YANKL RUBENTSHIK

YANKL RUBENTSHIK (1903-1975)

            He was journalist and editor, born in Minsk, the son of a bricklayer. He took up a variety of trades. He was one of the organizers and active leaders of the Komyug (Communist youth) movement in Byelorussia. In 1929 he graduated from the Institute of Journalism in Moscow, and then he returned to Minsk and worked in the Byelorussian press. He edited Der yunger arbeter (The young worker) (Minsk, 1925-August 25, 1928; the journal was published 1922-1935), which was a training ground for nurturing creative strength for young Jewish writers in Minsk. The group that emerged around the newspaper included: Moyshe Teyf, Note Lurye, Note Vaynhoyz, Mendl Lifshits, and Rivke Rubin, among others. In his later years, he submitted articles to Byelorussian newspapers and letters to Party authorities against anti-Semitic agitation in the press. The articles were not published, and the authorities threatened him with punishment. However, he did not cease doing what he did. He wrote for Yungvald (Young forest), and he compiled the collection Akhter mart (March 8) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publishers, 1925), 79 pp. In book form: Di rekht fun der arbeter-yugnt in ratn-farband (The rights of working youth in the Soviet Union) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publishers, 1925), 112 pp. He died in Minsk.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), index.

Khayim Maltinski 

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 553; and 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), p. 360.]