ALFRED (AYZIK) TSIMERMAN

ALFRED (AYZIK) TSIMERMAN (April 2, 1894-mid-1968)

            He was born in Tshenstokhov (Częstochowa), Poland.  He received both a Jewish and a general education.  He studied law at the Universities of Warsaw and Cracow and received his doctor of law degree.  From his student years, he was active in Jewish community life, mainly in the Zionist and artisans’ movement.  From 1923 until WWII, he was a practicing attorney in Lodz and jurisconsult for the Central Artisans’ Association.  When the Nazis invaded Poland, he fled to Vilna, and from there through Japan, he made his way to Australia in 1941.  From that point, he was one of the builders of the community there.  He was a founder of the Federation of Polish Jews and its chairman and active in a string of Jewish institutions.  He began writing for a Polish newspaper in Częstochowa, and from 1922 he switched to Yiddish.  He debuted in print under the pen name Alfred Sharfentir with articles on general Jewish issues in Tshenstokhover tsaytung (Częstochowa newspaper), and later from 1923 to 1939, he published essays on current Jewish topics, artisans’ affairs, on enhanced productivity, and literary and social issues in: Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper), Folksbine (People’s stage), and Nayer folksbine (New people’s stage), among others—in Lodz.  From 1941 he co-edited the weekly newspaper Sidneyer yidishe nayes (Sydney Jewish news), and in it he wrote a weekly editorial, political surveys, and journalistic and literary essays.  He also co-edited the journal Der landsman (The compatriot) in Melbourne (1964-1967).  He also contributed to Folk un velt (People and world), among other serials, in New York.  He died in Sydney, Australia.

Sources: Herts Bergner, in Pinkes (New York) (1965), p. 291; Folk un velt (New York) (November 1966).

Khayim Leyb Fuks