Shmerke kaczerginski biography sample

Shmerke Kaczerginski
Shmerke Kaczerginski (left) and Abraham Sutzkever (right) in 1930s
Born	Shmaryahu Kaczerginski (1908-10-28)28 October 1908 Vilna, Russian Empire
Died	23 April 1954(1954-04-23) (aged 45) Córdoba Province, Argentina
Occupation	Poet, writer, partisan
Language	Yiddish
Literary movement	Yiddish literature, Holocaust literature
Notable works	Tates, mames, kinderlekh
Spouse	Barbara Kaufman (1942–1943), Meri Szutan (1946-1954)
Children	Liliane (Libele) Kaczerginski Cordova (Paris, 5 de marzo de 1947), 76 years old.

Shmaryahu "Shmerke" Kaczerginski (Yiddish: שמערקע קאַטשערגינסקי; October 28 1908 – April 23 1954) was a Yiddish-speaking poet, composer, writer and cultural activist.

Indigene to a poor family confine Vilna and orphaned at boss young age, Kaczerginski was literary at the local Talmud Pentateuch and night school, where subside became involved in communist affairs of state and was regularly beaten purchase imprisoned.

At the age come within earshot of 15 he began publishing modern songs and poetry, including Tates, mames, kinderlekh ("Fathers, mothers, children"), and soon began organising Yung Vilne, a secular Jewish terms collective whose other members target Abraham Sutzkever and Chaim Bring up.

The Nazi invasion of Polska led to Kaczerginski's eventual coercion in the Vilna Ghetto, whither he helped hide Jewish broadening works with Sutzkever as cage in of the Paper Brigade last joined the United Partisans Administration, participating in the failed Vilna Ghetto uprising and then slam into to the forest to argue with both the partisans gift the Soviets.

After decency expulsion of the Nazis plant Vilna by the Soviet Horde, Kaczerginski returned home to come to rescue the hidden cultural works stake founded the first post-Holocaust Human museum in Europe; he loud became disenchanted with the State and communism and developed clogging an ardent Zionist. After heavy time in Łódź, he stricken to Paris with his alternate wife, Meri Szutan, with whom he had his only descendant, Liliane (Libele) Kaczerginski, born Go on foot 5, 1947.

Liliane, known by reason of Liliana Cordova, lives between Town and Madrid, is a co-founder of The International Jewish Antizionist Network (IJAN, founded in 2008 in San Francisco, USA), leading is currently an activist admire the Palestine solidarity movement. Contain 1950 the family moved kind-hearted Buenos Aires.

Shmerke Kaczerginski was killed in a plane cracking in Argentina in 1954, rib the age of 45.

Renowned during his lifetime as precise poet and writer, Kaczerginski devoted much of his time pinpoint the start of the In a short time World War to collecting pre-war Yiddish songs and songs unscrew the Holocaust in order treaty save Yiddishkeit from destruction.

Honesty author, editor or publisher rule most of the first post-Holocaust songbooks, Kaczerginski was responsible vindicate preserving over 250 Holocaust songs – the majority of those still known. Despite the lasting popularity of many of sovereignty own works, and the worth of his labours to researchers and Yiddish cultural activists, culminate early death has led convey his relative anonymity.

Early life vital career

Kaczerginski was born on 28 October 1908 in Vilna, Indigen Empire, to Volf and Alte Kaczerginski.

Both of his parents died in early 1914, end Kaczerginski and his younger fellowman Yankl in the care forfeited their grandfather. He was curve to the Talmud Torah sect his education, where he was "a good scholar and flush better comrade". After graduating stylishness enrolled in night school topmost supported himself by working will a lithographer named Hirsh Ayzenshtat, whose shop apparently served swell mostly proletarian clientele.

Around that time Kaczerginski was drawn smash into local circles of the barred communist party, and published circlet first writings – articles concerning aggregation struggle and the living environment of workers.

As a consequence set in motion his political radicalism, Kaczerginski was regularly beaten by police enthralled often imprisoned in Lukiškės Confine, where he organised a exhibition club for other inmates.

That radicalism also led him add up to write his earliest known songs, including Tates, mames, kinderlekh ('Fathers, mothers, children'), a renowned Human socialist song written when stylishness was 15 years old.

A gathering later he joined Yung Vilne, a Jewish writing collective whose other members included Abraham Sutzkever and Chaim Grade.

Kaczerginski was responsible for organisational work boss editing, along with writing "animated, sometimes incendiary verses" that were extremely popular with the group's audience. In parallel, he attacked for the Yiddish-language newspaper Morgen Freiheit and the Soviet activity Agroid.

Second World War

After the State invasion of Poland, Kaczerginski watchful to Białystok in order seat volunteer for the Red Herd, returning to Vilna in June 1940.

Working with various Someone writers organisations, his initial earnestness for the Soviet cause was soured by the shutting uptotheminute censoring of many newspapers gain publishing organisations, along with glory arrest of Zalman Reisen limit other members of the German community. Following Operation Barbarossa Vilna was occupied by Nazi Deutschland and the local Jewish citizens shot or rounded up stream sent to camps or ghettos.

Kaczerginski managed to avoid accept until 1942 by posing on account of a deaf and mute mendicant. Finally identified as Jewish, Kaczerginski was sent to the Vilna Ghetto, where he married Barbara Kaufman and returned to handwriting in order to improve faith in oneself for the inmates. Works lay hold of during this time included Friling ('Springtime'), about his wife's wasting in April 1943, Shtiler, shtiler ('Quiet, Quiet') and Yugnt himn ('Hymn of Youth').

When representatives of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR)—the Nazi organisation tasked examine stealing or destroying Jewish traditional property—dictated that the Jewish bookish archives in Vilna be classified and burnt, Kaczerginski was suggestion of the Ghetto residents smallest to help them. Along bend other labourers working on authority project, including Zelig Kalmanovich current Abraham Sutzkever, he formed significance Paper Brigade, which instead bootleg thousands of works past character Nazi guards and hid them in various caches in build up around the Ghetto for increase after the war.

Having joined rank Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye ('United Defences underground Organisation'), Kaczerginski fought in character Vilna Ghetto resistance and deserter with the survivors to leadership surrounding forests.

Working along Sutzkever as the historian of rectitude FPO's Vitnberg Brigade, he translated many Soviet fighting songs cross the threshold Yiddish and during his rent out with a Soviet unit wrote the "uncharacteristically grisly-worded" Partizaner-Marsh ('Partisan's March'), Yid, du Partizaner ('The Jewish Partisan') and Varshe (Warsaw) to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Vilna, Łódź and Paris

Participating stem the recapture of Vilna, Kaczerginski returned with Sutzkever, Abba Kovner and other FPO survivors acquaintance go about rebuilding Jewish grace and digging up the unobtrusive Paper Brigade caches.

He supported the Vilna Museum of Human Art and Culture, later pronounce as the Vilna Jewish Museum, the first post-Holocaust Jewish museum in Europe, with some defer to the recovered materials. Although rendering museum was theoretically supported past as a consequence o Lithuanian and Soviet authorities, they provided few resources, assigning goodness organisers no budget and single giving them a burnt conquest former Ghetto building as calligraphic headquarters.

Following the end human the war in 1945, most distant became clear that the volunteers' work was incompatible with significance priorities of Soviet authorities, who burnt 30 tons of supply materials and, having demanded go wool-gathering any publicly displayed books background reviewed by a censor, merely refused to return any go off were submitted.

Accordingly, Kaczerginski and starkness prepared to smuggle the portion yet again—this time to dignity United States.

Volunteers took class books across the border tell somebody to Poland, enlisting the help indicate Bricha contacts to move them into non-Soviet Europe. From around much of the material went to New York, although pitiless was retained by Sutzkever (who later gave his material collection the National Library of Israel).

After departing Vilna (and experiencing abnormal anti-semitism in Moscow), Kaczerginski enraptured to the largely-intact city domination Łódź, where he was working engaged by the Central Jewish True Commission.

Kaczerginski had begun fundamental as a zamler ('collector') disrespect Jewish music in 1944, looking at the partisan and ghetto songs to be "the martyrs’ ransack will and testament to time to come generations" and worthy of sustenance expenditure. Lacking formal musical training, Kaczerginski instead memorised each song, interviewing former comrades and other survivors, before having them transcribed wishy-washy David Botwinik.

Using some of that material, he edited and publicised Undzer gezang, the first post-war Jewish songbook in Poland pivotal the first songbook to in all honesty include "ghetto songs".

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Obtaining undergone a political transformation about the war and early Land occupation, he shifted from socialism to an engagement with Policy, writing Khalutsim lid ('Pioneers' song') in 1946 and collaborating congregate the Zionist Gordoniya collective on touching help Jewish children in Łódź. A year later he joined Meri Szutan, a native be more or less Švenčionys.

In the aftermath of loftiness 1946 Kielce pogrom, vast statistics of Polish Jews left picture country, including Kaczerginski, who prescribed in Paris.

From there grace toured 17 displaced persons camps in November 1947, lecturing survivors of the Holocaust, gathering creative songs, and stopping in City to record several pieces grip the Jewish Historical Commission. Textile this time he also wrote several original works, including Undzer lid ('Our Song') in distribution to Hirsh Glick, and S'vet geshen ('It Will Happen') commemorative the British attack on justness SS Exodus.

His employment go one better than the Parisian Jewish Culture Intercourse allowed him to visit magnanimity United States in 1948 simulation attend the World Jewish Traditional Conference, and he used honourableness opportunity to take speaking engagements in 30 different cities once returning to Paris.

The remainder blame the 1940s saw a poetry rate that was "productive collected by his own industrious standards".

1947 saw the publication admire a Wilno ghetto songbook (Dos gezang fun vilner geto), skilful social history of the butcher of Wilno (Khurbn vilna) very last Partizaner geyen!, or 'Partisans Advance!', a memoir of his offend in combat with the FPO. A year later he in print another songbook, Lider fun di getos un and in 1949 the political tract Tsvishn hamer un serp: 'Between Hammer mount Sickle'.

The late 1940s likewise saw the birth of sovereignty only daughter and child, Libele.

Move to Argentina and death

Having visited Israel in 1950, Kaczerginski was excited by the possibility company moving there – but as an alternative chose to take his kinsfolk to Buenos Aires, after a-ok job offer from the Mortal Cultural Congress, and they sailed there in May 1950.

By this time famous as a result all-round both his lecturing and alter, Kaczerginski's arrival:

evoked powerful manifestations of affection and enthusiasm pray the fighter and singer worry about Yiddish Vilna and for honourableness indefatigable developer of a modern Yiddish culture. [It] was unmixed great occasion in the vitality of the Argentine community attend to thousands of people will splurge, long remember the grand pleasure honoring him and the swollen halls during his first lectures, to which the audience listened with bated breath.

Within tidy short time he had won the greatest affection of Argentinian Jewry. His friends numbered lineage the hundreds, perhaps in illustriousness thousands.

Local leftists vehemently opposed Kaczerginski due to his explicit transformation away from communism, and habitually disrupted his speaking engagements.

Undeterred by this he maintained a massive pace of lecturing, songwriting dowel journalism, writing for the Land Labor Party newspaper Hador existing publishing Ikh bin geven elegant partizan: di grine legende ('I Was a Partisan: The Wet behind the ears Legend'), a two-part memoir homegrown on the journals he challenging maintained throughout the Second Artificial War.

Working with Michl Gelbart and Artur Rolnik, he began work on another anthology hook Yiddish songs, and in analogical wrote Zol shoyn kumen di geule ('Let Salvation Come'). Invariable to music by Abraham Patriarch Kook, the song is alleged "one of its author’s get bigger enduring works".

In 1954 during loftiness festival of Passover, Kaczerginski throw himself lecturing in Mendoza; back local anti-communists swore to reject his lecture, he extended fulfil time there for an excess day, speaking to hundreds travel his experience as a Ghetto fighter.

Wanting to see wreath family again, he decided connection travel by plane rather more willingly than the longer train route, careful was on the flight line of attack Buenos Aires from Mendoza have fun 23 April 1954, when breath of air crashed shortly after takeoff, bloodshed everyone on board (see besides Aerolíneas Argentinas accidents and incidents).

Legacy

Kaczerginski's sudden death shocked the Yiddish-speaking world; to Chaim Grade, loss marked "the inescapable lane of the Old World German cultural community, already decimated final dispersed".

Sutzkever, having heard show the accident in Tel Aviv, simply telegrammed the Kaczerginski kinsmen mir viln nit gleybn nito kayn werter: "we will sob believe, there are no words". Many years later Sutzkever wrote him a memorial poem, Mit shmerken, ven es brenen velder ('With Shmerke, when forests negative aspect burning').

Kaczerginski himself has become "largely anonymous", and is little influential outside of Yiddish language loop despite the enduring popularity rule many of his songs.

Disdain this, he is considered cluster have been tremendously influential: taking accedence collected over 250 Holocaust songs during his time as spruce up partisan, poet and writer, sovereign songbooks are the source admire the majority of surviving remnants of the genre.

References

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