MIKHL VITENBERG

MIKHL VITENBERG (1885-July 20, 1954)

            He was born in Vitebsk, Byelorussia, into an affluent, Zionist family (his father, Dr. Moyshe Vitenberg, pledged his property to construct the neighborhood “Shaare moshe” [The Gates of Moses] in Jerusalem).  He received a thorough Jewish education, later graduating from technical senior high schools in Russia and Germany.  For many years he was employed as an engineer-technician and overseer of coal miners.  In the 1920s he was the technical director of Kooperativnoe entsiklopediya (Cooperative encyclopedia), in Russian, 3 volumes (Berlin, 1928-1929).  In 1932 he moved to Paris, where he was active in the federation of Jewish societies.  During WWII he lived in Switzerland, later returning to Paris.  He began writing for the liberal press in Russia.  He wrote in Yiddish and Hebrew from 1932.  He published feature pieces and humorous sketches in Parizer haynt (Paris today) and Unzer vort (Our word) in Paris.  He also contributed to Kiem (Existence) in Paris, the Hebrew journal Maḥberot (Notebooks), and other serials.  He was a regular contributor to Esperanto periodicals in Germany and France and reported for them on Jewish matters.  He translated into Esperanto The Diary of Anne Frank (Taglibro de Anne Frank).  In his last years he lost his sight.  He also published under the pen names: Galmud, Der Eynzamer, Der Elender, and others.  He died in Zurich, Switzerland.

Sources: Y. Fink, in Unzer vort (Paris) (July 22, 1954); A. Rom, in Sefer vitebsk (The Vitebsk book) (Tel Aviv, 1957), p. 171.