Translated by Jim Bisso
p.217
'Haynt' understood the importance of humor in a daily paper at an early stage in its history. It published original jokes and humorous articles relating to the political and social issues of the day. This had been an important reform of the Jewish press. Before you might find jokes about mothers-in-law, sons-in-law on 'kest', grass widowers or women's fashion. Also jokes about cantors or community guardians. 'Haynt' did not print that type of trite calendar jokes (as that type of stale jokes, found on the back side of calendar pages, was called), they were keen on finding original humorous materials.
In the 'Haynt anniversary book 1908-1928', p. 14, Lipe Kestin (1888-1939)[1] mentions how the start of this new trend had been quite modest: they introduced a feature named 'daily aphorisms'. In order to encourage readers to send in jokes the editorial staff announced a reward of 3 rubles for the author of the best joke of the week; quite a nice sum in those days.
Yatskan[2] understood the value of the 'happy end'. He knew that it was good to end an article on an optimistic note or with a joke. To quote Kestin, when he asked how a writer could come up with so many jokes every day, Yatskan answered: "Why? If a Jew needs an income he got to be able to tell jokes."
Before long humor became a standard feature of 'Haynt', in the form of columns[3] and jokes about actualities. The weekly humorous articles by Zalman Wendroff (1879-1972)[4], who was a permanent member of the staff from 1909 on, had the most success.
In his stories under the general name 'pravozhitelstvo' (residence permit) he depicted with much humor the misery Jews had to suffer from Tsarist military police because of the prohibition to settle outside the Pale of Settlement. Every week Friday 'Haynt' published a new episode with comical situations. It made the readers laugh even though the adventures of the persecuted Jews related by Wendroff with humor were actually not funny at all.
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Pravozhitelstvo became such a hit that in 1912 the publisher Yehudiye came out with a selection from his columns in book form, as a free gift to the readers[5]. The book was a success and two more volumes in the Pravozhitelstvo series, 'The broad Smile' and 'Laughter through Tears' had the same success.
Wendroff published colums and street scenes in 'Haynt' , describing life in Warsaw and sketches of Jewish life in the province under the title : ' About Jewish Towns an Shtetls. During World War I he wrote a lot about the homeless and about wounded soldiers. His longer articles with more lasting literary value he used to sign with Z.Wendroff, for his shorter columns and miniatures he used several pen-names all based on his name, among others W. N. Draf and W. N. D-f.
When the Russians evacuated Warsaw in 1915 Wendroff went to Moscow. During the period of Stalin's action to eradicate Jewish writers he was sent to a camp with other Jewish authors. He was one of the very few that did not get shot.
I. Sh. Goldsteyn (The Jolly Pessimist)[6], about whom more further on in this chapter, told the author that he used to meet Wendroff in Moscow during the war years. Wendroff used to be well dressed, not at all like normal people in Russia could afford. Wendroff told Goldsteyn in confidence that he had bought his fine clothes with the fees he received from 'Forward' in New York for his articles. Without that he would have gone dressed in rags.
Moyshe Gershn Feldsteyn (1933-1978)[7] regularly published humorous colums in 'Haynt'. Feldsteyn was a Maskl, an adherent of the Haskalah[8]. He spoke in an easy-going way, slowly, lacing his speech with a Talmudic quote[9], an aphorism, a joke. He wrote just like the man he was, with refined and often naive humor, rather calling for a smile than for laughter, never aiming at ridiculing anyone. His pen-name was 'Mr. Moyshe" and his columns came out under general titles. For instance: 'Letters from the Nalevkes' (The center of Jewish trade in Warsaw)[10] or: 'Business Conversations'.
He was a big hit in bourgeois and business circles. He spoke their language, had an intimate knowledge of their lives, habits and worries. He also wrote often about their 'dependant ', the wide variety of
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badly paid exploited servants, the so called 'people with someone'.
Feldsteyn was rector of the "Khinekh" (Education) Gymnasium[11] and the job eventually took up so much of his time that he did not have time left to write. Eventually he disappeared from the 'Haynt' columns.
