Joseph Opatoshu

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Josef Opatoschu

Joseph Opatoshu (German Joseph Opatoschu , Polish Józef Opatoszu , Yiddish יוסף אפאטאשו, actually Josef Meir Opatowski ; born January 1, 1887 in Mława , Russian Empire ; died October 7, 1954 in New York ) was a Yiddish-speaking writer, one of the most important novelists and Yiddish-American literary novelists.

Life

Joseph Opatoshu grew up in Poland. His father was a rabbi, his mother came from so-called forest Jews who were active as forest traders and administrators. He attended the commercial school in Warsaw and from 1906 the Polytechnic in Nancy .

In 1907 he emigrated to the USA (New York City), where he worked as a factory worker and teacher of Hebrew, while continuing his studies, which he finished as an engineer in 1914. From 1914 he wrote for the New York Yiddish daily Der Tog ( Der Tag ) for 40 years .

He published hundreds of short stories, short stories and novels that appeared in several Yiddish magazines, and is considered the most important representative of the Di Yunge ( The Young ) group of writers , which formed in New York at the beginning of the 20th century and gave Yiddish-American literature important impulses .

One of Opatoshu's friends was Marc Chagall , who portrayed him and created the frontispiece for his novel A tog in Regensburg ( A day in Regensburg ). His son David was an actor and screenwriter.

Opatoshu died on Yom Kippur Day 1954. His grave is in the Arbeter Ring Cemetery in New York City, near the graves of Scholem Alejchem and Yehoash (Solomon Blumgarten, 1870–1927).

Works (selection)

Publication / time of origin known

  • Of that sat brick. 1910 (his literary debut)
  • Morris in san sin Filipp. 1913
  • Vin New York Ghetto. 1914
  • Roman vin a Ferdsganef. 1917
  • Aleyn. 1919 ("Alone", novel)
  • Away on both sides. 1919 (novella)
  • Farloyrene Mentschen. 1919
  • In pojlische welder. 1921 ("In Polish Forests") ( filmed in 1929 )
  • Arum the churbes. 1922
  • Rush. 1923
  • Di Tentserin. 1929
  • The riot. 1929
  • Arum Grand Street. 1929
  • A tog in Regensburg. 1932 ("A day in Regensburg")
  • One day in Regensburg. Translation from Yiddish by Evita Wiecki and Sabine Koller, Verlag Karl Stutz, Passau 2008, ISBN 978-3-88849-129-0 .
  • The last Oyfstand. 1948-1952

Without year or not determined

  • Americanization
  • The naie world
  • Hibro
  • Teacher
  • shadow
  • Unlimited possibilities
  • Underworld
  • Gypsies

Literature / sources

  • Hillel Zeitlin , In: Moment. XI. 1920
  • Noah Steinberg, Young America. I. 1921
  • Grandstand. XI. 1922
  • M. Balaban , In: Book World. 1922
  • HD Nomberg , In: Book World. 1923
  • Nachman Meisel , In: Literary sheets. 1925
  • Salomon Wininger 1925 ff. Vol. IV
  • Salman Reisen , Leksikon ... 1926 ff.
  • ZF Finkelstein, article Opatoschu, Joseph. In: Jewish Lexicon . Vol. IV / 1, Berlin 1927
  • Literary sheets. 1, 1928
  • Brockhaus encyclopedia. (13th volume), Wiesbaden 1971
  • John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) And a .: Lexicon of Judaism . 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 , col. 598.
  • Günter Stemberger : History of Jewish Literature , 1977
  • Agnieszka Rudnicka: Opatoszu, Józef. In: Julius Hans Schoeps (Ed.): New Lexicon of Judaism. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1992, ISBN 3-570-09877-X .
  • Sabine Koller: A day in the Jewish town of Regensburg with Joseph Opatoshu and Marc Chagall. Stutz, Passau 2009, ISBN 978-3-88849-963-0 .
  • Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography . Volume 4. Chernivtsi, 1927, p. 364f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press release of the University of Regensburg, February 17, 2009
  2. ^ "Morris and his son Philipp". In Ignatoff's anthology Writings
  3. ↑ Stories, published in the collector's book Die naie heim. which he published with.
  4. ^ "Novel of a horse thief". In Ignatoff's anthology Writings. Filmed in 1971. The story of a horse thief, whom Opatoshu met as a child and later glorified as a kind of modern Robin Hood.
  5. ↑ "Lost People". Describes the life of Jewish emigrants in America.
  6. ↑ Romantic trilogy : Part 1: In pojlische welder. 2nd part: 1863 , 3rd part: A Roman vin a Waldmädel , depiction of Jewish-Polish life in the 19th century, German translation "The last Waldjude" and others; Opatoshu's main work, on which he worked for ten years. Partly also translated (by Mordechai Lipson) into Hebrew. Further translations: English (1938, by Isaac Goldberg), French, German (Siegfried Schmitz), Polish (Saul Wagmann). In this far-reaching romantic narrative, Opatoshu deals with Hasidic life in Kotzk , the pilgrimage site of the Polish Hasidim ( Kotzker Rebbe ), the Polish uprising of 1863, remnants of the Shabbetai-Zvi movement, Napoleon, Polish noblemen and Jewish “forest people”.
  7. ^ Representation of medieval Germany, including descriptions of the milieu of the previously tabooed Jewish half-world and underworld, presented with great narrative pleasure. Translated into Hebrew in 1943, translated into English in 1968 by Jacob Sloan.
  8. ^ The last uprising , novel in 2 volumes, about Bar Kochba and the everyday life of the Jews in the 2nd century AD. Translated into English (1952) by Moshe Spiegel, into Hebrew (1953) by Ascher Ben-Yisrael.
personal data
SURNAME Opatoshu, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Opatowski, Josef Meir (real name); Opatoschu, Josef; Opatoschu, Joseph; Opatoszu, Jozef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Yiddish writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Mława
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1954
Place of death new York