LEYZER KATSOVITSH

LEYZER KATSOVITSH (October 5, 1903-June 13, 1953)

            A poet, prose author, and playwright, he was born in Minsk into the family of an office employee. He engaged in a variety of labors—in a store as a delivery boy and as in a courier in a bank after the Russian Revolution; and for a short time was also an actor and assistant director with a wandering troupe in Byelorussia. In 1927 he graduated from a technical school for printshop workers in Minsk and until 1931 worked as an engraver and lithographer. A couple of years later he joined the Communist Party. In 1939 he graduated from the state institute for cinematography in Moscow and went to work in a cinema studio. During the years of WWII, he was an editor at Moscow’s All-Soviet Radio Committee. He wrote poetry, stories, fables, and humorous sketches. He debuted in print with poetry in 1920. He published in: Naylebn (New life) in New York; Heymland (Homeland) in 1948; and the Minsk journal Shtern (Star), and from late 1931 he was also a member of its editorial board; among others. He worked successfully as well as a playwright. His first collection of stories appeared in 1926: Kivke der ligner (Kivke the liar). He demonstrated considerable talent as a humorist and author of fables. His work appeared in various collections and anthologies: Shloglerishe trit (Traumatic steps) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publishers, 1932); Atake (Attack) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publishers, 1934); Deklamater fun der sovetisher yidisher literatur (Declaimer of Soviet Yiddish literature) (Moscow: Emes, 1934); Sovetishe vaysrusland (Soviet Byelorussia) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publishers 1935); Tsum zig (To victory) (Moscow: Emes, 1944); Zinovi Kompanayets’s, Finf lider fun yidishe sovetishe dikhter (Five songs from Soviet Yiddish poets) (Moscow: Muzyka, 1960); and Af naye vegn (Along new paths) (New York: Yidisher kultur farband, 1949). His fables were republished several times after his death in Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland) (1966-1968). He died in Moscow.

His writings include: Kivke der ligner, stories for children (Minsk: State Publishers, 1926, 1936), 21 pp.; In yene teg, a pyese in dray aktn mit a prolog (In those days, a play in three acts with a prologue) (Minsk: State Publishers, 1927), 62 pp.; Humoreskes (Humorous sketches) (Minsk: State Publishers, 1933), 116 pp.; Zhukes in kolvirt, eynakter (Beetles on a collective farm, one-act play) (Minsk: State Publishers, 1933), 18 pp.; Kurts un sharf, humoreskes (Short and poignant, humorous sketches) (Minsk: State Publishers, 1936), 113 pp.; “Antshuldikt mayne fraynd” (“Pardon my friends”), parodies of Soviet writers (Minsk: State Publishers, 1937), 64 pp.; Di mishpokhe (The family), a novel (Moscow: Emes, 1946), 158 pp.; Fun heym tsu heym (From home to home), a story (Moscow: Emes, 1946), 223 pp. His translations include: Mikhas' Lyn'koŭ, Vegn dem dreystn kemfer berele un zayne voyle khaṿeyrim, a dertseylung far kinder (The courageous fighter Berele and his fine comrades, a story for children) (Minsk: State Publishers, 1938), 70 pp. Several other books were due to come out, but they do not seem to have seen the light of day.

Sources: Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index; F. Sito, in Shtern (Minsk) (December 1936), p. 106; A. Kushnirov, in Naye prese (Paris) (July 27, 1945); D. Begelson, in Eynikeyt (Moscow) (October 19, 1946); N. Y. Gotlib, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (March 30, 1953); Sovetish heymland (Moscow) 7 (1968); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Berl Cohen

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 477; Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 322-23.]