KHAYIM-YANKEV KRAFT

KHAYIM-YANKEV KRAFT (December 7, 1887-March 25, 1964)

            He was born in the village of Beznosa, Romania.  He moved with his family to Seret, Bukovina, where he studied in a high school.  He was a delegate to the Czernowitz Conference in 1908.  In 1914 he graduated from the University of Czernowitz.  He was among the leaders of Labor Zionism in Romania, and after the split in 1921 he joined the left wing.  He was also active in Jewish community life.  From 1928 he was living in Bucharest.  He spent WWII in Uzbekistan.  He was repatriated to Romania in 1946, and in 1957, by now a blind man, he came to Israel.  He debuted in print in 1912 in Lemberg’s Idisher arbayter (Jewish worker).  He contributed to the Labor Zionist organ Di frayhayt (Freedom) (Czernowitz, 191901924, and from 1923 he was editor), to Bucharest’s Unzer veg (Our way) (1929) and Di vokh (The week) (1934), Warsaw’s Arbeter-tsaytung (Workers’ newspaper) (1933), Ikuf-bleter (Pages from IKUF) (1946), and Tel Aviv’s Folksblat (People’s newspaper).  He wrote about Zionist issues and Yiddish literature and language.  He died Netanya. Israel.

Sources: Autobiographical information; Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Shloyme Bikl, Rumenye (Romania) (Buenos Aires, 1961), pp. 92-97; Y. Zerbavl, Geshtaltn (Figures) (Tel Aviv, 1967), pp. 218-24; Y. Rudnitski, ed., Mesholem surkin, (Meshulem Surkin), anthology (Tel Aviv, 1978), pp. 103-8.

Ruvn Goldberg