MOTL SHTURMAN

MOTL SHTURMAN (1908-1995)

            He was a poet, born in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, into a poor family. He spent his youth in the town of Sokolivke (Yustingrad), Kiev district. In 1919 his father was murdered during a pogrom, and the family moved to Uman, where he entered a children’s home and began to work in a factory. In 1925 he came to Kharkov. He graduated from a trade school and went to work as a locksmith at a train depot. He debuted in print in 1925 with a poem in the newspaper Yunge gvardye (Young guard), was a member of its literary group, and went on to publish poetry in the press. After publishing his first volume of poems, In hoykhe korpusn (In tall buildings) (Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers, 1930), 109 pp., he moved to Kiev, where he graduated from the literature department of the institute for professional education; he then entered the Institute for Jewish Culture as a research student. In addition to poetry, he published stories and artistic jottings, and he also translated poems from Ukrainian and Russian. He was evacuated during the years of WWII. From 1944 he was back living in Moscow. In 1949 he was purged, arrested, and deported to a Soviet camp. After being freed in 1956, he came back to Moscow. He published poetry in: Royte velt (Red world), Prolit (Proletarian literature), Farmest (Competition), Sovetishe literatur (Soviet literature), Heymland (Homeland), and a great deal in Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland). His poems also appeared in: Leyb Kvitko, Deklamator (Declaimer) (Kharkov: Central Publishers, 1929); Fertsn oktyabers, literarishe zamlung (Fourteen Octobers, literary collection) (Moscow: Emes, 1931); Shlakhtn (Battles) (Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1932); Revolutsyonerer deklamator zamlung fun lider, poemes, dertseylungen, eynakters, tsum forleyenen, shipln un zingen bay arbeter-farveylung (Revolutionary declamation, collection of songs, poems, stories, [and] one-act plays to read aloud, enact, and sing for workers’ entertainment) (New York: International Labor Order, 1933); and Horizontn (Horizons) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1965). The main genres of his poetry were political lyricism and satire. After the death of his wife, he moved to join his son in Chelyabinsk, where he died.

            Other books by him include: Lider (Poetry) (Kiev-Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1936), 46 pp.; Loyb dem folk (Praise the people) (Kiev-Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1940), 135 pp.

Sources: Horizontn (Moscow) (1965), p. 532; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

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. 380-81.]