VOLF ARTST (WALTER ARTZT)

VOLF ARTST (WALTER ARTZT) (November 11, 1903-July 9, 1999)

            He was born in Dobromyl, Ukraine with the surname Shmulevitsh.  He studied in religious primary school in Dobromyl.  From there he moved to the United States in 1920.  He subsidized a string of Jewish institutions in America and Israel.  Among his works: Nokhn khurbn (After the Holocaust) (Tel Aviv, 1963), 23, 24 pp.  He died in Florida.

SHIMEN ORENSHTEYN

SHIMEN ORENSHTEYN (December 21, 1910-August 27, 1983)

            He was born in the village of Bedevle (Bedeval), Carpatho-Rus’.  His Hebraized name was Aviali.  In 1920 his family moved to Grosswardein, Hungary.  He studied in a secular school, later in a yeshiva.  He then departed for Leipzig where he completed his baccalaureate in R. Karlibach’s school.  Disappointed by Communism, in 1930 he became active in Hashomer hatsair (Young guard) and Heḥaluts (Pioneer).  In 1935 he made aliya to Israel.  From 1947 he was in Czechoslovakia as a researcher for Israeli industry.  In connection with the well-known Slansky trial, he was arrested and in 1953 sentenced to life in prison, but in 1956 he was freed.  He described his experiences in Prague in thirty installments in Forverts (Forward) in 1960.  His autobiography Meoravot (Involvement) (Jerusalem, 1978), 358 pp., appeared in an enlarged version in Yiddish under the title Gerangl (Struggle) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1980), 480 pp.  He also wrote two subsequent books about the Slansky trial in Hebrew: Alila beprag (Libel in Prague); and Lefi pekuda mimoskva (Following orders from Moscow) (Tel Aviv, 1969), 271 pp.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Y. Sharet, in Maariv (Tel Aviv) (April 5, 1968); R. Bund, in Davar (Tel Aviv) (June 16, 1978); Y. Kahan, in Yidishe nayes (Melbourne) (July 24, 1981).

Reuven Goldberg

EUGENE ORENSTEIN

EUGENE ORENSTEIN (b. June 23, 1945)

            His Yiddish given name is Yankev.  He was born in New York and attended the progressive Yiddish children’s schools and Yiddish middle school.  He graduated from New York City College and completed his dissertation in history at Columbia University.  His taught Yiddish literature and Jewish history at the New York progressive Yiddish middle school.  He had worked as a professor of Jewish studies at McGill University in Montreal.  Over the years 1966-1973, he served as literary editor of Yugntruf (Appeal for Yiddish) in New York.  He published articles and reviews on Jewish literature and history in Morgn frayhayt (Morning freedom), Yugntruf, and Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture)—all in New York; Letste nayes (Latest news) in Tel Aviv); and in English-language periodicals and encyclopedias.  He was a contributor to volume 8 of Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur (Biographical dictionary of modern Jewish literature).

SALOMON ORNSHTEYN

SALOMON ORNSHTEYN (b. April 1, 1871)

            He was born in the village of Berezovka, Romania.  In the 1890s he made his way to the United States.  He published a volume of memoirs entitled Shamai toker in amerike (Shamai Toker in America) (New York, 1951), 233 pp.

AVROM HALPERN

AVROM HALPERN (August 15, 1893-April 30, 1956)

            He was born in Stanislav (Stanislavov), eastern Galicia, into a Hassidic family.  He graduated from a business academy in Cracow and the Hochschule für Welthandel (College for international commerce) in Vienna.  During WWI he was an officer in the Austrian army, and thereafter he lived in Vienna, Lemberg, and Köln until 1931.  He then emigrated to Uruguay.  From his early student days he was an active Zionist leader.  He was the first director of the Jewish community of Montevideo and a cofounder of the local Jewish writers’ and journalists’ association.  He debuted in print with correspondence pieces from the war front for Togblat (Daily newspaper) in Lemberg (1915), and later was a regular contributor to Viner morgnpost (Vienna morning mail), Togblat in Lemberg, and to the Polish Jewish Nasz Przegląd (Our review) in Warsaw, in which he also published his Polish translation of Urke Nakhalnik’s memoirs.  In Uruguay he was a member of the editorial board of Der tog (The day), later of Urugvayer tog (Uruguayan day).  He authored the pamphlet (in Yiddish and German) Der veg-vayzer far yidishe sokhrim un industryaln in urugvay (Guide for Jewish businessmen and industries in Uruguay) (Montevideo, 1933).  He was the editor of the Jewish annual register Osed (Future) which appeared from 1948 to 1955.  He also edited the Spanish-language Jewish Revista familiar israelita del Uruguay (Jewish family magazine of Uruguay), which began publication in 1941.  He died in Montevideo.

Sources: Der moment (Montevideo) (May 4, 1956); Y. Vaynshenker, Boyers un mitboyers fun yidishn yishev in urugvay (Founders and builders of the Jewish community in Uruguay) (Montevideo, 1957), pp. 77-78.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

SHLOYME (SOLOMON) HALEVI HALPERIN

SHLOYME (SOLOMON) HALEVI HALPERIN (1869-1935)

            He was born in Warsaw, Poland.  He was a great-grandson of the Magen-Avraham (Avraham Gombiner).  He studied in yeshivas, later becoming a merchant.  From 1902 he traveled through the Polish Jewish towns with his sermons about fortifying the faith, while living in great poverty.  He was also a leader in Agudat Yisrael.  He authored both Hebrew and Yiddish religious texts and pamphlets, such as: Ḥomat hadat vehaemuna (Wall of religion and faith), “thirteen sermons on the idea of the Jewish religion” (Petrikov, 1902), 142 pp., republished several times; Veda ma shetashuv (And know what to say in response), “religious answers; the sincere reader will find herein sufficient material to oppose the apostates,” four brochures (Warsaw, 1926-1927), 196 pp. altogether.  He died in Warsaw.

Sources: Bet eked sefarim; Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic annuals from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928); verbal information from Avrom Zembo in New York.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

YISAKHAR ARTUSKI

YISAKHAR ARTUSKI (May 4, 1903-December 16, 1971)

            He was born with the surname Aykhenboym in Warsaw.  He was initially a Communist activist, and he spent years in Polish prisons for such.  In 1935 he switched to join the Bund in which he became quite active.  First in Warsaw and after WWII he was living in Paris; he moved to Israel in 1951.  He published articles in Folks-tsaytung (People’s newspaper) in Warsaw, Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris, and Lebns-fragn (Life issues) in Tel Aviv—and he edited the last of these.  In 1976 he published: Yid, mentsh, sotsyalist, y. artuski ondenk-bukh (Jew, man, socialist: Y. Artuski’s memoirs) (Tel Aviv: Lebns-fragn), 416 pp.