Friday 19 December 2014
DIMITRYUK BYADULYE
KHAYKL BATLEN (BATLAN)
Thursday 18 December 2014
ARN BZHEZHINSKI (AARON BRZEZINSKI)
AVROM-YUDE BZHEZHINSKI (AVRAHAM YEHUDAH BRZEZINSKI)
Wednesday 17 December 2014
KHAYIM-YANKL BZHUSTOVSKI (CHAIM JANKEL BRZUSTOWSKI)
Tuesday 16 December 2014
KHANE BUSHEL-SOLOV (ANNIE BUSHEL-SOLOW)
Monday 15 December 2014
MIKHL (MIKHOEL) BURSHTIN (BURSZTYN)
Sunday 14 December 2014
LIBE BURSHTIN
SHAYE BURSHTIN
Friday 12 December 2014
Y. L. BURSHTIN
KH. BURSHTIN
SHLOYME BURSHTEYN
Thursday 11 December 2014
SEMUEL BURSHTEYN (SAMUEL BURSHTYN)
MENAKHEM BURSTEYN
YERAKHMIEL BURSTEYN
BOREKH-TSVI BURSHTOK
Y. BURTYANSKI
Y. BURTYANSKI
He was an educator and author of textbooks for Jewish schools
in the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. He was one of the most qualified
and popular scholars of natural science in Soviet Ukraine. After the formation
of the Jewish Autonomous Region, he contributed to the terminological
commission that was charged with coming up with names for the uniform botanical
terms in Yiddish. Soon, however, most lexicographers were purged, and their
work on terminology was discontinued.
He was the author of a botany textbook entitled Dos geviks un zayne nutsn (The plant and its uses) (Kiev, 1929), 193 pp. with illustrations. His other work included: Arbetbukh af naturvisnshaft (Workbook for natural science) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1926), 2 parts, with G. Grinberg and others; Arbetbukh af naturvisnshaft un geografye (Workbook for natural science and geography) (Kharkov: Central Publishers, 1930), 264 pp., with G. Grinberg.
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 74; and 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), p. 43.]
Wednesday 10 December 2014
HERTS BURGIN (SHMUEL)
PINYE BURGANSKI (BURGANSKII)
PINYE BURGANSKI (BURGANSKII) (b. 1903)
One of the most popular authors of Soviet Yiddish textbooks which
appeared in numerous editions, he was a distinguished teacher, a founder of
schools, and a lecturer in Ukraine. In the
latter half of the 1920s and first half of the 1930s, he was one of the leading
figures in Ukraine in the field of Jewish school curricula. For a certain
amount of time, he was an inspector in the Jewish section of the Ukrainian People’s
Commissariat of Education (Folkombild), one of the editors of the pedagogical
journal of Ratnbildung (Soviet education), a bimonthly periodical out of
Kharkov (1928-1937) and organ of the Folkombild in Ukraine. He was a member of
the editorial collective of the children’s magazine Oktyaberl (Little
October) in Kiev (1930-1939), and of the periodical textbook for the third and
fourth groups of the workers’ school “Yunge shlogler” (Young shock troops) in
Kharkov (1931-1932), and of other pedagogical publications. He published
numerous articles in the Yiddish press. His name disappeared with other purged Jewish
cultural leaders, and from 1937 nothing of him was reported. His only son,
Mark, an officer during WWII, died at Stalingrad. The letter from the son at the front to his
parents, who were evacuated to Alma Ata, was subsequently published in Eynikeyt
(Unity) in Moscow.
Among his books: Far antireligyezer dertsiung (Toward anti-religious education) (Kharkov, 1928), 28 pp.; Oys religye (Out with religion), an anthology (compiled together with Avrom Vevyorke) (Moscow, 1929); Ershte trit (First step) (Kharkov, 1930), 124 pp.; Mir boyen (We’re building) (Kharkov, 1931); Tsum politekhnizm (Toward polytechnism) (Kharkov, 1931), 34 pp.; Sotsyalistisher gevet in der politekhnisher shul (Socialist bet on the polytechnical school) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932), 36 pp.; Oktyaberlekh (Little Octobers), a book to teach the alphabet for first-graders (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932), 168 pp.; Zay greyt, alefbeyz far der onfang-shul (Get ready, alphabet book for primary school) (Kharkov, 1932) and in 1936 the fourth, improved printing appeared; Leynbukh farn ershtn klas fun der onfang-shul (Reader for first grade of primary school) (Kiev-Kharkov, 1933), 108 pp. and in 1937 the fifth, improved edition appeared; Leyenbukh farn ershtn lernyor (Textbook for the first school year) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1933; subsequent editions, 1933-1936);
Sources: A. Hodes, in Eynikeyt (Moscow) (July 4, 1946); E. Spivak, in Shtern 190 (Kharkov, 1933); S. Zhezmer, in Shtern 5 (1933); R. Fish, Shtern 267 (1933); Ratnbildung 5 (Kharkov, 1933).
[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. 42-43.]
Tuesday 9 December 2014
YOYSEF BURG
YOYSEF
BURG (May 30, 1912-August 10, 2009)
He was a prose author, born in the
town of Vizshnits (Vyzhnytsya), Bukovina, Ukraine. He studied in a public elementary school. Over the years 1935-1938, he pursued Germanic
studies at the University of Vienna. He
debuted in literature in 1934 with a novella entitled “Afn splav” (On the train
of wood), in which he described Jewish foresters on the banks of the Czeremosz River.
He worked as a teacher in Czernowitz and wrote stories in which he sang of the
Carpathian Mountains, their heroic and mighty people, and the magnificent
nature there. His lyrical prose was imbued with the romantic, original in language
and style, and giving expression to images to be remembered. During WWII, he evacuated
deep into Russia, in the Ural Mountains from 1941 to 1958. Later, he returned to Czernowitz and resumed
teaching and publishing stories and essays in Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland) in Moscow, Birobidzhaner shtern (Birobidzhan star), and in foreign newspapers
and journals. In addition, he wrote
stories, novellas, and sketches for Tshernovitser
bleter (Czernowitz pages), Literarishe
bleter (Literary leaves) in Warsaw, Shoybn
(Glass panes) in Bucharest, Di vokh
(The week), Folks-shtime (Voice of
the people) in Warsaw, and Naye prese
(New press) in Paris. His writings have been translated into Russian, German,
Ukrainian, English, Hungarian, Italian, and Hebrew. He acquired the title of a cultural
leader in Ukraine and was awarded the Segal Prize (Israel, 1992) and the Shnaydman
Prize (Sweden, 1997). There is a street named for him in the city of his birth,
Vyzhnytsya. “Yoysef Burg is a wonderful describer,” wrote Lili
Berger. “His prose occupies high
artistic heights. At times it is poetry
in prose form.”
Among his writings: Afn tsheremosh (On the Czeremosz [River]) (Bucharest, 1939), 67 pp.; Sam (Poison) (Czernowitz, 1940), 64 pp.; Dos lebn geyt vayter, dertseylungen, noveln, skitsn (Life goes on further: stories, novellas, sketches) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1980), 289 pp.; Der iberuf fun tsaytn (The roll-call of the times) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1983), 64 pp.; A farshpetikter ekho (A late echo), stories (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1990), 347 pp.; Tsvey veltn (Two worlds) (Tsvey veltn –Odessa: Mame-loshn, 1997), 140 pp. Also: Unter eyn dakh, yoysef burg yoyvl-bukh (Under one roof, Yoysef Burg jubilee volume), ed. Leponid Finkel’ (Czernowitz, 1992), 173 pp.
Most
drawn from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), cols. 73-74; and 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), p. 42.