In 1911 Dovid-Ber Kuczer (1883-1978)[12] started publishing jokes and humorous poems in 'Haynt'. In 1916 he became a permanent staff member and he carried out several functions on the editorial staff. However, he always looked for a position that would enable him to make use of his talents as a humorist. Kutshner created his own original genre, the mini-report on Jewish life in Warsaw in the form of dialogues. His heroes were simple folks, every-day characters, wronged, harmed by life, by the surrounding harsh world. He wrote the same way they spoke: The Warsaw mother tongue of the common people. The material for his sketches he found at the Rabbinate, among the people who had come for a rabbinical judgment, or in the gmina (kehile)[13], among the poor at the alms department and in the streets, or in the market halls[14], among the przekupkas, the huckstresses[15] and the big 'ladies' looking there for bargains. Especially on Fridays, shortly before the lightening of the candles, when the huckstresses would run home to be in time for the beginning of Shabbat. Kuczer knew how to evoke that strange world of Jewish poverty with a few well-chosen lines. He wrote these reports with humor, mixed with sadness and pity for his heroes. The circumstances were without any hope, his types, small people, poor, awkward, lost in the brouhaha of the big city.
Kuczer was the author of the biography of the Jewish folk-hero Zishe Breytbard (1887 – 1925)[16], an escapologist in the Warsaw circus, who tore up chains, bit iron bars and did other similar wonders. Kuczer did not have to put any his own jokes in Breytbard's mouth. People were delighted and ran to the circus to pay their respect to their hero, advertised as 'the strongest man on earth'.
In the course of twenty years between the two world wars Kuczer published several humorous magazines. During the last eight months before the Second World War he published the satirical weekly 'The Buffoon'[17]. Menakhem Kipnis[18], Yosif Tunkel[19] and Avrom Shulman[20] worked also on it.
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During the war Kuczer was send to a camp in Siberia. After the war he settled in Paris. His book "geven a mol varshe' (There was once a town called Warsaw)[21] received in 1956 a reward from the Jewish World Congress in France. In 1971 he received a reward for his novelle 'di karuzele' (The Carousel)[22].
Zwi Kohen[23] wrote small columns in 'Haynt' for several years. In 1920, after 'Haynt' had fused with 'dos Yidishe folk'[24], Kohen emigrated to the United States where he wrote for the 'Forward'.
Menahem Kipnis was one of the most colorful characters within the Jewish writers' community in Poland. His articles about music in 'Haynt', his incomparable humorous columns and the hundreds of concerts of folksongs over several decades made him popular and beloved. In every Jewish house the name Kipnis was mentioned with a happy smile. Young and old read his columns in 'Haynt', holding their sides from laughter about his notions and humorous situations. He was a master at the fine and pure Jewish situational humor. No satire, no jest, but causing laughter without hurting anyone was his style. He never ran out of themes for his 'humoresques'. He wrote columns that afterwards were published in book form. He wrote columns about cantors, about choirboys, about Jewish theater and artists, about the Warsaw opera, about synagogues and prayer houses. He wrote stories about ' Yankev Nar' (Jacob the Fool), the name given by Jews to Germans during World War One, told stories about the 'Chelmer Fools'[25], wrote 'Conversations', between Jews in the Krashinski[26] park in Warsaw. When the Hellerists[27] tore off beards of Jews (see chapter 4) he wrote a humorous series called 'Beards'.
Especially one column in 'Haynt' made him very popular. Kipnis created the character of a fervent Polish anti-Semite, a fool with a dense mind. He only knew one thing: Jews were the enemies of Poland and they should be put in their place[28]. He did not have a name, only a title: Mr. Maecenas[29]. He would address Kipnis as: "pshiyatshelu kokhani", my dear friend[30]; an allusion to the fact that every anti-Semite has his private 'good Jew'.
Mr. Maecenas spoke about Jews foaming a the mouth. He would take his 'dear friend' in his confidence, telling him that he had found out horrendous secrets about the Jewish intrigues to bring down the Polish state and pleaded
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with him for justice and fairness in the face of the flooding by Jews.
Their meetings took place at the well known coffeehouse 'Semadeni[31]' on the Theater square in Warsaw., in the opera building. While drinking 'half a black' (halve a glass black coffee) Mr. Maecenas would fulminate, preach fire and brimstone on the Jews. His 'friend' usually got the better of him, proving what a fool he was believing the tales from the 'Endek[32]' press. Jews had fun with it and hardly could wait for the next Friday to come for the continuation of the endless 'discussions'.
Some years before the war Kipnis introduced something new to 'Haynt': Short portrait-interviews with people from all walks of life, illustrated with their photograph, especially taken for the occasion. I could be an important Jewish personality, but also a pauper, a beggar well know in the streets of Warsaw. Now he depicted a 'heder'- boy, another time a famous Jewish visitor from abroad. These 'portraits' as Kipnis called them, printed on the back of the paper, in the first column, gave extra appeal to the paper.
Kipnis was in the habit of starting to tell stories about things that just had happened in the streets on his way up to the office as soon as he came in. His colleagues knew, that this way he kind of rehearsed for his next episode of 'Mr. Maecenas' or for another humorous piece.
Kipnis had a great collection of pen-names. The articles in the Friday or Holiday editions he signed with his full name, the smaller columns and music reviews he signed with: Metronome, Mephistopheles, Yitzchak Booze[33], Sphinx, Night-wanderer or with whatever name came to his mind that moment.
Kipnis sparkled with temperament, humor, optimism. In the editorial offices he never stuck to one place, but wandered from one person to another, having a kind word for everyone and telling stories. He was a small, lean man with a pockmarked face and a cataract in one eye. His hair was painted black. Yatskan kibitzed him, saying that some people still remembered him being grey – a sure sign that he was not really such a youngster as he pretended to be.
Kipnis collected all kinds of things. He had rare antique watches, pen-holders, walking canes, cameras, cuff-links, tobacco boxes – all kinds of things
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you wouldn't find anywhere if not in a museum.
He had watches that gave light at night, watches that rang or played out the quarters, half hours and hours, watches with special dial faces, indicating day, month and year, watches that were extremely thin and small or big and clumsy, watches in crazy shapes. None of these watches went well, but that did not bother Kipnis.
His pen-holders were also curios. Small as a cigarette or long as a cigar, thin as a straw or thick as a water pipe, weighing a pound. The grips ranged from ordinary ones to items crafted from silver and gold – real rarities. Kipnis' pens had one thing in common, they all produced very big letters and he was the only person who could use them. He wrote in a huge script, circular and intertwined. He would write and cross out, write on and make changes, write anew and cross out again. He used wide and long sheets of paper, half a meter long. He could not write more than four, five words a line across and not more than eighteen lines from top to bottom. A column by Kipnis took 30-35 of such sheets. At the editorial offices they once weighed his pens on the scales, for fun. He explained that he made use of such heavy pens, because only these could hold the amount of ink needed to write down his articles with. Kipnis was proud of his antiquities and he loved to show of at the office with his newly purchased items.
His cameras Kipnis did not collect for the sake of collecting, but for a purely practical reason. He was an excellent photographer and his portraits of Jewish characters and scenes of Jewish life were published in 'Haynt' , 'Forward' (New-York), 'Yidishe Bilder' (Jewish pictures) (Riga)[34] and other papers.
Kipnis was a rare master of music[35]. Already as a child he was famous as a choir boy in prayer houses and at parties. Cantors used to take him up in their choirs to help during the Days of Awe. When he came to Warsaw he went to the conservatorium and he took singing lessons from private teachers. In 1902, after an examination concourse, he entered the Warsaw State Opera as first tenor of the choir. He was the only Jew and sang for 16 years.
During the First World War period he became famous with his concerts of Jewish folksongs. Together with his wife, Zemarah Zeligfeld, he travelled up and down along
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the occupied territories.
Also after de First World War the Kipnis-Zeligfeld concerts remained popular both in the country (Poland) and in Western Europe. His contribution to the popularization of Jewish folk-music can hardly be overrated. He recovered hundreds of forgotten songs and published to bundles with scores that sold thousands of copies in all Jewish settlements all over the world[36].
