Jonas Turkow (Warsaw, 15 February 1898 – Tel Aviv, 1 December 1988) was an actor, stage manager, director and writer. He received the

Itzik Manger Prize The Itzik Manger Prize for outstanding contributions to Yiddish literature was established in 1968, shortly before Itzik Manger's death in 1969. Manger "was and remains one of the best-known twentieth-century Yiddish poets." The Prize has been desc ...

for his contributions to Yiddish letters. He was the brother of the actor

Zygmunt Turkow Zygmunt Turkow (6 November 1896 – 20 January 1970) was a Polish actor, playwright, and director of Jewish origin from Warsaw, who became famous for roles in the pre-war Jewish films and stage plays in Yiddish. His brother, Jonas Turkow, was als ...

, the actor and writer Icchak Turkow, and the journalist Marek Turkow; and husband of the famous actress Diana Blumenfeld.

Biography

In Warsaw, he performed in ''Dos artistishe vinkele'' (The artistic corner), which he organized with his brother Zygmunt, in 1916; and worked for a while under the direction of David Herman at the Elysium Theater.Bułat, Mirosława M.
Turkow Family
" ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2016. He also briefly performed in the German comedy theater of the brothers Herrnfeld, in Berlin.Turkov, Yonas
(in Yiddish), in Zylbercweig, Zalmen (ed.), ''Leksikon fun Yidishn teater''. Vol. 2. Warsaw, 1934. Published under the auspices of the Hebrew Actors' Union of America. cols. 871-873. From 1917 to 1920 he played in Esther-Rukhl Kaminska's troupe; in 1921 he organized ''Dos baveglekhe dramatishe teater'' touring Poland and Galicia. Subsequently, he toured with ''Di yunge bine (The young stage)''. In 1926 he was hired to direct the cultural

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues ...

in Kraków. He received the first state subsidy given in Poland to any Yiddish theater. During the 1930s he was director for kleynkunst revi-teater in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

. He was imprisoned in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

during the years 1940 to 1943, and after the

ghetto uprising The ghetto uprisings during World War II were a series of armed revolts against the regime of Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1943 in the newly established Jewish ghettos across Nazi-occupied Europe. Following the German and Soviet invasion of Po ...

survived in hiding. After the war, as a member of the Central Jewish Committee of Poland, he investigated 18 cases of Jewish collaboration with German

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

. In 1947 he emigrated to the United States and settled in New York City. There, beginning in 1958, he worked as the theater

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

at the

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...

. He moved to Israel in 1966. He died in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

in 1988.

Film career

Jonas Turkow performed in the following movies as an actor: * ''Tkies khaf'' (1924) * ''Lamedvovnik'' (1925) * '' Huragan'' (1928) * '' Młody Las'' (1934) He also directed the silent film ''In die poylishe velder'' (In the Polish Woods; 1929), based on the novel of the same title by

Joseph Opatoshu Joseph Opatoshu () (January 1, 1886 – October 7, 1954) was a Polish-born Yiddish novelist and short story writer.Keenoy, Ray (2003). "Opatoshu, Joseph (Yoysef)." In: Sorrel Kerbel (Ed.), ''Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century''. New Yor ...

Writings

In Yiddish

* ''Azoy iz es geven: khurbn Varshe'' his Is How It Was: Destruction of Warsaw Buenos Aires: Association of Polish Jews in Argentina, 1948 * ''In kamf farn Lebn'' ighting for Life Buenos Aires: Association of Polish Jews in Argentina, 1949 * ''Farloshene shtern'' xtinguished Stars(2 vols.), Buenos Aires: Association of Polish Jews in Argentina, 1953 * ''Nokh der befrayung – zikhroynes'' fter the Liberation: Memoirs Buenos Aires: Association of Polish Jews in Argentina, 1959 * "Teater un konsertn in die getos un konstentratsye lagern" heater and concerts in the ghettos and concentration camps(pp. 437-515), in: Itzik Manger, Jonas Turkow and Moses Perenson (eds.), ''Yidisher teater in Eyrope tvsishn beyde velt-milkhomes'' iddish Theater in Europe Between the Two World Wars New York: American Jewish Congress, 1968

In translation

* ''El levantamiento del ghetto de Varsovia'' he Warsaw Ghetto Uprising translated into Spanish by Abraham Platkin, Buenos Aires: South American Executive of the World Jewish Congress, 1968 * ''O levante do gueto de Varsovia'' he Warsaw Ghetto Uprising translated into Portuguese by Ayala Ehrlich, São Paulo: Federação Israelita do Estado de São Paulo, 1975 * C'était ainsi: 1939-1943, la vie dans le ghetto de Varsovie his Is How It Was: 1939-1943, Life in the Warsaw Ghetto translation of ''Azoy iz geven'' into French by Maurice Pfeffer, Paris: Austral, 1995

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turkow, Jonas Warsaw Ghetto inmates Male actors from Warsaw 1898 births Polish male stage actors Polish male film actors Polish male silent film actors 20th-century Polish male actors Polish Ashkenazi Jews 1987 deaths Jewish Polish male actors Writers from Warsaw People from Warsaw Governorate Jews from the Russian Empire Polish emigrants to Israel Israeli Ashkenazi Jews