HERSHL ORLAND (1896-March 16, 1946)
Born in Tetyev, near Kiev.
He studied in religious elementary school, later he prepared to attend middle
school as an auditor. In 1918 he moved
to Kiev. He volunteered and served in
the Red Army, 1920-1921. In 1922 he
began working at the Kiev newspaper, Komunistishe fon (Communist
banner). The same year he published his
first stories; they soon attracted attention for their colorful language, their
lyrical quality, and their depictions of nature. In 1926 he was employed in Volhynia in land
reclamation work, and he later used the experiences there for his novel Hreblyes (Dikes),
part 1 (Kiev, 1929), part 2 (1931), part 3 (1935)—adapted for use in school,
1938. In his novel, Aglomerat (Agglomerate, 1935), he describes a
metallurgical plant in Kerch. The
social-economic, Jewish reconstruction provided the main theme of his
writings. For many years in succession,
he edited the Kharkov newspaper Shtern (Star) and the magazine Sovetishe
literatur (Soviet literature), among others. He was much consumed by journalistic and translation
work. In his last years, he was active
in the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.
His writings include: Grobers (Ruffians) (Kiev, 1930), 68 pp.; Hreblyes
(Kharkov rpt., 1931), 294 pp.; Shlakhtn, fuftsn yor oktyaber in der
kinstlerisher literartur (Battles, fifteen years of October in
artistic literature), compiled with Kh. Gildin and A. Kahan (Kharkov, 1932),
543 pp.; Aglomerat (Kiev, 1935),
228 pp.; A gast (A guest), a story
(Kharkov-Odessa: Kinder-farlag, 1936), 15 pp.; Shikere gendz (Drunk
geese) (Kharkov-Odessa, 1936), 12 pp.; Sorele
in vald (Little Sarah in the woods), a story (Kiev: Ukrainian state publishers for national
minorities, 1937), 12 pp.; A mayse
mit a layb (A story with a heart) (Kiev: Ukrainian state
publishers for national minorities, 1938), 14 pp.; Polyesye, a story (Kiev: Ukrainian state
publishers for national minorities, 1939), 19 pp.; Infirn zaynen mir geforn (We led the way) (Kiev: Ukrainian state publishers for national
minorities, 1940), 33 pp. His translations include: Aleksandr Pushkin,
Kapitanskaya dochka as Dem kapitans tokhter (The captain’s
daughter) (Kiev, 1936), 109 pp.; Pavel Postyshev, Iz proshlogo as Fun
der fargangenheyt (From the past) (Kiev, 1936), 39 pp.; Nikolai Ostrovsky, Kak
zakalyalas' stal' as Vi s’hot zikh
farhartevet dos shtol (How the steel was tempered), adapted for older
children (Kiev, 1937); Vos geven un vos gevorn, zamlbukh (What was and
what has become, anthology), compiled with B. Slutski (Kiev, 1937), 214 pp.;
Victor Hugo, Les Travailleurs de la Mer as Di yam-arbeter
(Toilers of the sea) (Kiev, 1940), 359 pp.; Ivan Franko, Boa konstriktor
(Boa constrictor) (Kiev, 1940), 103 pp.
In addition his work appeared in: Ukraine,
Almanakh fun yidishe sovetishe shrayber
tsum alfarbandishn
shrayber-tsuzamenfor (Almanac,
from Soviet Jewish writers to the all-Soviet conference of writers)
(Kharkov, 1934), Der arbeter in der
yidisher literatur (The work in Yiddish literature), Deklamater
fun der sovetisher yidisher literatur (Reciter of Soviet Yiddish
literature) (Moscow, 1934), Tsum tsig
(To the objective), Komsomolye
(Communist youth), and Lenin un di kinder
(Lenin and children) (Kharkov, 1934).
Sources: Y. Bronshteyn, Atake (Attack) (Minsk, 1931),
pp. 248-79; Kh. Dunyets, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (February 20,
1933); Shmuel Zhitkovski, Pruvn (Endeavors) (Kharkov, 1934), p. 92; M.
Mizhiritski, in Shtern (Minsk) (September, 1936), p. 84; “Tvishn di
sovetishe yidishe shrayber” (Among the Soviet Yiddish writers), Eynikeyt
(Moscow) (June 7, 1942); Aleksander Pomerants, Inzhenern fun neshomes, di
shrayber un bikher fun der yidisher sovetisher literatur (Engineers of the
souls, the writers and books of Soviet Yiddish literature) (New York, 1943), p.
41; A. Pomerants, in Morgn-frayhayt (May 17, 1946); Arn Kushnirov, in Naye
prese (Paris) (July 27, 1945); “Hershl Orland,” Eynikeyt (Moscow)
(March 19, 1946), obituary with about 150 undersigned; N. Y. Gotlib, in Keneder
odler (March 30, 1053).
He translated into Yiddish the 1st book of Nikolay Ostrovsky's Rozhdyoniye burey as
ReplyDeleteIn shturem geboyrene (Born by the storm). - Kiev: Melukhe farlag far di natsionale minderhaytn in USSR, 1937.- 318 pp.
אינ שטורעמ געבױרענע
נ. אסטראװסקי ; יידיש - ה. ארלאנד