YITSKHOK PERLOV (ITZJOK PERLOW)

YITSKHOK PERLOV (ITZJOK PERLOW) (February 1, 1911-November 16, 1980)

            He was born in Biała Podlaska, Poland.  He was orphaned at age seven.  He studied in yeshiva and high school.  From his childhood years he was always wandering.  During WWI he was living in Minsk, later until the Nazi occupation in Warsaw.  He spent the years 1940-1946 in the Soviet Union.  He was thereafter in Lodz and in the camps for Holocaust survivors in Germany.  In 1947 he traveled illegally to the land of Israel aboard the Exodus, and the ship with the immigrants (including Perlov) was sent back to Germany by the British mandate authorities.  The second time Perlov made aliya in a legal manner in 1949 and lived in Israel until 1961.  From 1961 he was a resident of New York.  He debuted in print in 1928 with a series of poems in Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in Warsaw.  From that point he regularly contributed work to: Haynt (Today), Moment (Moment), Radyo (Radio), Ershter shnit (First cut), Zalbe akht (Group of eight), Shtivl afn bruk (Boot on the pavement), and Varshever bletlekh (Warsaw sheets), in Warsaw, and he edited the last three of these; Bafrayung (Liberation), Unzer veg (Our way), Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper), and Vokhnblat (Weekly newspaper) in Germany; Dos vort (The word) and Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris; Haynt, Letste nayes (Latest news), Lebns-fragn (Life issues), Tsanin’s Ilustrirte vokhnblat (Illustrated weekly newspaper), and Haboker (This morning), among others, in Israel; Der shpigl (The mirror), Di prese (The press), and Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Argentina; and Tsukunft (Future), Forverts (Forward), and Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor), among others, in New York.  Published books include: Frunza verde (Green leaf), poetry (Warsaw, 1932), 166 pp.; Untergang, lider un poemen (Downfall, poetry) (Warsaw, 1932), 160 pp.; Estrade lider (Poems of Estrada) (1934), 96 pp.; Blondzhende kayafn, roman fun aktyorishn lebn (Wandering comedian, a novel of an actor’s life), two volumes (Warsaw, 1936), 196 pp.; Unzer like-khame, lider 1939-1946 (Our solar eclipse, poetry 1939-1946) (Munich, 1946), 157 pp.; Unzer regnboygn, baladn un lider (Our rainbow, ballads and poems) (Munich, 1948), 64 pp.; Eksodus-1947, poeme un andere lider (Exodus 1947 and other poems) (Munich, 1948), 90 pp.; Di mentshn fun eksodus 1947 (The people of Exodus 1947), a novel (Buenos Aires, 1949), 430 pp.; Der tsurikgekumener, roman (The one who returned, a novel) (Buenos Aires, 1952), 550 pp.; In eygenem land (In one’s own land), Israel stories (Buenos Aires, 1952), 349 pp.; Matilde lebt (Matilda lives), stories (Buenos Aires, 1954), 242 pp., for which he received the Tsvi Kessel Prize in Mexico City, 1955; Ahava venedudim, sipurim (Love and wandering, stories), stories in Hebrew translated from the Yiddish (Tel Aviv, 1954), 304 pp.; Dzhebelye (Jebelye [concentration camp]), a novel (Buenos Aires, 1955), 392 pp.; Flora ingber, a hoyz in tel-aviv (Flora Ingber, a house in Tel Aviv), a novel (Tel Aviv, 1959), 353 pp.; Mayne zibn gute yor, roman fun a freylekhn polet in rotnfarband (My seven good years, a novel of a happy refugee in the Soviet Union) (Tel Aviv, 1959), 396 pp.; in addition, two novels of his appeared serially in Forverts, Di kenigin fun di zumpn (The queen of the marches) and Der elnder dor (The lonely generation).  He also wrote a considerable amount for the stage—plays, sketches, monologues, and songs.  The longer works that were performed in prewar Poland include: “Goldene zangen” (Golden songs), a play in three acts (1938); “Abi men zet zikh” (As long as we meet again), a play in three acts (1939); and “Blinde pasazhirn” (Blind passengers), a play in three acts (1939), among others.  Perlov also translated Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago into Yiddish, 2 volumes (Tel Aviv, 1959).  He edited a number of publications (poetry and memory volumes).  His books were translated into Hebrew, English, and other languages.  Among his pen names: A. Bril, Y. B. Avromarin, Itshe Matlyes, and S. Itskhakov.  He died in New York.

Sources: Y. Varshavski (Bashevis), in Forverts (New York) (November 28, 1954; April 8, 1956; May 14, 1961; June 4, 1965); Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (October 26-27, 1955); A. Sh. Yuris, in Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (March 1956); Sh. Slutski, Avrom reyzen-biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen’s bibliography) (New York, 1956), no. 4822; Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958), pp. 327-28; A. Lis, Heym un doyer, vegn shrayber un verk (Home and duration, on writers and work) (Tel Aviv: Y. L. Perets Library, 1960), pp. 127-32; A. Glants-Leyeles, in Folks un velt (New York) (June 1962); Biblyografye fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books concerning the Holocaust and heroism) (New York, 1962), see index; Y. Emyot, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (February 21, 1965).

Khayim Leyb Fuks