FAYVL HOLMSHTOK

FAYVL HOLMSHTOK (b. 1880)

            He was the older brother of Khayim Holmshtok, born in Minsk, Byelorussia.  He was living until the end of 1922 in New York where he was an active leader, teacher, and for a time also director of the Sholem Aleichem Folkshuls.  He was the founder and first editor of Kinder-zhurnal (Children’s magazine) in New York (1920-1922).  He returned to Russia in late 1922 and until 1937 was active in Yiddish school work, Soviet Yiddish scholarly research, and the Jewish “pioneer” youth in Minsk.  He was a contributor to Der yunger pyoner (The young pioneer) in Minsk (1925-1927) and to Afn visnshaftlekhn front (On the scholarly front) in Minsk (1932-1935), in which he published articles about the “treason” of the Bund and Zionism at the time of the 1905 Revolution.  He also translated various pamphlets and books from German and Russian, such as: Heinrich Schmid, “Fraye” arbetn af di khemishe zavodn (“Free” labor in chemical factories), in wage labor in Germany (Minsk, 1932), 36 pp.; V. N. Verkhovski, Khemye lernbukh far der mitlshul (Chemistry textbook for middle school), with illustrations (Minsk, 1934), 155 pp.  In Russia he also published under the name “L. Holomshtok.”  His subsequent fate remains unknown.

Sources: Kinder-zhurnal (New York) (April-May 1922); R. Shklyar, Afn visnshaftlekhn front (Minsk) 5-6 (1934); Dos yidishe bukh in sovetnfarband in 1932 (The Yiddish book in the Soviet Union in 1932) (Minsk, 1932-1933, 1934-1935).