MOYSHE ARONSKI

MOYSHE ARONSKI (1898-December 20, 1944)

He was a prose author, born in Ovruch, Ukraine.  In 1916 he graduated from a business school and worked as a literature and history teacher in a middle school.  He later studied at Kiev University, graduating in 1930. From that point forward, he spent almost his entire life until WWII, teaching literature, history, and mathematics in Jewish schools and nursery schools—in the cities of Haysyn, Berdichev, and Kiev. While studying at Kiev State University, he published stories in the student press; he debuted in print in 1926. New books appeared the following year from the Yiddish publishers. At the start of WWII, he volunteered for duty at the front and was killed in fighting on December 20, 1944. He never set down his pen during the war. On December 18, 1944, the Moscow newspaper Eynikeyt (Unity) published his story from the front, “Dos yerushe-peltsl” (The inherited pelt), his last work to appear during his lifetime.

Among his writings: Nina un mayortshik (Nina and Mayortshik), a novel (Kharkov, 1930), 298 pp.; Di fabrik ruft (The factory calls), a story (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk, 1931), 20 pp.; In gli (Glowing), stories (Kharkov, 1932), 217 pp.; Komune b. n. l., roman in dray teyln (Commune B.N.L., a novel in three parts), (Kharkov, 1932), 279 pp.; In vokhedikn kamf, tipn un siluetn (A weekly struggle, personages and silhouettes), (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932), 43 pp.; Af shtolene shlyakhn, rayze-fartseykhenungen (On steel roads, travelogues) (Kharkov, 1932), 70 pp.; Gebut (Prayer), first book (Kharkov-Kiev, 1934), 210 pp.; Ershte (First), a novel (Kharkov, 1934), 285 pp.; Iber baryern (Over barriers), a novel (Kharkov-Kiev, 1934), 219 pp.; In eynem a zumer-tog (Together on a summer day), children’s stories (Kharkov, 1935); Shpil-afderemesn (A play, for real) (Kiev-Kharkov, 1935); Di ershte rayze (The first trip), stories for children (Kharkov, 1938); A vinter-tog in yishev lenino (A winter day in the Lenino settlement), a story (Kiev, 1938), 36 pp.; Bam kurgan (With the Kurgan brigade) (Khakov, 1939), 54 pp.; Landslayt (Countrymen) (Kharkov, 1939), 31 pp.; Kombl un zayne fraynt (Kombl and his friends), a novel (Kiev, 1939), 383 pp.; In freydn un leydn (Happily and sadly), stories (Kiev, 1939); Dertseylungen un noveln (Stories and novellas) (Kharkov-Kiev: USSR state publishers for national minorities, 1940), 174 pp.; and a translation of Boris Lavrenev, Sorok pervyi (Y. Der eyn un fertsikster = The forty-first) (Warsaw, 1928), 85 pp.  He also contributed to Almanakh fun yidishe sovetishe shrayber (Handbook of Soviet Jewish writers).  He was represented in Komsomolye (Communist Youth) (Kiev, 1938).

Sources: Declaration of the Association of Revolutionary Yiddish Writers of Ukraine, Royte velt (Kharkov) (May-June 1927); Shmuel Niger, “In der sovetish-yidisher literature” (In Soviet Yiddish literature), Tsukunft (New York) (February 1930); Shmuel Zhukovski, in Prolit (October-November 1930); Shmuel Zhukovski, Pruvn (Endeavors) (Kharkov, 1934), p. 101; D. Rumanove, in Kritish-biblyografisher byuletin 2 (Minsk) (1933); H. Bloshteyn, in Shtern 55 (Kharkov) (1933); Kh. Dunets, in Oktyabr 102 (Minsk) (1934); M. A., letter to the editor, in Shtern 109 (Kharkov) (1939); Sh. Hirsh (Sh. Karovski), in Farmest 12 (Kharkov) (1934); A. Kozak, in Proletarishe fon 158 (Kiev) (1935); Y. Rabinovitsh, Zay greyt 5 (Kharkov) (1936); Eynikeyt (Moscow) (April 15, 1943); Eynikeyt (Moscow) (May 17, 1945); A. Kushnirov, in Naye prese (Paris) (July 27, 1945); to the eternal memory of the murdered writers, Eynikeyt (Moscow) (November 16, 1946); Dovid Sfard, Shrayber un bikher (Writers and books) (Lodz, 1949), p. 47.

[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. 29-30.]