YANKL BURAK
KARL (BETSALEL) BUROVIK
AVROM BUKSHTEYN (ABRAHAM BOOKSTEIN, BUCKSTEIN)
Monday 8 December 2014
PINYE BUKSHORN
NOSN BUKSBOYM
MAKS BUKANSKI
Sunday 7 December 2014
Y. SH. BUNIN
KHAYIM-YITSKHOK (HAYYIM ISAAC) BUNIN
Thursday 4 December 2014
ZUSMAN BUNIN (BUNYAN)
OZER BUMAZHNI
AVROM BULKIN (ABRAHAM BUŁKIN)
Wednesday 3 December 2014
MIKHL BULIN
Y. K. BUKHNER
Tuesday 2 December 2014
SHIYE HESHL BUKHMIL (JOSHUA HESHEL BUCHMIL)
NOKHUM BUKHBINDER (NAUM BUCHBINDER)
NOKHEM BUKHBINDER (NAUM BUCHBINDER) (1895-1940)
Historian and writer on current events, he was born in
Odessa. He was raised in an orphanage and later worked on the agricultural farm
at the orphanage. He later worked in a
dispensary, in the Odessa city hall, and for a bookbinder in Odessa and Kharkov.
He was an auditing student in St. Petersburg and later graduated there from the
Herzen Pedagogical Institute and the Institute for Higher Jewish Studies. He
debuted in print in the Russian press in 1910, publishing stories and articles.
Over the years 1913-1915, he worked as secretary for a Russian newspaper in
Simferopol. After the October Revolution, he was one of the first to work for
the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs, as an administrator in the division of culture
and education. He contributed to editing the first Soviet Yiddish anthologies,
dedicated to issues of education and culture. From 1918 he was a member of the
editorial board of the first Yiddish-language Bolshevik newspapers in Moscow, Di
vorheyt (Reality) and Der emes
(The truth), and he went on to edit a string of other Yiddish and Russian newspapers,
weeklies, magazines, and anthologies, such as: Di fraye shtime (The free
voice), organ of the St. Petersburg Committee for Jewish Affairs (initial
issues in 1918, edited with Zerakh Grinberg and Sholem Rapoport); Kultur-fragen
(Culture issues), an anthology (St. Petersburg, 1918, edited with Zerakh
Grinberg and Shimen Dimantshteyn); Yevreyskaya tribuna (Jewish tribune),
Di fray velt (The free world), and Vokhnbleter (Weeklies) (Minsk,
1919, edited with Zerakh Grinberg); Di komunistishe shtime (The
Communist voice), a daily newspaper (Minsk, 1919); and Di velt (The
world), a magazine (Petersburg, 1920).
He later devoted his attention primarily to the history of the Jewish
labor movement, concerning which he also published treatises in such history
journals as: Yevreyskaya
starina (The Jewish
past), Proletarskaya revolutsiya (Proletarian revolution), and Krasnaya
letopis’ (Red annals), among others.
He initiated for scholarly use a significant complex of materials
concerning the history of the Jewish labor movement that he disclosed from the archives
of the Tsarist Ministry of Internal Affairs. In Leningrad in 1925, he published
his Istoriya yevreyskogo rabochego dvizheniya v Rossii po neizdannym
arkhivnym (History of the Jewish labor movement in Russia, according to
unpublished archives), encompassing the period from the 1870s through
1917—translated into Yiddish by Dovid Roykhel (Vilna, 1931), 440 pp., as: Di
geshikhte fun der yidisher arbeter-bavegung in rusland, loyt nit-gedrukte
arkhiṿ-materyaln. He assembled a
biographical dictionary of Jewish revolutionaries in Russia. He was harshly
criticized in the 1920s for his “incorrect position regarding Lenin’s stance on
the Jewish question.” He was a contributor in the early 1930s to the Leningrad
division of Institute of Party History and the council of trade unions. In the
late 1930s, he was a teacher in the Karelia-Finnish Pedagogical Institute (Petrozavodsk).
His subsequent fate remains unknown.
