ITSHE-MEYER PLIAT

ITSHE-MEYER PLIAT (1885-August 9, 1965)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland.  He was among the first newspaper workers in the Lodz Yiddish press.  He was a storyteller, a humorist, and an author of novels and of plays.  He contributed to: Lodzer-nakhrikhten (Lodz reports) (1906), Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper) (1907-1920), Folksblat (People’s newspaper), Nayer lodzer morgnblat (New Lodz morning newspaper), Di yetstike tsayt (The contemporary times), Literatur (Literature), and Der yudisher zhurnalist (The Jewish journalist) in Lodz; and Romantsaytung (Fiction newspaper), Der shtrahl (The beam [of light]), and Teater-velt (Theater world) in Warsaw; among others.  He also published under such pen names as Ploni and Almoni.  In 1920 he immigrated to the United States.  For several years he worked as a teacher in Workmen’s Circle schools.  At the same time, he published essays and novels in: “Di blut fun lebn” (the blood of life) in Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), “Afn opgrunt fun lebn” (At the precipice pf life) in Tog (Day), Frayhayt (Freedom), and Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom), among others.  In Lodzher almanakh (Lodz almanac) in New York (1934), he published the work: “Di yidishe arbeter in lodzh beys der daytsher okupatsye, 1915-1918” (The Jewish laborer in Lodz during the German occupation, 1915-1918).  From 1938 he was working as a proofreader for an English-language book publisher.  In 1955 he settled in California.  He died in Los Angeles.

Sources: Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks