ELKONE KHRABLOVSKI

ELKONE KHRABLOVSKI (1885-February 13, 1965)

            He was born in a village near Jędrzejów, Kielce district, Poland.  Until age twelve he studied in religious primary school, after which he had to go to earn a living.  He was an assistant to an elementary school teacher, served in a post responsible for registering woodcutting, and an office employee, among other jobs.  He moved to Częstochowa in 1905, became an active leader in socialist territorialists, and was a cofounder of Jewish trade union associations, of the “Literary Society,” of “Lira,” and other groups in Częstochowa.  From 1926 he was living in the United States, initially in Chicago and later in New York and Los Angeles.  He was active in the Freeland League and in numerous Jewish cultural groups.  He began writing (using such pen names as Yunger Yid) with articles in Tshenstokhover reklamen-blat (Częstochowa advertiser) in 1912, and from that point he was a regular contributor to Yiddish party press of the socialist territorialists and the Fareynikte (United socialist party) in Russia and Poland.  He placed work in: Der shtral (The beam [of light]) in Warsaw (1910-1911) and Unzer veg (Our way) in Warsaw (1918).  He was an internal contributor to: Tshenstokhover vokhnblat (Częstochowa weekly newspaper) (1912-1913); Unzer vort (Our word) (1919); Dos naye vort (The new word) (1920), of which he was editor from later 1922 to 1926; and Unzer shtime (Our voice)—all in Częstochowa.  His work also appeared in: Y. N. Shteynberg’s Dos fraye vort (The free word) in London; and Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom) in New York.  He was a regular contributor to: Kheshbn (Accounting) in Los Angeles; Afn shvel (At the threshold) in New York; Frayland (Freeland) and Unzer shtime in Paris; Dos fraye vort (The free word) in Buenos Aires; and Heymish (Familiar) and Lebns-fragn (Life issues) in Tel Aviv.  He was a member of the editorial board of the remembrance volumes: Tshenstokhover yidn (Częstochowa Jews) (New York, 1947); and Tshenstokhover (Częstochowa) (New York, 1958), for which he wrote a series of pieces on the history of Jewish Częstochowa, images of types of Częstochowa families, and memoirs.  He also published the pamphlet Folk un sheyvet (People and tribe), a few “supplementary words” by Dr. Y. N. Shteynberg (Mexico City-New York, 1951), 29 pp.  He used such pseudonyms as: A. Arbeter, A Bakanter, A Bin, Ekho, and Elkone.  He died in Los Angeles.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen archive (YIVO, New York); R. Federman, in Arbeter-tsaytung (Częstochowa) (June 13, 1924); Dr. R. Mahler, introduction to Tshenstokhover yidn (Częstochowa Jews) (New York, 1947); Y. N. Shteynberg, in Tshenstokhover (Częstochowa) (New York, 1958), pp. 222-24; Afn shvel (New York) (July-August 1959).

Khayim Leyb Fuks