MONYE SHAPIRO (October 13, 1898-May 21, 1931)
He was
an author of poetry and stories, as well as a translator, born in Volpe
(Woupa), Grodno Province, the husband of Dine Libkis. Until age fifteen he studied in yeshivas,
later receiving ordination into the rabbinate.
He ran off to Vilna and turned his attention to acquiring a general
education. In 1918 he moved to Russia
and until 1920 studied in Kharkov in the former Grodno course of study. He later settled in Kiev and worked there as
a teacher. He debuted in print in 1918
with a social poem in Moscow’s Der emes
(The truth). He later contributed poems on
the revolution and civil war to Soviet Yiddish publications: Kharkover vokhnblat (Kharkov weekly
newspaper), Tog (Day) in 1919, Shtern (Star) in Kharkov, Komfon (Communist banner), Veker (Alarm), Shtrom (Current), Royte velt
(Red world), Prolit (Proletarian
literature), Shtern in Minsk, Yungvald (Young forest), Freyd (Joy), Yunge gvardye (Young guard), and New York’s Frayhayt (Freedom) and Hamer
(Hammer), among others. His work also
appeared together with Dovid Hofshteyn, Shifre Kholodenko, Perets Markish,
Itzik Fefer, Leyb Kvitko, and others in the literary collection: Yugnt (Youth) in Kharkov (1922), edited
by Arn Kushnirov. His work was also
published in the anthologies: Ukraine
(Ukraine) in Kharkov (1926); Shlakhtn
(Battles); and Leyb Kvitko’s Deklamator
(Declaimer) (Kharkov: State Publ., 1929).
Over the course of his short life, he was one of the most enthusiastic
writers in the establishment of Soviet Yiddish literature.
In book
form: Fartog (Dawn), poetry (Kiev:
Vidervuks, 1922), 32 pp.; Veygeburt
(Birth pangs) (Kiev: Vidervuks, 1922); In
ershtn yugnthoyz, tsen kapitlen fun unzere teg (In the first youth hostel,
ten chapters from our days) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1925), 83 pp., second
printing (1929); Lider, 1923-1929
(Poetry, 1923-1929) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1929), 80 pp.; Yung lebn, dertseylungen (Young life, stories) (Moscow-Minsk:
Central Publ., 1930), 200 pp.; Dos
sovetishe rekht (Soviet right) (Moscow: Central Publ., 1931), 62 pp.; Eyner fun milyonen, lider (One in a
million, poetry) (Kharkov: Literatur un kunst, 1932), 69 pp.; Dertseylungen (Stories) (Kharkov-Kiev: USSR
state publishers for national minorities, 1932), 175 pp. His translations include: Matvii Yavorskyi, Kurtse geshikhte fun ukraine (Short
history of Ukraine [original: Korotka
istoriia Ukraïny]) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1925), 146 pp., second edition
(1927); N. Andreyev, Oyfkum fun
kapitalizm (The rise of capitalism [original: Vozniknovenie kapitalizma]) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1925), 63 pp.; V.
Sorokin, Groyser oktyabr, a shmues mit pyonern
(Great October, a chat with pioneers [original: Velikii oktyabr]) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1925), 30 pp.; Anna
Ulianova-Elizarova, Ilitshes kinder-yorn
(Ilich’s [Lenin’s] childhood years [original: Detskie gody Ilʹicha]) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1926), 37 pp., second
edition (1930); Evgenii Elachich, Heymishe
balekhaim, zeyer opshtam (Domestic animals, their origins [original: Domashnie Zhivotnye]) (Kiev:
Kultur-lige, 1926), 61 pp.; Vladimir Miroshevskii (with A. Veldenitski), Khrestomatye tsu der geshikhte fun
tsvishnfelḳerlekher proletarisher yugnt-baṿegung (Reader in the history
of the international proletarian youth movement) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1925), 238
pp.; Gleb Aleksandrenko, Ḳonstitutsye
fun u.s.r.r. un f.s.r.r. (Constitution of the USSR and the FSSR) (Kiev:
Kultur-lige, 1928), 95 pp.; Lucy Fitch Perkins, Kinder fun okean (Children of the ocean) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1929),
93 pp.; Ouida [pseud. Maria Louise Ramé], In
step (In the steppe) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1928), 37 pp.; V. Kaverin, Di balagerung fun vinter-palats (The
siege of the Winter Palace) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1930), 47 pp.; S. Grigoriev, Lokomotiv (Locomotive) (Kiev:
Kultur-lige, 1930), 61 pp.; Grigoriev, Der
vayser soyne (The white enemy) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1930), 55 pp.; Ralf K.