Menakhem Kipnis was the first professional critic of music among Jews. His articles and reviews in 'Haynt' gave him the well earned renown of a number one critic of music and helped to propagate the interest in music in general and in Jewish singing in particular. Kipnis was very serious about his duties as a reviewer of music. He himself was a former choir boy well versed in the traditions of synagogue choirs of Wolhynia, where he was born. On Rosh Hashana and during Yom Kippur and often on a normal Sabbath he went from one Synagogue in Warsaw to the next to listen to the cantors, to write a review of their performances afterward. Cantors trembled for him. When he entered a synagogue the people praying there would get a real treat, because the cantors gave their very best trying to satisfy Kipnis in the hope that he would write a good review about them. They knew that their career depended on his articles: the caretakers of the synagogues used to spell out what Kipnis wrote
Menakhem Kipnis died in 1942 in the Warsaw Ghetto from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 64. Emanuel Ringelblum mentions in his 'Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto' (see p. 342)[37] that Kipnis collected lots of materials for a diary. After his death attempts were made to incorporate these materials in the archives of 'Oyneg-Shabes[38]', but his widow did not consent. She herself was transported away from the 'Umslag-Platz[39]' and there is no trace left of the materials. All his life Kipnis collected materials about Jewish music, both folk music and religious music. He brought together a rare collection, but all of it got burned in the Ghetto.
During the hard years of the German occupation during World War I 'Haynt' published every week Fridays and on the Eves of High holidays (except on Yom Kippur) a whole page with jokes and humorous poems, relating to the actualities of the time. This humorous page was named: ' Der Lediggeher' (the loafer). The editor was Pinkhas Kats (1891-1942?)[40]. The first issue of 'Der Lediggeher' came out in number 208 on 15 October 1915.
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Pinkhas Kats was a gifted humorist. He wrote jokes in prose and verse, light columns, street scenes and reports. Kats left 'Haynt' in 1923 because of a conflict with the management.
Berl Kuczer and Moyshe Leyzerovitsh[41] filled his place, but only temporally, until a permanent editor for the humor page could be found. This happened during summer 1925, when B. Yeushson[42] moved from the 'Moment[43]' to 'Haynt' (see chapter 8).
The humorous writer Yosif Tunkel (der tunkler, 1881-1949)[44] left the 'Moment' at the same time as Yeushson. He was allowed to do the same thing in 'Haynt' as he had done in the 'Moment': editing the weekly humorous section, called 'Der Krumer Shpigel' (the distorting mirror), the same name his section in the 'Moment' had before. He went to work and started producing materials for the Friday issue.
The accomplished fact that two of its important contributors left within the same week hit the 'Moment' hard. It caused a big upset, because they had nobody who could replace Yeushson and it was not easy to find a talented humorist who was able to deliver a full page of humor weekly. The management of the 'Moment' succeeded in finding a substitute for Tunkel in the person of Yosef Shimen Goldsteyn (1978-1984)[45]
from Lodz. There he had worked for local Jewish papers. They brought him to Warsaw in a hurry to fill Tunkel's place. Meanwhile Tunkel felt remorse and decided to stay with the 'Moment'. Next Friday 'der krumer shpigel' was published both in the 'Moment' and in 'Haynt' and people had even more fun about the writer than about his jokes.
'Haynt gave Goldsteyn a contract and neither party ever regretted it. They changed the name of the humor page in ' der kolboynik[46]' and the new editor would sign with 'der lustiger pesimist' (the jolly pessimist). He had a refreshing, sprankling kind of humor, describing comical situations. In short, the section got a different look. Goldsteyn wrote with a sharp pen, flashy. He had a good sense for political problems and for life in society. Every week the 'Kolboynik' brimmed over[47] with banter[48], songs, excellent[49] jokes and caricatures of political figures, jokes about society issues or institutions. Everything was original, prompting laughter. Even the people he made fun of laughed along, because Goldsteyn was not pernicious or hostile.
After the cooperative 'Alt-Nay' took over 'Haynt'
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Yosef Shimen Goldsteyn started to write rhyming humorous columns on a regular base, twice a week. He revealed a rare gift for an artful play on words, for rhyming words in a way that went so much against all grammatical rules and against the spirit of Yiddish that no one else would have thought of them. He was gifted with an exceptional feeling for the nuances of the language, he was well versed in all particularities of his mother-tongue, Yiddish, and in the dialects and provincialisms of oral Yiddish in Poland. He amazed his readers weaving Jewish popular sayings together with sayings from the Gemara and Polish sayings. The lines rhymed smoothly and the sparkling humor ran smoothly from the successful quilt of the 'lustige pessimist'. Both in his rhymed columns and in his other works his humor was a kind of mixture between old-Frankish wedding entertainer's art[50] and modern satire on quite a higher literary level.
Yosef Shimen Goldsteyn was born in the Bałuty neigborhood of Lódz ( a poor working class neighborhood in Lódz). His father was a Wurker Hasid[51]. He used to tell that there was little money coming into he house, but that there were lots of children. He learned at heders, in study houses, studied with private tutors, took educational courses. When he had enough of it and had left the study house, he tried his luck at being an accountant with a wholesale paper business. The proprietor, Mr. Avrom-Yitskhok Akawije[52], a Radomsker Hasid, could claim to employ young persons that later became writers. One of them was Zalmen Zilbertsveyg[53], who later became a 'Haynt' correspondent, first in Lódz and later in Israel (see chapter 10 and his article in the second part). Moyshe Elboym (1902), who[54] worked in Warsaw for the 'Warsaw Express[55]', was after World War II a contributor of 'Forward' in New York, until his premature[56] death in 1969. He had also been with[57] Avrom-Yitskhok Akavije in Lódz.
As indicated in chapter 10, Goldsteyn was was one of the 'Haynt' society reporters. He excelled with his expressive[58] reports on public meetings and especially with the interviews he made with foreign celebrities visiting Poland. Despite his several duties at 'Haynt' Goldsteyn found time to work for the stage. He wrote comic monologues and sketches for the cabarets 'Ararat', 'Der yidishe bande' (The Jewish group), 'Sambatiyen' and 'Azozl' and especially for the duo of artists Shimen Dzigan and Yisroel Shumakher[59]. A lot of his material was during this period performed by both
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artists together (and after Shumacher's death by Dzigan alone[60]) for their word-concerts[61] in Israel and America. Goldsteyn's name as a humorist was known in Polish literary circles. He wrote for the Polish weekly 'Cyrulik Warsawski' (The Warsaw Barber)[62], where famous polish writers published. The journal excelled with its high literary level and refined humor. Goldsteyn had his own section in it.
During World War II he turned up in Russia, in one of the distant Asiatic provinces. In 1950 he came to New York from Israel, where he became a contributor to 'Forward'. Besides other articles he continued writing rhymed columns. These columns had the same success in America as they had once on the 'left side of the page' in 'Haynt'. He changed his pen name to 'Yosl der Griner (Yosl the Green one)[63] and instead of Polish he now used English slang in his poems.
The American-Jewish literary critics were attracted by Goldsteyn's talents as a humorist and especially by his rhymed columns. The poet and publicist Jacob Glatstein (1896 – 1971)[64] wrote an article about him in the 'Idisher Kempfer' (The Jewish Fighter)[65], (issue of November 22, 1961, p. 10). Glatstein was delighted[66] by Goldsteyn's original talent, the way he reacted in a humorous way to every-day occurrences. Above all he praised the 'Yosl der Griner' columns, saying about them "truly masterly and skilful in language. ... Not a trace of the usual vulgarity or heavy handed, forced and squeezed out humor."
During the week, almost daily, 'Haynt printed mini-columns by Dr. Yehoshua Gottlieb[67], B. Yeushson, Y. M. Neumann[68] or A. Einhorn[69] (see chapters 8, 9 and 20). They wrote with lots of humor, often with sharp satire. Eventually light humor superceded the modest 'daily aphorisms' and together with the columns and comic stories they took a place of importance in 'Haynt. The paper and its writers helped to lift up the spirits of the readers. In a period of persecutions and all kinds of molestations they provided the luxury to be able to forget ones misery for a short while and they gave the pleasure to make fun about the persecutors and often , as is a typical Jewish habit, to make fun of oneself.
