Srul Bronshtein
Encyclopedia
Srul Bronshtein was a Romania
n and Soviet
Yiddish-language poet.
baker's family in the village of Ştefăneşti
, Bessarabia
— at the time a southwestern province of Imperial Russia (Ştefăneşti is currently in Floreşti district
, Moldova
). As a child, he received a traditional cheder
education.
In the 1930s, Bronshtein lived in Bucharest
, where he debuted with poetry and critical essays in the Yiddish-language literary periodicals of Romania. Among other magazines, he published in Di Vokh ("The Week"), edited by prose writer Moyshe Altman
, and in Shoybn ("Windows"), edited by the poet and theatrical director Yankev Shternberg
. Shternberg organized a circle of Yiddish literati, predominantly from Bessarabia, which in addition to Srul Bronshtein included poets Tzvi Tzelman, Zishe Bagish and prose writers Ikhil Shraybman, Arn Ocnitzer, Azriel Roitman, among others.
It was in Bucharest that Bronshtein's first collection of Yiddish verse was published in 1938, entitled Moldove, mayn heym ("Moldavia
, my home"). It was followed by the second collection Kh'ob geefnt breyt di toyern ("I've opened wide the gates") a year later. A large selection of his poetry appeared in the Yiddish-language periodicals of Bucharest throughout the 1930s, including Shpitol-Lider ("Hospital poems"), Fabrik-Lider ("Factory poems"), Tfise-Lider ("Prison poems"), the ballad Malkutse Der Gasnfroys Farveynt Harts ("The cried-out heart of the street girl Malcuţa"), and a long poem, Banakhtike Asfalt-Leygers ("Nocturnal Asphalt Pavers").
In 1940 Bessarabia was annexed by the Soviet Union, and Bronshtein, as with almost all other Bessarabian writers, moved back home. Later in World War II
, he was mobilized into the Red Army
at the outbreak of the German invasion
(June 1941) and suffered a penetrating lung wound from shrapnel the following year. Bronshtein died of the wound in winter 1943 at a military hospital in Tashkent
, Uzbek SSR
(present-day Uzbekistan
).
Despite his humble, provincial background, Bronshtein's poetics are pointedly urbane, with typical modernistic
themes of anomie
,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n and Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Yiddish-language poet.
Biography
Srul Bronshtein was born into a JewishBessarabian Jews
-Early history:Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their main activity in Moldavia was commerce, but they could not compete with Greeks and Armenians, who had the knowledge of the Levantine commerce and relationships...
baker's family in the village of Ştefăneşti
Stefanesti
Ştefăneşti may refer to several places.*in Moldova:**Ştefăneşti, a commune in Floreşti District**Ştefăneşti, Ştefan Vodă, a commune in Ştefan Vodă District**Ştefăneşti, a village in Tănătarii Noi Commune, Căuşeni District*in Romania:...
, Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
— at the time a southwestern province of Imperial Russia (Ştefăneşti is currently in Floreşti district
Raionul Floresti
Florești is a district in the north-east of Moldova, with the administrative center at Florești.The other major cities are Ghindeşti and Mărculeşti. As of 1 January 2011, its population was 90,000.-History:...
, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
). As a child, he received a traditional cheder
Cheder
A Cheder is a traditional elementary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language.-History:...
education.
In the 1930s, Bronshtein lived in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, where he debuted with poetry and critical essays in the Yiddish-language literary periodicals of Romania. Among other magazines, he published in Di Vokh ("The Week"), edited by prose writer Moyshe Altman
Moyshe Altman
Moyshe Altman was a Yiddish writer.-Works:* בלענדעניש , Култур: Черновцы, 1926....
, and in Shoybn ("Windows"), edited by the poet and theatrical director Yankev Shternberg
Jacob Sternberg
Yankev Shternberg was a Yiddish theater director, teacher of theater, playwright, avant-garde poet and short-story writer, best known for his theater work in Romania between the two world wars.Shternberg grew up in the northern Bessarabian shtetl of...
. Shternberg organized a circle of Yiddish literati, predominantly from Bessarabia, which in addition to Srul Bronshtein included poets Tzvi Tzelman, Zishe Bagish and prose writers Ikhil Shraybman, Arn Ocnitzer, Azriel Roitman, among others.
It was in Bucharest that Bronshtein's first collection of Yiddish verse was published in 1938, entitled Moldove, mayn heym ("Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, my home"). It was followed by the second collection Kh'ob geefnt breyt di toyern ("I've opened wide the gates") a year later. A large selection of his poetry appeared in the Yiddish-language periodicals of Bucharest throughout the 1930s, including Shpitol-Lider ("Hospital poems"), Fabrik-Lider ("Factory poems"), Tfise-Lider ("Prison poems"), the ballad Malkutse Der Gasnfroys Farveynt Harts ("The cried-out heart of the street girl Malcuţa"), and a long poem, Banakhtike Asfalt-Leygers ("Nocturnal Asphalt Pavers").
In 1940 Bessarabia was annexed by the Soviet Union, and Bronshtein, as with almost all other Bessarabian writers, moved back home. Later in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was mobilized into the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
at the outbreak of the German invasion
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
(June 1941) and suffered a penetrating lung wound from shrapnel the following year. Bronshtein died of the wound in winter 1943 at a military hospital in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, Uzbek SSR
Uzbek SSR
The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Uzbek SSR for short, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union since its creation in 1924...
(present-day Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
).
Despite his humble, provincial background, Bronshtein's poetics are pointedly urbane, with typical modernistic
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
themes of anomie
Anomie
Anomie is a term meaning "without Law" to describe a lack of social norms; "normlessness". It describes the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and their community ties, with fragmentation of social identity and rejection of self-regulatory values. It was popularized by French...
,
- Kh'shlep arum a zak mit beyner
- Af di gasn tsu farkoyfn
- Keyner ober vil ba mir di skhoyre koyfn,
- Keyner.
- Pardon, kh'ob yo a koyne af ir getrofn.
- Darf er ober beyner hobn emesdike toyte,
- Nit vi mayne, lebedike un bahoyte...
- I drag around a bag of bones
- In the streets to sell,
- No one, however, wants to buy it,
- No one.
- Pardon, I did encounter a customer.
- But he needs real bones, dead in earnest,
- Not like mine, alive and still in flesh...
(I. Shraybman, "Zibn yor mit zibn khadoshim" (p.261)
Published works
- Moldove, mayn heym: lider un poemen (מאָלדאָװע, מײַן הײם; "Moldova, my home: verses and long poems"), illustrated by А. Lebas, Bucharest, 1938Harvard University Library, under Brunstein, S.
- Kh'ob geefnt breyt di toyern (כ'האָב געעפֿנט ברײט די טױערן; "I've opened wide the gates", poetry), Bucharest, 1939
Critical works about Bronshtein
- Ikhil Shraybman, Zibn yor mit zibn khadoshim (יחיאל שרײַבמאַן, זיבן יאָר מיט זיבן חדשים; "Seven years with seven months, an autobiographic novel"), Yiddish and Russian; Chapter 6: biographical information on Srul Bronshtein), Editura Ruxandra, ChişinăuChisinauChișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, 2003 - Sarah Shpitalnik, Bessarabskiy Stil (Сара Шпитальник, Бессарабский стиль; "Bessarabian style"), Russian-language bibliographic information on Bessarabian Yiddish authors, Editura Ruxandra, Chişinău, 2005
See related Russian-language articles
- Цельман, Цви — Zvi Tzelman
- Шрайбман, Ихил Ицикович — Ikhil Shraybman
- Окницер, Арн — Arn Ocnitzer