YOYSEF MORGENTALER

YOYSEF MORGENTALER (1894-summer 1940)

            He was born in Byelave (Bielawa), Kutne (Kutno) district, Poland, the son of a weaver.  Until age twelve he studied in religious elementary school, later becoming a weaver himself.  From his youth, he was active in the Bund and was arrested on several occasions.  Over the years 1918-1939, he served as secretary of the Jewish division of the textile workers’ union, while at the same time a committee member of the Bund in Lodz.  He was a Bundist representative on the Lodz city council and the Jewish community administration.  He contributed to: Lodzher veker (Lodz alarm) (1922-1938); Der tekstil-arbeter (The textile worker) and Der sherer-arbeter (The barber) in Lodz—also editor of the latter two.  His work also appeared in: Di tsayt (The time) in St. Petersburg; Naye folkstsaytung (New people’s newspaper) in Warsaw; and other serials.  At the time of the German assault on Poland, he fled to Warsaw, later returning to Lodz.  On September 30, 1939 he was arrested, held for several months in prison and in the Radogoszcz concentration camp, and from there he was deported to Dachau; he later was sent to Oranienburg where he was murdered.

Sources: H. Morgentaler, in Doyres bundistn (Generations of Bundists), vol. 2 (New York, 1956), pp. 177-80; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), p. 250; Y. Sh. Herts, Di geshikhte fun bund in lodz (The history of the Bund in Lodz) (New York, 1958), see index; A. V. Yasni, Di geshikhte fun di yidn in lodzh in di yorn fun der daytsher oysrotung (The history of the Jews in Lodz in the years of the German extermination), two volumes (Tel Aviv: Hamenorah, 1961), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks