BEN-TSIEN NAKHMEN

BEN-TSIEN NAKHMEN (b. 1907)

            He was born in a village near Buchach (Buczacz), Galicia.  Until age fourteen he studied in religious elementary school, later graduating from a middle school in Czernowitz.  In 1932 he graduated from Prague University in chemical engineering.  Until 1939 he lived in Czernowitz, where he was active in Jewish cultural and community life and in the Labor Zionist party; thereafter, until 1963, he lived in Chile.  He was an active builder of the local Jewish school system.  He debuted in print with an article on “Leyzer shteynberg un zayne masholim” (Eliezer Steinberg and his fables) in Der shpigl (The mirror) in Buenos Aires (1951), and from that point he went on to publish articles on literature and theater and film reviews in: Der shpigl, Di prese (The press), and Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper)—in Buenos Aires; Haynt (Today), Do (Here), and Folksblat (People’s newspaper)—in Montevideo; Der veg (The way) in Mexico City; and Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; among others.  He was one of the principal contributors to Dos yidishe vort (The Jewish word) in Santiago de Chile, in which he published articles on a variety of topics.  He also placed work in the Spanish-language Jewish and Spanish press in Chile.  He was last living (from 1964) in Tel Aviv.

Sources: M. H. and M. Y., in Dos yidishe vort (Santiago de Chile) (December 20, 1963); Y. Gotlib, Yorbukh fun poylishn yidntum (Annual of Polish Jewry), vol. 1 (New York, 1964), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks