KHAYIM BARKAN (H. BARKAN)

KHAYIM BARKAN (H. BARKAN) (July 12, 1896-1966)

     Born in Ungen, Bessarabia, he attended religious elementary school, a junior yeshiva run by Mizrahi, and general subjects with a private tutor.  In 1920 he emigrated to the United States.  In 1922 he published “A monolog fun a besaraber yidn” (A monologue of a Bessarabian Jew) in Di yidishe velt (The Jewish world) in Philadelphia.  He later wrote skits and stories for: Frayhayt (Freedom), Forverts (Forward), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Yidish (Yiddish), and Der hamer (The hammer) in New York; Folks-fraynd (Friend of the people) in Pittsburgh; Der shpigl (The mirror) in Buenos Aires.  His articles appeared in Kultur un dertsiung (Culture and education), and stories for children in Kinder-tsaytung (Children’s newspaper) and Kinder-zhurnal (Children’s magazine) in New York.  He also published translations from Hebrew and English.  Among his books: Fisher (Fisher), a novel (Philadelphia, 1928), 104 pp.; In shvere teg (In difficult times), stories (Warsaw, 1933), 171 pp.; Amol iz geven, mayses un legendes (It was in the past, tales and legends), for children (New York, 1942), 63 pp.; Undzer folk, a kurtse yidishe geshikhte far shul un heym (Our people, a short Jewish history for synagogue and home) (New York, 1945), 48 pp.; Mayn shtetl ungen, poeme (My town Ungen, a poem) (Philadelphia, 1959), 180 pp.; Af fremder erd (On alien terrain), a novel (Buenos Aires: Der shpigl, 1962), 171 pp.  He was a teacher in Workmen’s Circle schools and lived in Philadelphia.

Sources: Yankev Glatshteyn, in Yidisher kemfer (New York) (September 7, 1952); Y. Zilberberg, in Undzer folk (New York) (October 1945); Shmuel Niger, in Tog (New York) (August 1, 1934).

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 59.]