Nathaniel Buchwald (1890–1956) was a 20th-century, left-leaning Jewish-American theater critic, writer, and scholar of Yiddish theater who wrote in Yiddish and English and translated from Yiddish and Russian into English.[1] [2][3]

Background

Nathaniel Buchwald was born Naftoli Bukhvald on April 14, 1890, in Lublin, Volhynia, Ukraine (then, party of the Russian Empire). He studied at a religious primary school and then a public school. In 1910, Buchwald emigrated to America. He studied at the University of Georgia, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and in 1918 obtained a BS in Chemistry from New York University.[1][2][3]

Career

During World War I, Buchwald worked for Forverts by translating its editorials from Yiddish into English as required by wartime security regulations regarding foreign-language publications in the US.[4]

In the 1920s, Buchwald began publishing articles appeared in Di naye velt (The New World), after which he wrote for this and other Yiddish labor publications. Following the founding of Frayhayt (Freedom–later the Jewish Daily Forward) in New York City in 1922, Buchwald joined its editorial board and contributed as theater critic. Later, he wrote for Morgn Frayhayt (Morning Freedom) and Jewish Life, also in New York.[1][2][3]

In 1925, Buchwald helped found the Artef Players Collective, a Yiddish theater group in New York City. (The name "Artef" came from Arbeter teater-farband or "workers' theatrical alliance."[5]) Members included: Moyshe Olgin, David Pinski, David Abrams, Melech Marmur, Kalman Marmur, Shachno Epstein, Moyshe Nadir.[5] Regarding Artef's aims, Buchwald wrote: " Life pulled in one direction, to world upheavals, to Revolution, to Soviet Russia, to collective consciousness and collective action, [while] the theatre still busied itself with bygone idylls, Hassidic legends, all kinds of tall tales, or with the routine of bourgeois life, family drama and romantic complication."[5] They staged their first performance in 1927 but slowed during the Great Depression and even took a hiatus from 1937 to 1939. In 1940, the group resumed performances with Clinton Street by Louis Miller. The group disbanded in the 1940s.[1]

Up to September 1933, Buchwald served as Moscow correspondent for the publications like the Communist Party USA's official newspaper The Daily Worker; Vern Smith (journalist) replaced him.[6]

Communist allegations

During the 1930s, Buchwald came to the attention of the Dies Committee of the US House of Representatives for his contributions to Agitprop theater[7] and again in the 1950s for his theater criticism that appeared in The Daily Worker.[8]

Personal life and death

Buchwald married Stella Buchwald, also a writer.

Buchwald wrote under several pen names including: B. Tulin, B. Brand, N. Poloner, and Bert Toulens (in English).[2][3]

Buchwald's friends and letter correspondents include Abraham Cahan.[9]

Buchwald died on June 7, 1956, in New York.[2][3]

Works

Books:

  • Folks-bildung in Sovet-Rusland (1925?)[10]
  • From peasant to collective farmer (1933)[11]
  • Farvos men hot gemishpet di 21 in moskve (Why the twenty-one were sentenced in Moscow) (New York: Idbyuro, 1938)
  • Alts--far unzer land Amerike (1942)[12]
  • Di dek̜laratsye fun zelbsht̜endigk̜eyt̜ (1943)[13]
  • Teater (Theater) (1943)[14]
  • Pogromshtshikes farfleytsn amerike, faktn vegn der aynvanderung fun natsis, fashistn un gorgl-shnayder (Pogromists invade America, facts about the immigration of Nazis, fascists, and cut-throats) (1952)[15]
  • Omanut ha-teatron (1953)[16]

Translations to Yiddish:

Articles:

  • "Yiddish", Cambridge History of American Literature (NY: Putnam, 1921)[19][20]
  • "A Visit with 'Tarbut Laam'," Jewish Life (1956)[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Papers and lecture notes of Nathaniel Buchwald, 1927-1940". New York Public Library. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Reyzen, Zalmen (1935). Leksikon. Kiev: A. Pomerants, in Proletpen. p. 197.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Kagan, Berl, ed. (1986). Leksikon. New York: Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers). pp. 72–73.
  4. ↑ Hartman, Hershl (28 July 2017). Splits in the Yiddish Socialist Movement. Jewish Currents. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Polyan, Alexandra (2014). Reflections of Revolutionary Movements in American Yiddish Poetry: the Case of Proletpen. Jewish Thought, Utopia, and Revolution. p. 154. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Garlin, Sender (6 August 1933). "Vern Smith is New 'Daily' Correspondent in U.S.S.R" (PDF). The Daily Worker. p. 6. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  7. ↑ Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States. US GPO. 1938. p. 540. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  8. ↑ Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-picture Industry. US GPO. 1951. pp. 3476–3478. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  9. ↑ Guide to the Papers of Abraham Cahan (1860-1951), 1890-1987. YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  10. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel (1925). Folks-bildung in Sovet-Rusland. (unknown). LCCN 54051374.
  11. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel; Bishop, R. (1933). From peasant to collective farmer. International Publishers. LCCN 34002401.
  12. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel (1942). Alts--far unzer land Amerike. (unknown). LCCN 55046035.
  13. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel (1943). Di dek̜laratsye fun zelbsht̜endigk̜eyt̜ (Declaration of Independence. Yiddish). (unknown). LCCN 43020800.
  14. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel (1943). Teatr. Farlag-Komitet Teater. LCCN 44033948.
  15. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel (1952). Pogromshtshikes farfleytsn amerike, faktn vegn der aynvanderung fun natsis, fashistn un gorgl-shnayder (Pogromists invade America, facts about the immigration of Nazis, fascists, and cut-throats. Morning Freiheit. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  16. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel (1953). Omanut ha-teatron. Merhavya. LCCN 57053221.
  17. ↑ Politics of Yiddish: Studies in Language, Literature and Society. Rowman Altamira. 1998. p. 138. ISBN 9780761990253. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  18. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel (1944). Der Regnboygn. Tsuḳunfṭ. LCCN 47025444.
  19. ↑ Cambridge History of American Literature. G.P. Putnam. 1921. pp. 572–609. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  20. ↑ Cambridge History of American Literature. G.P. Putnam. 1921. pp. 572–609. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  21. ↑ Buchwald, Nathaniel (May 1956). A Visit with "Tarbut Laam" (PDF). Jewish Life. pp. 18–22. Retrieved 16 August 2018.

External sources

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