In the course of time young journalist arrived, who did an excellent job with their columns. One of them was Meir Berenholts (1902 ?)[70]. He started out as a technician, but
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soon made a name for himself as a good columnist. Eventually they took other duties away from him and he wrote columns and humoresques under the pen name M. Selim. He died in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Aharon Tsefonit (pen name of the Yiddish-Hebrew writer Aharon Fridensthtayn)[71], one of the night editors of 'Haynt', often wrote small feuilletons, which he signed with ' Ba‘al ha-Turim '. The war years he passed in Soviet-Russia. In 1949 he came to Israel and became a member of the editorial staff of the 'Yiddish hour' on 'Kol Tzion LeGola[72]'. He died at the age of 56 in 1965. Berenholz and Tsefonit worked for several Hebrew publications before they came to work for 'Haynt'.
Together with the humorous materials 'Haynt' also published caricatures. The first caricature was printed in number 177, Tuesday, July 31st, 1912. During the inter bellum period caricatures appeared on the ' kolboynik' page. These caricatures were made by Yehoyshua ( Sh.) Feygnboym[73], based on themes provided to him weekly by J. S. Goldsteyn.
The poet and typographer Hayim Goldberg (Khage) [74] would technically prepare the plates in his zincographic workshop 'Grafikon'.
Sh. Feygnboym perished in the Warsaw Ghetto. Hayim Goldberg worked during the war in a zincographic workshop in Bialistok. There he died in 1943 at the age of 53 in the ghetto, together with his wife and child.
[1] The Catalogue of the New York Public Library (CATNYPL) gives: Kestin, Lipe, 1889-1918.
[3] Text: feliyeton. Engl. feuilleton - OED:
feuilleton: In French newspapers (or others in which the French custom is
followed), a portion of one or more pages (at the bottom) marked off from the
rest of the page by a rule, and appropriated to light literature, criticism,
etc.; an article or work printed in the feuilleton.
The translation 'column' is used here. However, It's not merely a synonym for "column". It doesn't cover op-ed opinion columns, etc. It's an "essay, review, light fiction, and similar articles of general entertainment" (American Heritage Dictionary).
[4] CATNYPL: Wendroff, Zalman, 1879-1971
[5] Wendroff, Zalman . b.1877/79? – d. 1971. Pravozhitelstvo: gut oysgefihrt. Vilna ; Varsha : Yehudyiah, [19--?]15 p
[6] I. Sh. Goldsteyn ???
[7] Feldsteyn, Moyshe Gershn (1933-1978) ???
[8] Haskalah – Jew. Enlightment movement
[9] text: maymer-khazal, der – aforizm fun di gelernte, vos vert dermont in talmud
[10] Nalevka – name of a street in Warsaw
[11] gymnasium – Britt. Classical Grammar School; Am. High school / College.
[12] Kuczer, Berl, - see footnotes 21-22
[13] P. kmina – community = kehile
[14] Text: hales
[15] P. przekupka, Y. hendlerke
[16] Breitbard, Sigmund, 1883-1925. Zishe Breytbart, der moderner Shimshen ha-giber: an interesante lebns-bashraybung dertsehlt fun ihm aleyn. Nyu York, N.Y. : Ferlag "Ha-gevurah", 1925.
[17] Text: der payats
[18] Kipnis, Menahem, 1878-1942
[19] Tunkel, Joseph, 1881-1949 (Der Tunkeler)
[20] Shulman, Abraham ?
[21] Kuczer, Berl, - Geven amol Varshe : zikhroynes. (Il était une fois Varsovie. Mémoires). Paris 1955. 322 pp.
[22] Kuczer, Berl. Di karuzele. Paris. 1970. 276 pp.
[23] Kohen, Tsevi / Cahn, Zwi (1895 - ) ???
[24] dos yidishe folk ???
