HERMAN
(YOYEL) SOLNIK (February 25, 1869-1943)
He was born in Blashki (Błaszki),
Kalish (Kalisz) district, Poland. Until
age twenty he studied in synagogue study hall and later, under the influence of
the Jewish Enlightenment, he took up a secular education and studied foreign
languages. For many years he worked as a
private tutor, later as an “advocate” he ran an office that wrote requests to
the authorities. In August 1914, when
the Germans carried out a massacre of residents of Kalisz, he fled to Lodz and lived
there until the end of the war. He
subsequently returned to Kalisz, where he was a prominent community leader; he
was a Zionist councilor on the city council and a member of the Jewish
community administration. He began his
writing activities with a poem “Yerusholayim” (Jerusalem) which appeared in Der yidisher historiker (The Jewish
historian) in London (1890), later publishing poems, feature pieces, stories,
and articles in: Der veg (The path), Unzer leben (Our life), Di naye velt (The new world), Roman-tsaytung (Fiction newspaper), and Der shtrahl (The beam [of light]), among
others, in Warsaw; in Hebrew in Hashavua
(The week) in Cracow; and Dr. Grünwald’s Jüdische
Bibliotek (Jewish library) in Cracow-Vienna (1909); among others. He also contributed pieces to: Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper), Folksblat (People’s newspaper), and Di yetstige tsayt (Contemporary times)
(four issues, Lodz, for which he served as editor). He served as editor of the weekly Kalisher blat (Kalisz newspaper)
(1922-1936), and placed work in Kalisher
tog (Kalisz day) and Dos kalisher
vort (The Kalisz word), among others.
In book form: Fun himel un erd
(From heaven and earth), poetry collection (Warsaw: Kultur, 1912), 44 pp.; Fun altn kloyster, legendn un dertseylungen
(From an old church, legends and stories) (Warsaw: B. Kletskin, 1932), 119
pp. He also published under such
pseudonyms as: Dr. Malakhi, Amicus, and Hesol.
During WWII, he was confined in the Kalisz ghetto and later the Lodz
ghetto, from whence he was taken to Auschwitz and murdered there.[1]
Solnik in center
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2;
Bal-Makhshoves, in Der fraynd (Warsaw)
(February 6, 1913); Y. M. N. (Nayman), in Haynt
(Warsaw) (July 17, 1933); Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), see index; Z. Kaplan, in Foroys (Mexico City) (February-March
1964).
Khayim Leyb Fuks
[1] Translator’s note. According the Polish Wikipedia entry
for Solnik, he died in the Warsaw Ghetto. (JAF)
No comments:
Post a Comment