HIRSH ETKIN

HIRSH ETKIN (b. ca. 1895)

            He was born in Rezhitse (Rēzekne), Byelorussia, later Latvia.  He studied in religious elementary school, in a Russian high school, and St. Petersburg University to become a lawyer.  Over the years 1930-1927, he worked as a teacher in the secular Jewish schools of Latvia.  In 1928 he became a manager in a school organization in Riga, Latvia, and for many years he was active in the Jewish school organization in Riga.  He was active in the Jewish Folks-partey in Latvia and one of the most devoted leaders for Yiddish and Yiddish culture.  He translated from Latvia the book Yidn un latvishn, dertseylungen (Jews and Latvians, stories [original: Žīdi un latvieši]) (Riga: Logos, 1938), 203 pp. + 5 pp.  Together with Mendl Mark he published in Riga a polemical sheet entitled Klore diburim (Plain words), which appeared every other week—six issues in all, from March until May 22, 1931—with the formal editor listed as Mile Roznfeld.  He survived the years of WWII in Soviet Russia and was last living in Riga, Latvia.

Sources: Yedies fun yivo (Vilna) 9-10 (79-80) (November-December 1938); information from Mendl Mark, Bronx, New York.

Benyomen Elis