LEYZER AYKHENRAND (LAJSER AICHENRAND, AJCHENRAND)

LEYZER AYKHENRAND (LAJSER AICHENRAND, AJCHENRAND) (September 23, 1912-1985)

Born in Demblin, Poland, and he later lived in the town of Korev, near Lublin.  He worked in various lines.  In 1937 he arrived in Paris, and following the outbreak of WWII, he volunteered to join the French army.  With the collapse of the army, he was sent to a camp.  He wandered under the Nazis from camp to camp, before he was condemned to deportation.  In 1942 he was rescued and escaped to Switzerland.  He later returned to Paris.  In 1953 he settled in Argentina.  His first poem, “Hent tsum farkoyfn” (Hands to sell), was published in a poetic competition run by Literarisher vokhnshrift (Literary weekly) (Warsaw, 1934); he wrote under the pseudonym “Kurov.”  In 1945 he published in Switzerland—with two German poets, Jo Mihaly and Stephan Hermlin—a booklet of poems in Romanized transcription under the title Mir veln nisht farshtumen (Wir verstummen nicht [We shall not be silent]).  In 1946 he published a second book of poems, Herstu nisht? (Haven’t you heard?), 76 pp., also in Roman transcription.  In 1953 he published a volume of poems and sonnets in Paris bearing the title Mimaamikim (From the depths), 168 pp.  Other works by him include: Dos broyt fun tsar (The bread of sorrow) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1964), 140 pp.; Dorsht nokh doyer (Thirst for duration) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1970), 166 pp.; Landshaft fun goyrl (Landscape of fate) (Tel Aviv: Tamid, 1979), 157 pp.; Tsvishn itst un keynmol (Between now and never) (Tel Aviv: Tamid, 1984), 132 pp.  He also published poems in Tsukunft (Future) in New York, as well as in such Parisian magazines as Kiem (Existence), Oyfsnay (Anew), Undzer vort (Our word), Arbeter vort (Workers’ word), and Kunst un visnshaft (Art and science), and in Davke (Nothing other than) in Buenos Aires.

Sources: Sh. Bikl, in Tsukunft (January 1954); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Yidisher kemfer (November 6, 1953); Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (September 17 and November 3, 1953) in Buenos Aires; Y. Yonasovitsh, in Der shpigl (November 1953), in Buenos Aires; Dov Sadan, Avne miftan (Threshold of stones) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1970), vol. 2, pp. 199-209.