SIMKHE DON

SIMKHE DON

            He was born in Pułtusk, Poland.  He was one of the Pleiade of Yiddish poets in Poland between the world wars, who demonstrated in their poetry the decline of the Jewish town (shtetl) and the prospective destruction that was coming.  He began publishing in the 1930s.  In book form, he published two booklets: Trit in der nakht (Step in the night) (Warsaw, 1933), 64 pp.; and Khaotishe teg (Chaotic days) (Warsaw, 1934), 56 pp.  He was killed by the Nazis.  Other biographical details are unknown.

Sources: Shmuel Niger, in Tog (New York) (February 6, 1932); N. Mayzil, in Haynt (Warsaw) (July 5, 1935); “Yizker” (Remembrance), in Yidishe shriftn, an anthology (Lodz, 1946); B. Heler, Dos lid iz geblibn, lider fun yidishe dikhter in poyln, umgekumene beys der hitlerisher okupatsye, antologye (This poem remains, poems of Yiddish poets in Poland, killed during Hitler’s occupation, anthology) (Warsaw, 1951); Sh. Slutski, Avrom reyzen biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen’s bibliography) (New York, 1956), no. 4824.