He wrote a booklet about Lev Osipovich Levanda—L. O. Levanda po neizdannym arkhivnym materialam (L. O. Levanda according to unpublished archival materials (Petrograd, 1918)—and a series of brochures, such as: Di ratn-makht un di natsyonale fragn (The Soviet regime and the national question) (1918); Di oktyabr-revolutsye un di yidishe arbeter-masn (The October Revolution and the Jewish laboring masses) (St. Petersburg: Commissariat for Jewish Affairs, 1918), 8 pp., second printing (1919), 14 pp.; and A yor proletarishe diktatur un di oyfgabn fun di yidishe komunistn (A year of the proletarian dictatorship and the tasks for Jewish Communists) (1919); among others.
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; S-T, in Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), vol. 5 (New York, 1944); Dr. Y. Shatski, in Der veker (April 10, 1926).
[Addition
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 72; and 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), p. 41.]
Monday 1 December 2014
YOSYSEF (YOSL) BUKHBINDER
YOYSEF (YOSL) BUKHBINDER (1908[1]-1993)
He was a poet, born in Chernigov (Chernihiv), Ukraine, into a
poor family. His father worked as a wheelwright. After graduating from a
seven-year school (at age sixteen), he left his hometown and came to Zhitomir (Zhytomyr)
to work in a shoe factory. He later studied at the Odessa Jewish Pedagogical
Technikum, graduating in 1929, and then becoming a teacher in one of the Jewish
schools in Kamenets-Podolsky (Kam"yanets'-Podil's'kyy). He was drafted in
1930 into the army where he served until 1934. From 1936 he worked as a
literary translator for the Kiev newspaper Der
shtern (The star). During WWII he living in Bashkiria (Bashkortoshan), and
later returned to Kiev. He debuted in print in 1927 in the serial Di royte velt (The red world) in Kharkov
with a cycle of poems entitled “In vald far a yeger” (A hunter in the forest).
Two years later, when he published the poem “Ataman bozhenko” (Ataman
Bozhenko), the editor of Di royte velt,
Shakhne Epshteyn, wrote that “a distinctive poet has emerged in Soviet Yiddish
poetry.” His lyrical poetry was tied to the contemporary world, to the principal
manifestations of Jewish life in Ukraine, to the construction process in the shtetl,
and to the difficult problems of an arduous reality. He was arrested in 1951
and accused of Jewish nationalism and Zionism, and sentenced to ten years in
prison and labor camps. He returned home in 1956 and continued his creative
work. The Ukrainian poet Maksym Rylsky published in 1946 Bukhbinder’s great
cycle of poems in Ukrainian translation—among them the poem “Bay dem topol” (By
the poplar). In the 1960s through 1980s, he published his poetry in the journal
Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland)
and in foreign Yiddish publications, with principally lyrical-philosophical and
ethnic motifs. He died in Kiev.
In addition to Maksym Rylsky, his poems were also translated into Ukrainian by Volodymyr Sosyura and Mark Zisman. Among his books: Lirishe motivn (Lyrical motifs) (Kiev, 1940), 117 pp.; Komandir sizov (Commander Syzov) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1936), 76 pp.; Mit likhtike oygn, lider (With bright eyes, poems) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1975), 160 pp.; Noente vaytn (Proximate distant) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1983), 134 pp. Also, a poetry cycle of his appeared in the journal Horizontn (Horizons) (Moscow, 1965).
Sources: Abrom Avtshuk, Etyudn un materialn tsu der geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur bavegung in FSRR (Studies and material for the history of the Yiddish literature movement in the Soviet Union) (Kharkov, 1934), p. 263; Eynikeyt (Moscow) (April 1, 1947); Biblyografisher arkhiv fun der yidisher sovetisher literatur (Bibliographic archive of Soviet Yiddish literature), YIVO (New York).
[Addition information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 71; and 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. 40-41.]
[1] According to Horizontn,
fun der haynttsaytiker sovetisher yidisher dikhtung (Horizons, from
contemporary Soviet Yiddish poetry) (Moscow, 1965), his birth date should be
1909.