A. PRINTS

A. PRINTS (April 18, 1901-1989)

            Also known as Ber Grin (Ber Green), this was a pseudonym used by Itsik Grinberg (Isaac Greenberg).  He was born in Yaruge (Yaruha), Podolia.  He was orphaned on his father’s side at age one.  He received both a Jewish and general education.  He survived the pogroms and the civil war in Ukraine and worked (1921-1923) as a teacher in Romania.  In 1923 he moved to the United States, where he worked in sweatshops, was a teacher in Jewish supplementary schools, and studied at Columbia University and Brooklyn College.  He began writing poetry in Hebrew and Russian, and he debuted in print with a poem in Haperaḥim (The flowers) in Warsaw in 1914.  In Yiddish he debuted with a poem, entitled “Ikh” (I), in Di feder (The pen) in New York in 1924.  He contributed poems, sketches, features, essays on literature and art, reviews, articles, and translations to: Di feder, Oyfkum (Arise), Yugnt (Youth), Funken (Sparks), Yidish-amerike (Jewish America), Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom), Hamer (Hammer), Signal (Signal), Yunyon-skver (Union Square), Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture), Heym un dertsiung (Home and education), and Zamlbikher (Collections), among others, in New York; Der kamf (The struggle) in Toronto and Kanader vokhnblat (Canadian weekly newspaper) in Montreal, among others in Canada; Parizer tsaytshrift (Parisian periodical), Oyfsnay (Afresh), and Naye prese (New press), among others, in Paris; Yidishe shriftn (Yiddish writings), Dos naye lebn (The new life), Oyfgang (Arise), and Folksshtime (Voice of the people) in Warsaw; Nay-lebn (New life), Fray-yisroel (Free Israel), and Yisroel shtime (Voice of Israel) in Tel Aviv; and Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland) in Moscow.  In book form: Blumen unter shney (Flower under snow) (New York, 1939), 110 pp.; Naftole botvin, tsu zayn tsentn yortsayt (Naftole Botvin, on the tenth anniversary of his death) (New York, 1935), 48 pp.; Yidishe shrayber in amerike (Yiddish writers in America), essays (New York, 1963), 335 pp.; Eybik grin (Always green), poetry (Warsaw, 1966), 287 pp.—the last two under the pen name Ber Grin; Fun dor tsu dor, literarishe eseyen (From generation to generation, literary essays) (New York: IKUF, 1971), 414 pp.  His plays: Motl peysi dem khazns in amerike (Motl, Peysi the cantor’s [son], in America) and Krig kegn krig (War against war) were staged in Tel Aviv.  He also published under such pen names as: R. Kahir, A. Shprintsin, and A. Yaruger.  From 1931 he was a member of the editorial board of Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom) in New York, where he was last living.

Sources: A. Pomerants, Proletpen (Proletarian pen) (Kiev, 1935), pp. 230-31; Hemshekh-antologye (Hemshekh anthology) (New York, 1945), pp. 245-53, with a bibliography; M. Olgin, Kultur un folk (Culture and people) (New York, 1949), pp. 255-58; Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 3 (New York, 1959); N. Khanukov, Literarishe eseyen (Literary essays) (New York, 1960), see index; N. Mayzil, Tsurikblikn un perspektivn (Retrospectives and perspectives) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1962), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 435.]