AVROM PERLMUTER

AVROM PERLMUTER (1872-1934)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland.  He studied in religious elementary school, yeshiva, and a German high school.  Until 1906 he was a contributor to the German-language Neue Lodzer Zeitung (New Lodz newspaper), and he was later among the first contributors to the Yiddish press.  He placed work in: Lodzer nakhrikhtn (Lodz reports) (1907) and Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper) (1907-1926).  In addition to poetry, stories, sketches, and newspaper articles, he also published daily features under the pen name Avreml.  He wrote work for: Y. L. Perets’s Yontef bleter (Holiday sheets) in 1895, Romantsaytung (Fiction newspaper), Der shtrahl (The beam [of light]), and Teater velt (Theater world), among others, in Warsaw.  In book form: Mishpet fun kapitan dreyfus (The trial of Captain Dreyfus), four poems (Warsaw, 1898), 24 pp.  He was the first author and publisher of humorous journals and holiday sheets in Lodz, among others: Dos lodzer vitsenblat (The Lodz newspaper of jokes) (1903); Gutvokh (Good evening) and Kukeriku (Cock-a-doodle-doo) (1904); Der lodzer katsef-yung (The young Lodz butcher) (1905); Di baytsh (The lash) and Peysekh-blat (Passover news) (1909); Yontef gelekhter (Holiday laughter) and Fayerlekh (Little fires) (1910).  In 1924 he settled in Germany and became a major dealer in fur coats.  He died in Berlin.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; A. Kirzhnits, Yidishe prese in der gevezener rusisher imperye, 1823-1916 (The Yiddish press in the former Russian empire, 1823-1916) (Moscow, 1930), see index; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks