DOVID-LEYB
(ARYE) NAYMARK (December 11, 1891-September 10, 1960)
He was born in Shedlets (Siedlce),
Poland. He studied with his father in
religious elementary school and in a yeshiva.
At age fourteen he began to make money by giving Hebrew lessons in
private homes. Together with his
friends, former yeshiva lad, he published a Hebrew work, Hayehudi hatsair (The young Jew); and with his fellow townsman, Y.
H. Fishman, he edited and published (1910) Dos
shedletser vort (The Siedlce word)—several issues appeared. He was also active in the Siedlce association
“Yidishe kunst” (Jewish art), at which he gave public lectures on literary
topics. In 1916 he became an active
member of the Bund, wrote party proclamations and appeals, and traveled around
on party assignments through the towns of Siedlce and other districts in
Poland. His journalistic activities
began around 1909 or thereafter with correspondence pieces in Hebrew and
Yiddish newspapers. In 1920 he went to
Warsaw, and from there the central committee of the Bund sent him (1921) to do
party work in Lemberg, eastern Galicia.
There he edited the Bundist weekly, Arbeter-shtime
(Workers’ voice), while at the same time publishing correspondence pieces in
New York’s Forverts (Forward). In 1924 he settled in Warsaw and was a
regular contributor to the daily Bundist Folks-tsaytung
(People’s newspaper), for which he wrote the chronicle and served as night
editor. Under the pen name “Arye,” he
published political notices, which were a big hit with the reading public. He also commented on events in the land of
Israel. Until 1939 he traveled through
Poland as a lecturer and speaker on behalf of the Bund, agitating during
elections to Jewish community councils and to city councils, and during
political elections to the Polish Sejm.
With the outbreak of WWII, he left on foot from Warsaw, remained in
Vilna for a short while, and from there with help from the Joint Distribution
Committee and the Jewish Labor Committee, he immigrated (1941) through Soviet
Russia and Japan to Canada. He lived in
Montreal for a time, where he worked for the Canadian division of the Jewish
Labor Committee and traveled on assignment through various cities in
Canada. He later moved to the United
States, lived in Detroit, and was regular contributor to the Detroit edition of
Forverts in New York. From 1952 he was living in New York. He was an internal contributor to Forverts, in which he wrote news and
published articles, book reviews, and remembrance volumes for which he had a
special interest. He also placed a
variety of articles in: Unzer tsayt
(Our time) and Der veker (The alarm)
in New York (toward the end of his life, he wrote numerous articles and critical
reviews which he signed: D. Naymark, D. Shedletski, Arye, and R. Feder); Lebns-fragn (Life issues) in Tel Aviv;
and Unzer shtime (Our voice) in
Paris; among other serials. He also
wrote a chapter of memoirs, “Mayn tate moyshe mortkhe a’h” (My father Moyshe
Mortkhe, may he rest in peace), in Yizker-bukh
koriv (Remembrance volume for Kurów) (Tel Aviv, 1955). He was a member of the New York organization
of the Bund and of the Jewish Socialist Association (he administered several
national tours on its behalf and on behalf of its organ, Der veker), and he gave speeches for both groups. In 1959 he was a delegate to the second
conference of the World Jewish Culture Congress in New York. He visited Europe and the state of Israel in
1960. After returning from this trip, he
planned to write up a series of newspaper articles on the voyage, but he fell
sick and after a severe illness died in a New York hospital. He wrote as well under such pen names as: D.
Krameyn and A. Veggrav.
On September 12, 1960, an editorial
in Forverts noted:
He was an extraordinarily responsible, intelligent, and gifted
journalist, who had already established a name for himself in the old country,
in Poland, where he began and developed his literary career. He possessed great general and Jewish
knowledge and had a profound interest in political and community issues, as
well as issues in Yiddish literature and culture generally. He was seriously dedicated to his work which
he considered an important social duty that he always fulfilled with devotion,
diligence, and energy. Naymark survived,
like many other Jews, a severe personal tragedy, due to the murder of his family
in the camps of Hitler; and he carried this tragedy in himself like a heavy
burden which always depressed his mood and saddened the final years of his life
in America. He expressed the pain in his
writing which was permeated with sadness and grief. When there was peace in his life, he made a
trip to Israel, from which he returned full of fresh impressions that he
collected to impart to readers of Forverts. However, the first attempt at this, right
after his first article which was not to see the light of day, he fell ill and
never returned to himself.”
B.
Shefner wrote as follows shortly thereafter:
Naymark was a fine writer; his articles possessed wisdom,
writerly technique, a folkish, vigorous language, and frequently even a refined
humor, the humor of a learned man. More
than a fine writer, however, Naymark was an honest, conscientious writer. His writing had grounding, for behind the
lines stood an ideological man who was prepared to defend his convictions under
all conditions and seasons and to pay the highest price that a person could pay. This earned him the respect and love of his
colleagues…. Every month Naymark gave
away about half of his modest salary (around $150 of $350) to various
charitable causes. He would also always
busy sending packages to his relatives near and far and just to acquaintances
and those he didn’t know who had turned to him.
He needed very little for himself.
He rarely bought a new article of clothing. For years he did not attend the theater or
even go to the movies. He was constantly
hearing the cries about him of the murdered children, and he derived some satisfaction
from reading and reviewing remembrance volumes of various Jewish cities and
towns. This made his melancholy deeper. He felt all the more that his place was
there, not here.”
Sources:
B. Shefner, Novolipye 7, zikhroynes un
eseyen (Nowolipie 7, memoirs and essays) (Buenos Aires, 1955), p. 225;
Shefner, in Forverts (New York)
(September 17, 1960); Shefner, in Di
prese (Buenos Aires) (October 23, 1960); Sefer yizkor lekehilat shedlets (Remembrance volume for the Jewish
community of Siedlce) (Buenos Aires, 1956), p. 281; Kh. Liberman, in Forverts (October 16, 1959); Unzer shtime (Paris) (May 7, 1960;
September 21, 1960); Y. Bershteyn, in Forverts
(September 26, 1960); Y. H. Fishman, in Unzer
tsayt (New York) (October 1960); Y. Rotnberg, in Foroys (Mexico City) (October 1960); Der veker (New York) (October 1960); A. V. Yasni, in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (October 5,
1960); Lebns-fragn (Tel Aviv)
(October-November 1960); M. Elboym, in Forverts
(October 26, 1960); Miriam Apelboym, “May feter dovid naymark, a’h” (My uncle
Dovid Naymark, may he rest in peace), Forverts
(January 1, 1961); Y. Horn, in Idishe
tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (January 3, 1961); H. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto (Diary of the Vilna ghetto) (New York: YIVO,
1961), see index.
Benyomen Elis
