MORTKHE KATZ

MORTKHE KATZ (b. September 10, 1907)

            He was born in Pakon (Pakuonis), Lithuania.  He graduated from a Hebrew senior high school and the law faculty of Kovno University.  A former commissioner (netsiv) in Betar and Brit Trumpeldor, he was general secretary of the Revisionist Party in Vilna until 1936, and later, until 1941, general secretary of the world union of Betar.  He was one of the organizers of the illegal aliya of Holocaust survivors to Israel.  From 1948 he was living in the United States.  He was a member of the American Zionist Council and (1949-1959) of the Zionist Action Committee.  His writing activities commenced in Di idishe shtime (The Jewish voice) in Kovno (1928); later, he served as a contributor to Unzer veg (Our way) and Untervegns (Pathways) in Warsaw, and to the Revisionist press in Yiddish, Hebrew, and other languages.  He was editor and editorial writer of Der moment (The moment) and Unzer moment (Our moment) in Kovno (1935-1936).  He also placed pieces in publications of Holocaust survivors, such as: Undzer velt (Our world) and Hametsuda (The fortress) in Munich; Masuot (Beacons) in Paris; and the like.  He published the pamphlet: Vegn yidn un hebreyer, klore diburim vegn a farnepltn inyen (On Jews and Hebraists, clear words on a hazy matter) (Munich, 1948), 28 pp.  He was living in Israel as of 1966, most recently in Ramat Gan.

Sources: Y. Mark, in Zamlbukh lekoved dem tsveyhundert un fuftsikstn yoyvl fun der yidisher prese, 1686-1936 (Anthology in honor of the 250^th jubilee of the Yiddish press, 1686-1936), ed. Dr. Y. Shatski (New York, 1937), pp. 264-65; Ben-Tsien Feldshuh, Sheyres hapleyte biblyografye (Holocaust survivors’ bibliography) (Stuttgart, 1949), p. 41.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 311.]