SHMUEL GLAZERMAN (March 21, 1898-September 18, 1952)
He was born in Algarrobos, a Jewish
town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
At the age of three he lost his father, and he was raised in the custody
of his elder brother, the rabbi and ritual slaughterer of the town. Until age fifteen he studied Jewish subject
matter. He also graduated from a state
elementary school. He then departed for
Buenos Aires and there entered high school, but he left it at the fifth-year
level. He subsequently worked as a
Yiddish teacher in the Borochov school in Buenos Aires, was secretary of
“Agudat hamorim de’argentina” (Association of teachers in Argentina), and he
was the first secretary of the “Association of Jewish Writers and Journalists
in Argentina” (founded on the initiative of H. D. Nomberg). In addition, he conducted a Yiddish radio
hour in Buenos Aires. He published in Di yidishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper),
Naye tsayt (New times), and Idishe velt (Jewish world), among other
serials, poems and a series of one-act plays, such as: “Yugend-laydn”
(Suffering of youth) (1916); “Unzere kinder” (Our children) (1918); “Khmarne
teg” (Gloomy days) (1922); and the three-act “Psule-erd” (Virgin earth)
(1922). That same year he published his
book Yunge vegn (Young pathways)
(Buenos Aires, 1922), 140 pp., which included his one-act plays: “In oyel” (In
the tenting over a tomb), published earlier in Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter) in New York; “Tsvishn koyln” (Amid
the coal); “Kale-kleyder” (A bride’s clothing); and the three-act play “In
shnit-tsayt” (Harvest time)—all built upon the lives of the Jewish colonies in
Argentina and Jewish life in Buenos Aires, and they were performed on the local
Yiddish stage. This collection also
included his lyrical poems, translations of the Argentinian writer Carlos Guido
y Spano, a series of poems “Kindvayz” (In childhood), and a scene entitled
“Mazikim” (Mischievous children). This
collection was published by a close circle of the author’s friends. His drama Zisye
goy (Zisye the Gentile) was staged by Samuel Goldenburg in 1930. In 1932 his work Teater, dramatishe shriftn funem idishn lebn in argentine (Theater,
dramatic writings from Jewish life in Argentina) was published in Buenos Aires,
290 pp. He also translated from Spanish
into Yiddish a series of dramatic works which were performed on the Yiddish
stage, among them: Shlekht gelibte
(Poorly loved) by Jacinto Benavente [original: La malquerida]; Der meshugener
got (The crazy God) by Jóse Echegaray [original: El loco dios]; Af der
zindiker erd (On sinning earth) by Angel Guimerá [original: Terra baixa (Lowlands)]; and Di toyte, barg arop (The dead, downhill)
by Florencio Sanchez [original:
Barranca
abajo, Los muertos (Downhill, the
dead)], among others. He was also the
editor and publisher of the children’s journals, Blimelekh (Little flowers), of which five issues appeared in 1922,
and Kinderland (Children’s world), of
which three issues were published in 1937.
He also composed songs and compiled for schools a geography of Israel;
was a cofounder of the journal of literature and the arts, Zeglen (Sails), 1924-1925; and served as editor of the illustrated
weekly Far groys un kleyn (For big
and small). In his time, Glazerman was
considered the only Yiddish writer who was born and raised in Argentina. He died in Buenos Aires.
Zaynvl Diamant
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