SHOYEL SOKOLOVSKI

SHOYEL SOKOLOVSKI (1894-1942)

            He was born in Radom, Poland, into an impoverished family.  He studied in religious elementary school, yeshiva, a Russian public school, and later through self-study.  He was a cofounder of “Hazemir” (The nightingale), a drama studio, and Jewish folkloric circles.  At the time of WWI he stood with the Jewish Folkspartey (People’s party) and supported himself by giving private Hebrew lessons.  He published poems in Hatsfira (The siren) in Warsaw, and he compiled a Hebrew textbook.  He was a fervent defender of Yiddish.  He published poetry in: Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper), Folksblat (People’s newspaper), and Lubliner togblat (Lublin daily newspaper), among others.  He contributed as well to Leyb Malakh’s Radomer vokhnblat (Radom weekly newspaper) (1921), later to: Dos radomer lebn (The Radom life), Radomer tsaytung (Radom newspaper), and Meyer Horde’s Radomer-keltser lebn (Radom-Kielce life) (1926-1939), in which he placed poems, short stories, and articles.  He was murdered by the Nazis together with many other Radom Jews.

Sources: Dos yidishe radom in khurves (Jewish Radom in ruins) (Stuttgart, 1948), p. 25; information from Nosn-Dovid Korman in Philadelphia.

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