ZALMEN TSIRLIN

ZALMEN TSIRLIN (1906-1970)

            He was a journalist, born in the town of Ushachy, Vitebsk district, Byelorussia. After completing primary school, he began working in Vitebsk in a modern factory and at the same time studying in a technical school. He later graduated from the Minsk Jewish Pedagogical Institute. While still a student, he published stories, jottings, and articles in Yiddish periodicals. In 1934 he was appointed editor of the Minsk newspaper Der yunger arbeter (The young laborer) and was the head of the editorial board until it ceased publication in 1935. From 1936 through 1941, he worked for the Minsk newspaper Oktyabr (October) and was a member of the editorial board of the journal Der shtern (The star) in 1941 in Minsk. When the German army invaded the Soviet Union, he evacuated with the archives of Oktyabr to Gorki (Nizhny-Novgorod) and settled in the city. Over the years 1941-1945, he worked in military hospitals and later did journalistic and Party work. His last publications in Yiddish appeared in the newspaper Eynikeyt (Unity) in 1948 in Moscow. He contributed to the literary anthology Di bafrayte brider (The liberated brothers) (Minsk, 1939) and served as co-editor of the journal. In book form: Der tam fun broyt (The taste of bread), stories (Minsk, 1941), 125 pp. He edited: Shaye-Nisn Goldberg (Yaknehoz), Dertseylungen (Stories) (Minsk: Byelorussian Council of People’s Commissars, 1940), 28 pp.; and Di bafrayte brider (The liberated brothers) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publishers, 1939), a literary anthology.

Source: Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index.

Benyomen Elis

[Additional information from: Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 302-3.]