Rolenato, Vasil rolenato in amerike
(Vasil Rolenato in America) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1930), 116 pp.; V. Reznichenko,
Dnyeperboy (Construction on the
Dnieper [River]) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1930), 40 pp.; Alfred Götze, Af hamburger barikades (At the Hamburg
barricades) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1931), 46 pp.; V. Lvovitsh, Ven s’helft nit keyn harmatn (When
artillery is powerless) (Kharkov-Kiev: Central Publ., 1931), 47 pp.; Vladimir
P. Drunin, A. i. zhelyabov (A. I.
Zheliabov) (Kharkov-Kiev: USSR state publishers for national minorities,
1932), 60 pp.
He died in Kiev. Dovid Hofshteyn wrote in his obituary for
Shapiro, “Baym frishn keyver” (At a fresh grave): “Hollow emptiness,
simplicity, profound love, which is absorbed into the everyday—this was his
essence, and thus the soft, intimate M. Shapiro became one of the first
fighters for proletarian literature.”
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications
in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1962), see index (he erroneously
confuses Monye with Moyshe Shapiro); Itzik Fefer, in Prolit 4-5 (1931); Literarishe
bleter (Warsaw) (1931), p. 561; Dovid Hofshteyn, in Komunistishe fon (Kiev) (May 6, 1931).
Berl Cohen
[Additional information from: 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. 373-74.]
M. Shapiro translated into Yiddish Onzog funem pionerishn tsunoyfli. - Kiev: Kooperativer farlag "Kultur-Lige", 1930.- 160 pp.
ReplyDeleteאנזאג פועם פיאנערישן צונױפלי
יידיש - מ. שאפירא
M. Shapiro translated from Russian into Yiddish S. Grigoriev's Der royter baken (Красный бакен).- Kiev: Kooperativer farlag "Kultur-Lige", 1930.- 55,[1] pp.
ReplyDeleteדער רױטער באקען
ס. גריגאריעװ; יידיש - מ. שאפירא
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMistake:
ReplyDeleteM. Shapiro didn't translate Grigoriev's Der vayser soyne (The white enemy) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1930), 72 pp.
The translation was done by A. Pyatigorskke/Anyuta Pyategorskaya
ANYUTA PYATIGORSKAYA translated from Russian into Yiddish S. Grigoriev's Vayse soyne (Белый враг=White enemy).- Kiev: Kooperativer farlag "Kultur-Lige", 1930.- 72 pp.
דער װײסער סױנע
ס. גריגאריעװ; יידיש - א. פיאטיגארסקע
Mistake :
ReplyDeleteThe correct spelling of the surname of the Russian writer is KAVERIN Veniamin Aleksandrovich (1902-1989) the author of Di balagerung fun vinter-palats.
Correction made, with thanks and apologies.
ReplyDeleteMistake correction in the title :
ReplyDeleteVasil Rolenko in Amerike
Ralf K. Rolenato ; yidish - M. Shapiro
װאסיל ראלענקא אין אמעריקע
ראלף ק. ראלענאטא ; יידיש - מ. שאפירא
Both R. Rolenato and Vasil' Rolenko are the pseudonyms of the author Кулик, Иван Юлианович (1897-1937) [Kulik Ivan Yulianovich] an Ukranian writer of Jewish origin. His real name is Кулик, Израиль Юделевич [Kulik Israel Yudelevich].
He spent 3 years in Amerika (1914-1917) working at the plants and mines of Pensilvania.