HENEKH KAZAKEVITSH

HENEKH KAZAKEVITSH (1883-December 24, 1935)

            A journalist, translator, and the father of Emanuel Kazakevitsh, he was born in the village of Yelovke (Yelivka), Chernigov (Chernihiv) Province, Ukraine, into a farming family. He attended religious elementary schools in Krasnopolye (Krasnopol) and Vetke (Vetka), and from 1895 he turned his attention to secular subjects. At age fifteen, he became a teacher and joined the revolutionary movement. In Novozybkov in 1903, he joined the Zionist socialist party and became active in it. In 1912 he completed the pedagogical course of study in Grodno and worked until 1918 in public schools—among others, in Demyevka, a suburb of Kiev, one of the first modern schools with Yiddish as the language of instruction. In 1919 he joined the Komfarband (Communist Union) and became a member of its central committee. He lived in Homyel' (Gomel), Kiev, from 1924 Kharkov, and from the early 1930s he was in Birobidzhan where they named a street for him. (In 1937 the local press attacked him as a “nationalist,” and the name of the street was changed.) He published Der kempfer (The fighter) in Ekaterinoslav (1917), in which that year Perets Markish made his literary debut with his first published poems. After the October Revolution, he was editor of the Yiddish division of the Russian Telegraphic Agency (ROSTA). He turned completely to journalism as of 1918. In numerous periodicals, Kazakevitsh either wrote articles or served as editor or co-editor (for the entire time of their publication history or a portion of it): Der horepashnik (The toiler) in Homyel' (1920); Komunistishe fon (Communist banner) in Kiev (1919-1921; contributor 1919-1921, editor 1922-1924); Der komunistisher veg (The Communist road) in Homyel' (1920-1926); Apikoyres, zamlung fun yomim-noyrim (Heretic, a collection for the High Holidays) (Kiev, 1923); Di royte velt (The red world) in Kharkov-Kiev (1924-1933; the first editor, later a member of the editorial collective); Der shtern (The star) in Kharkov (1925); Gezunt un arbet (Health and work) in Kharkov (1930-1932?); Yunge gvardye (Young guard) in Kharkov (1924-1936); Birebidzhaner shtern (Birobidzhan star) (October 1930-1935). He also worked in the leadership of the Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities. His apartment in Kharkov at no. 3 Korolenko Street was an “open door,” a place where writers, artists, and cultural figures would very often meet. He was utterly indefatigable in the realm of publishing. He was editor or co-editor of the following works: Teater studye kultur-lige zamlung (Theater studio Culture league anthology) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1921), 20 pp.; Mendele’s Der priziv, a pyese, tsugepast far dramkrayzn, fun rezhiser kh. shmayin (The conscript, a play adapted for drama circles, from director Kh. Shmayin) (Kharkov: Gezunt, 1927), 62 pp.; Dov-Ber Slutski’s Leksikon fun politishe un fremd-verter (Lexicon of political and foreign words), with Y. Liberman (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1929), 1010 pp.; Leyb Kvitko’s Deklamator (Declaimer) (Kharkov: Central Publishers, 1929), 319 pp.; In kamf arbetbukh af shprakh, literatur un gezelshaft-kentenish (In the struggle, workbook in language, literature, and social information), with Arn Makagon, Leyb Mishkovski, and Elye Spivak (Kharkov: Central Publishers, 1930), 248 pp.; In kamf, arbetbukh af shprakh un gezelshaft-kentenish far 3tn lernyor (In the struggle, workbook in language and social information for the third school year), with Arn Makagon (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk, 1931) 342 pp. + 6 pp.; Arbetbukh af shprakh, literatur un gezelshaft-kentenish farn fertn lernyor (Workbook in language, literature, and social information for the fourth school year) with Elye Spivak and Arn Makagon (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1931), 447 pp. In the journal Di yidishe shprakh (The Yiddish language), ed. Nokhum Shtif (Kiev), he published the linguistics essay: “Nomenklatur fun feyglen” (Nomenclature for birds). His translations include: Kopelkin and Tsinger, Natur-visnshaft (Natural science) (Kiev, 1923-1925), 3 vols.; B. Y. Goriev, Fun tomas mor biz leninen 1516-1917, populere kapitlen geshikhte fun sotsyalizm in biografyes un kharakteristikes (From Thomas More to Lenin, 1516-1917, popular pieces in the history of socialism in biographies and characterizations [original: Ot Tomasa Mora do Lenina, 1516-1917, populiarnye ocherki po istorii sotsializma v biografiyakh i kharakteristikakh]) (Kiev: Sorovkop, 1924), 164 pp.; Friedrich Engels, Di antshteyung fun der familye, fun privaṭ-aygentum un fun der melukhe (The origins of the family, private property, and the state [original: Ursprung der Familie, des Privateigentums und des Staats]) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1927), 141 pp.; N. N. Popov, Eṭyudn ṿegn der geshikhṭe fun al. K.P.(B) (Studies in the history of the All Communist Party, Bolsheviks) (Kharkov: Central Publishers, 1928), 378 pp.; L. D. Karobina et al., Zoologye, far di eltere grupn fun zibnyoriker arbet-shul (Zoology, for the older groups of the seven-year work-school) (Kharkov: Central People’s Publishers, USSR, 1929), 367 pp. Among his pen names: H. Henis and H. Freyer. After moving to Birobidzhan in 1932, he played a leading role in building cultural work there and edited the newspaper Birobidzhaner shtern. Through his connections, a central library was opened there, and a Birobidzhan Yiddish State Theater established. One of the pen names he used in Birobidzhan was “Alter Yung” (Old youngster). The material he published under this pseudonym distinguished him from many others by its clarity and laconic quality. He died in Birobidzhan.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index; Farmest (Kharkov) 1 (1936); Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) 3 (1936); Nakhmen Mayzil, in Yidishe kultur (New York) 8 (1950); D. Shub, in Forverts (New York) (March 28, 1965) (confused with Sh. Kazakevitsh, pseudonym of S. K. Shneyfal); H. Smolyar, Vu bistu khaver sidorov? (Where are you, Comrade Sidorov?) (Tel Aviv, 1975), pp. 132-34, 268.

Dr. Eugene Orenstein

[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. 311-12.]