Mordechai Strigler (September 21, 1921 – May 10, 1998) was a prolific Polish-born

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

writer and editor of the ''Yiddish Forward''. Mordechai Strigler was born in 1918 to a Hasidic family in Stabrów (near Zamość, Poland)

Childhood, adolescence and World War II

Mordechai Strigler was born in 1918 to a

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

family in Stabrów (near Zamość, Poland). He began studying a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

at a very young age and at the age of eighteen had completed his

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

ic studies in two other yeshivas (Luck, Kleck). He also obtained a rabbi diploma.The fact that Strigler was actually born in 1918 and not, as can often be read, in 1921, is evident from the original birth certificate that his daughter was able to locate in Poland. Apparently Strigler had a penchant for specifying his year of birth as 1921. From 1937 he worked as a moral preacher in the Warsaw Great Synagogue. After the Germans invaded Poland, he tried to return to his parents. However, he failed, was captured by the Germans and spent the following years in various forced

ghettos A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

and concentration camps. From June 1943 he was then a prisoner in the

Majdanek Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had seven gas chambers, two wooden gallows, a ...

concentration camp. On July 28, 1943, he was transported from there to work camp C in

Skarżysko-Kamienna Skarżysko-Kamienna is a city in northern Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in south-central Poland by Kamienna river, to the north of Świętokrzyskie Mountains; one of the voivodship's major cities. Prior to 1928, it bore the name of ''Kamienna''; i ...

by prisoner transport. It was an ammunition factory belonging to the HASAG Group, in which the prisoners without protective clothing were exposed to the

picric acid Picric acid is an organic compound with the formula (O2N)3C6H2OH. Its IUPAC name is 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). The name "picric" comes from el, πικρός (''pikros''), meaning "bitter", due to its bitter taste. It is one of the most acidic ...

used to fill underwater mines. This yellowing substance led to severe poisoning and reduced the life

expectancy Expectancy theory (or expectancy theory of motivation) proposes that an individual will behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated to select a specific behavior over others due to what they expect the result of that selected behavior ...

of the inmates to three months. He wrote about his one-year stay there during his

imprisonment Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

, but these records were lost. He was released on 11 April 1945 in Buchenwald. All in all, his ordeal led him through twelve different camps, although there is still no complete list of all “stations”.

Emigration and journalism

After the end of the World War, Strigler found a job with the Yiddish magazine Undzer Vort in Paris and settled there for the next seven years. The six-volume work Oisgebrente Likht (Extinguished Lights) was written here between 1948 and 1952 in which Strigler reports on his experience of the Shoah. Strigler had been in contact with the American-Jewish poet H. Leivick since 1945. He quickly recognized its literary potential. In 1952 Strigler emigrated to the United States and became editor of the

weekly Yidischer Kemfer in New York. He worked there until 1995 and wrote countless articles under 20

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s; between 1987 and 1998, the year of his death, he also worked for the then Yiddish daily newspaper

Forverts ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...

. With his wife Esther he had a daughter, Leah. On May 10, 1998, Strigler died in New York of brain injuries sustained in a fall.

Literary work

In addition to his

journalistic Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

texts, Strigler also wrote poems, memoirs, political commentaries, and stories and novels. The focus of his

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

texts was the life of Polish Jews before the Second World War. It was also important to him not only to depict the personal and collective experience of the camp stays during the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in a literary way, but also to analyze it.Yechiel Szeintuch: ''Mordechai Strigler und die Notwendigkeit der realistischen Schoahbeschreibung. Eine Einführung'', in: Mordechai Strigler: ''Majdanek. Verloschene Lichter. Ein früher Zeitzeugenbericht vom Todeslager''. Hg. v. Frank Beer. Zu Klampen Verlag, Springe 2016, S. 7. * ''Tsu Aykh Shvester un Brider Bafrayte (To my liberated sisters and brothers), 1945.'' * ''In a Fremdn Dor: Lider un Poemen (In a strange generation: Poems and ballads), 1947.'' * ''Majdanek, 1947'' (German first edition: Majdanek. Verloschene Lichter. An early contemporary witness report from the death camp. From the Yiddish by Sigrid Beisel. Ed. By Frank Beer. Zu Klampen Verlag, Springe 2016, ) * ''In di Fabrikn Fun Toyt, 1948'' (German first edition: In den Fabriken des Todes. Verloschene Lichter II. An early contemporary witness report from the labor camp. From Yiddish by Sigrid Beisel. Ed. By Frank Beer. Zu Klampen Verlag, Springe 2017, ) *Di Ershte Libe Fun Kopl Matsh: Roman (The first love of Kopl Matsh: Roman), 1948. Verk Tse (Werk C), 2 volumes, 1950 (German first edition: Werk C. Verloschene Lichter III. A contemporary witness report from the factories of death. From

by Sigrid Beisel. Ed. By Frank Beer. Zu Klampen Verlag, Springe 2019, ) *Goyroles (Fates), 2 volumes, 1952. *Georemt Mitn Vint: Historical novel Fun Yidishn Lebn in Poyln (Arm in arm with the wind: A historical novel about Jewish life in Poland), 1955. Indzlen Oyf der Erd: Noveln (Islands on Earth: Stories), 1957. Shmuesn Mit der Tsayt (Conversations with Time), 2 volumes, 1959–61.

Prizes and awards

In 1978, Strigler 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

Yiddish Literature Yiddish literature encompasses all those belles-lettres written in Yiddish language, Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus ...

. In 1998 he was to be awarded an honorary doctorate in

Hebrew literature Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews. Hebrew literature was pro ...

from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. A few days before the award ceremony, however, Strigler died in New York.

Literature

Susanne Klingenstein: The Voice of the Survivor, in: FAZ, June 18, 2016, p. 20. Jan Schwarz: Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish culture after the Holocaust. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 2015.

References

Mordechai Strigler's obituary at ''The New York Times''Mordechai Strigler at the Encyclopædia Britannica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strigler, Mordechai 1921 births 1998 deaths American magazine editors Jewish American writers Yiddish-language writers 20th-century American writers American people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century American journalists American male journalists 20th-century American Jews Polish expatriates in France Polish emigrants to the United States