Lodz in 1936.  He subsequently placed work in Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) and Foroys (Onward) in Warsaw.  Over the years 1945-1948, he published articles in: Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Lodz; Folkstsaytung and Głos Bundu (Voice of the Bund), also serving as co-editor of the latter, in Warsaw; Tsukunft (Future), Forverts (Forward), Tog (Day), Tog-morgn-zhurnal (Day-morning journal), and Mir zaynen do (We are here), among others, in New York; and Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; among others.  He was last living in New York.

Sources: Y. Pat, Ash un fayer (Ash and fire) (New York, 1946), pp. 51-55; Y. Sh. Herts, Di geshikhte fun bund in lodz (The history of the Bund in Lodz) (New York, 1958), see index; A. V. Yasni, Geshikhte fun yidn in lodzh in di yorn fun daytsher oysratung (History of the Jews in Lodz in the years of the German extermination) (Tel Aviv, 1960), see index; Kh. Liberman, in Forverts (New York) (February 10, 1961; April 22, 1963); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (August 19, 1966).

Khayim Leyb Fuks