[25] Khelemer mayses gezamlt un baarbet fun M. Kipnis. Sh. Tsuker, Varshe. 1930
[26] Ogrod Krasinskich
[27] halertshikes: Hellerists. see chapt 6: the "Hallerczycy," the "Blue Army" of volunteers under General Jozef Heller (1873-1960), which was organized in France to fight in Poland towards the end of World War One. They were responsible for antisemitic pogroms in Galicia and the Ukraine (see Encyclopaedia Judaica 7:1200-1201)
[28] Text: men darf mit zey makhn "pozhandek > P.porz ądek >
[29] Text: "pan metsenas" (h' advocat) >P. prawnik, adwokat = lawyer
[30] P. przyjaciel – friend + kochany – beloved
[31] http://www.muzeum-polskie.org/vr/swiss-pol.htm
Since the beginning of the 19th century, many Swiss confectioners from Poschiavo ran over 60 well-known cafés and confectioneries in Poland (fourteen of them in Warsaw). Family names such as Semadeni, Maurizio, Vassali, Zamboni, Zappa, Tossio, Lours and many others were known all over Poland.
[32] http://library.thinkquest.org/C004509/parlimen.htm
The conservative branch of parliament was ruled by the National Democratic Front (the Endek or Endecja). The Endecja was always officially anti-Semitic. Its losses to Pilsudski after independence only strengthened its heated rhetoric. Its philosophy was ethnically chauvinistic -it believed Poland was defined by a intrinsic Polish sense of character. Jews were alien and harmful to this spirit.
[33] Text: spirt
[34] yidishe bilder (rige) ???
[35] Text: balmenagn – zinger, khazn
[36] Folks-lider / fun M. Kipnis un Z. Zeligfelds kontsert-repertuar. A. Gitlin, Warsaw. [1918-1925]
[37] Ringelblum, Emanuel, (1900-1944). Notitsn fun Varshever geto. : Yidish bukh, Varshe, 1952
Notes from the Warsaw ghetto : the journal of Emmanuel Ringelblum / edited and translated by Jacob Sloan. McGraw-Hill, New York, [1958]
[38] oyneg-shabes – shabesdik fargenign; nomen funem konspirativn "tsentral historishn arkhiv" in varshever geto, geshafn sof 1940 un koordinirt durkh d"r [doktor] emanuel ringelblum.
[39] umslag-platz > G. Umschlag - transfer-square
[40] Compare: Kats, Pinye, (1882-1959). Tsu der geshikhte fun der Idisher zshurnalistik in Buenos Ayres : Aroysgegebn fun Idishn literatn un zshurnalistn fareyn in Argentine, Argentine. 1929.
[41] Moyshe Leyzerovitsh ???
[42] Yeushson, B. (Bunem), (1889-1942) = Justman, Moshe Bunem, (1889-1942)
B. Yeushzohn. Apikorsim : bilder, stsenes ... fun der Yudisher gas. A. Gitlin, Varsha , 1913
[43] der moment – name of a daily paper published in Warsaw from 1911-1938?
[44] Der Tunkeler, 1881-1949. = Tunkel, Yosef, 1881-1949 = Yoysef Tunkel
Der Tunkeler. Der krumer shpigel . Varshava, 1911?
Yosef Shim‘on Goldshtayn. Gegramte felyetonen un zikhroynes. Farlag Brider Shulzinger, Nyu-York , 1976.
[46] kolboynik – man vos hot ale shlekhte eygnshaftn; oysvarf
[47] Text: iz fun geven > ful
[48] Text: sharzhen – G. Scherz ?
[49] Text: treflekhe – G. trefflikh
[50] Text alt-frenkishn badkhones > badkhones - the type of improvisation characteristic of badkhonim, entertainers at wedding parties.
[51] Terkst: vurker khosid: Follower of R. Isaac of Vurke/Warka (1779-1948). Warka is situated 53.6 km SSW of Warsaw.
[52] With many thanks to several members of the Jewish Genealogy SIG Lódz and special thanks to Mr. Yale J. Reisner of The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Warsaw, Poland: The name has an Aramaic ending and is the same as in 'Aqavya ben Mahalalel'. In the telephone directory of Lódz 1929 he is listed as: Akawie, A.J. paper warehouse, Piotrkowska 56 tel: 10-6-65. On his Marriage certificate (1891) his name is given as: Akawije, Abram Icek. Mr. Reisner provided me with many more details, including the number of the postal savings account, but they are rather irrelevant in this context.
[53] Zalmen Zilbertsveyg = Zilbertsveyg, Zalman, (1894-1972) = Zylbercweig, Zalmen, (1894-1972). ha-Noded ha-nitshi : mahazeh be-ma‘arakhah ahat / Herman Hai'ermans ; targum, Zalman Zilbertsvaig. ha-Bimah, Lodz , 1917. (translation of the Dutch writer Herman Heiermans)
[54] Moyshe Elboym (1902-1969) ???
[55] der varshever ekspres - ???
[56] Text: fritsaytikn toyt – G. früzeitik
[57] Text: a 'mentsh' bay ...
[58] Text: bildlekhe > G. bildlich
[59] From the Mendele Review: Shimon Dzigan was born in Lodz in 1905; he played the quick witted boor with Israel Schumacher in Lodz before they fled Hitler, travelling to Russia and eventually settling in Israel in the early 50's. Dzigan played the quick witted boor while Schumacher was the slow, sedate fellow and was a perfect counterfoil.
[60] http://www.savethemusic.com/yiddish/bin/halloffame.cgi?Page=yiddish&Bio=dzigan
Dzigan and Shumacher.-
Before WWII Dzigan and Shumacher were based in Lodz, Poland. They became famous
among Jews all over Eastern Europe for their special brand of Yiddish humor on
the stage and in film. After surviving the war by escaping to Russia, they
spent some time performing first in Poland, where they made the film Unzere
Kinder, and then in France and elsewhere in the West, before eventually
settling in Israel, where they continued their career on the stage and on
radio. After Shumacher's death, Dzigan formed a Yiddish comedy troupe and went
on to create numerous records, radio shows, and even created two Yiddish
Television programs that aired on Israeli Television in the 1970's.
For some of their records, see:
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/freedman/lookupartist?hr=&what=2215
[61] Text: vortkontsertn
[62] Cyrulik Warsawski – a literary weekly ???
[63] Yosl der Griner> [Greenhorn] > a green person, i.e. an immigrant who has not yet been Americanized.
[64] Yankl Glatstein (1896-1971) = Glatshtain, Ya‘akov, (1896-1971) = Glatstein, Jacob, (1896-1971)
[65] Originally: Der Idisher kempfer. Philadelphia : Poale Zion, 1906-1920. Began on March 30, 1906. Ceased on Aug. 20, 1920. Published in Philadelphia 1906-1907; published in New York 1907-1920. Several suspensions of publication.
Later: Organ of: Poale-Zion-Zeire Zion of America, May 2, 1932-Apr. 19, 1946; Poale Zion Organization of America, Apr. 26, 1946-July 17, 1964.
[66] Tekst: anttsikt – delighed, charmed >G. entzückt
[67] Gotlib, Yehoshu‘a, (1882-ca. 1940 or 41) = Gottlieb, Yehoshua
[68] Nayman, Yehezkel Mosheh, (1893-1956) = Neumann, Yeheskel Moshe, (1893-1956)
[69] A. Eynhorn = Einhorn, Aharon, (1884-1942).
[70] Meir Berenholts (1902) - > Berenholz >Bernholz ??? Pen Name: M. Selim. (died in Warsaw Ghetto).
[71] Aharon Friednshtayn > Fridenshtain . Pen name Aharon tsade-fey-nun-tav = Tsefonit ? . Signs as : Ba‘al ha-Turim > balhaturim > author: arbe-turim (Jacob ben Asher, ca. 1269-ca. 1340) ???
[72] Kol Tzion Le Gola (Zion's voice to the diaspora). Later: Kol Israel Legola
[73] Yehoyshua ( Sh.) Feygnboym >Faygenboym >Feigenbaum > Figenboim ???
[74] Comp.: Shnayderman, Sh. L. (Shemu'el-Leyb), 1906- Ven di Vaysl hot geredt Yidish / Sh. L. Shnayderman ; ilustratsyes fun Hayim Goldberg. Tel Aviv : Farlag Y. L. Perets, 1970.