DOVID FEFER

DOVID FEFER (May 6, 1892-March 28, 1953)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland.  Until age ten, he studied in religious elementary school.  In 1909 he came to the United States and until his death was a silk weaver in Paterson, New Jersey.  From 1920 he was publishing poems in: Forverts (Forward), Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor), Di feder (The pen), Oyfkum (Arise), and the anthology Shriftn (Writings) 8 (1925-1926)—in New York.  He was a member of the editorial board and a contributor to the Paterson publication Zeglen (Sails) (1924-1927).  His work also appeared in: Lodzher tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper), Nayer folksblat (New people’s newspaper), and the publications of the young poets’ group in Lodz (1920-1926), as well as in Lodzher yizker bukh (Lodz remembrance volume) (New York, 1943).  In book form: Lider (Poems), vol. 1 (Paterson, 1942), 106 pp.; Lider, vol. 2 (Paterson, 1947), 107 pp.  In 1951 there appeared the collection Briv fun shriftshteler in fraynt tsum dikhter dovid fefer (Letters from writers and friends to the poet Dovid Fefer) (Paterson), 96 pp., which includes extracts from criticism of his work.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Moyshe Shtarkman, in Tog (New York) (July 4, 1942); Sh. D. Zinger, in Di feder (New York) (1953), pp. 282-83; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), see index; Biblyografye fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books concerning the Holocaust and heroism) (New York, 1962), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks