Abisch Meisels

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abisch Meisels (born October 9, 1893 in Kulików , Galicia , Austria-Hungary (today: Ukraine ), † February 1959 in London ) was an Austrian-Jewish playwright .

Live and act

Abisch Meisels grew up with his grandparents after the early death of his father Israel G. Meisels, who was a clerk. His grandfather was a cantor , his great-grandfather a rabbi . Meisels was already interested in the theater during his school days and tried his hand at theater texts, inspired by the Bible. In 1910 he escaped to Chernivtsi , where he began an apprenticeship in watchmaking . He became a member of the Tarnopol Gordin Club at an early age , where he also took to the stage. After the outbreak of World War I and the initial setback of the Austro-Hungarian army far beyond its own borders, like a large part of the Jewish population, he fled from the Russian army and ended up in a refugee camp in what is now the Czech Republic , and finally to Vienna. There he wrote his first play: The Tragedy of the Apostate Jewess .

In 1916 Meisels wrote the patriotic play Die Jewish Heldin or Herz und Hand fürs Vaterland (a similar-sounding film, Mit Herz und Hand fürs Vaterland , was produced by the Austro-Hungarian War Press Quarters in 1915 ), which was performed on the Jewish stage in Vienna.

After the war Meisels worked temporarily at the Lviv Jewish Theater. In the 1920s he played in Czechoslovakian health resorts with his own groups, which were mainly composed of Viennese actors .

In 1927 Meisel's first Yiddish revue , Von Sebistow nach Amerika , premiered in the Jewish Artists' Cabaret . Numerous other revues by Meisel appeared there until 1937. After Meisels 'early plays affirmed the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Meisels' later plays (Meisels was a Zionist from 1907 ) were influenced by Zionism, such as the play Auf nach Tel-Aviv , published in January 1928 . His revues were re-enacted in Czechoslovakia, Romania , Łódź and Paris .

Meisels was a member of the Association of Hebrew and Yiddish Press Reporters in Vienna and a correspondent for the Lviv Yiddish magazine Der Najer Morgen . Meisels lived at Wallensteinstrasse 31/17 in Vienna- Brigittenau with his wife Klara (1896–1960), who was born in Lemberg and who was herself an actor on Jewish stages, and their daughter Ruth. He was registered as a journalist and prompter .

After the “Anschluss” of Austria , the family took a theater tour in Czechoslovakia as an opportunity to emigrate. Abisch Meisels and about 100 other journalists were brought from Prague to London by the British, Klara and Ruth could not follow until the end of December. Meisels co-founded the New Yiddish Theater on Adler Street in 1942 , where he continued to work as " playwright " and " prompter ". He adapted plays by Jizchok Leib Perez and Abraham Goldfaden and translated The Merchant of Venice for director Robert Atkins and performed his own plays, Jews Go to Israel and A Wedding in Whitechapel .

Meisels continued to work as a journalist and wrote, among other things, about his memories of the Yiddish theater in Austria, partly under the pseudonym A. Rikelson, which he borrowed from his mother's first name, Rikel. In 1955 he took part in the PEN Congress in Vienna, and in 1959 he died in London.

His daughter Ruth, married Schneider, also became an actress and played at the Jewish Theater Austria in 2007. Her grandson, David Schneider , is a writer and comedian based in London.

Works (selection)

Dramas:

  • 1915: The Tragedy of the Apostate Jewess (Vienna)
  • 1916: After twenty years, the Golem of Prague (Vienna)
  • 1916: Captain Dreifus (Vienna)

Revues:

  • 1927: From Sebistow to America (Vienna)
  • 1928: Off to Tel-Aviv (Vienna)
  • 1929: The Wiener Rebbyzin (Vienna)
  • 1935: Without certificate to Palestine (Vienna)
  • 1936: Hello! Hello! Here Radio Jerusalem (Vienna)
  • 1936: Chassene in the Städtel (Vienna)
  • 1937: Kol Nidre im Galuth (Vienna)

Translations into Yiddish and adaptations in London:

References

literature

  • Brigitte Dalinger: extinct stars. History of the Jewish Theater in Vienna. Picus Verlag, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-85452-420-X , pp. 203f.
  • Susanne Blumesberger, Michael Doppelhofer, Gabriele Mauthe: Handbook of Austrian authors of Jewish origin from the 18th to the 20th century. Volume 2: J-R. Edited by the Austrian National Library. Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-11545-8 , p. 916.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ www.jta.at (accessed on May 18, 2010)
personal data
SURNAME Meisels, Abisch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meyzels, Abisch; Mayzels, Abisz; A. Rikelson (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Yiddish playwright
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Kulików , Galicia , Austria-Hungary , today Ukraine
DATE OF DEATH February 1959
Place of death London