Moshe Dluznowsky , Yiddish-writing journalist, publicist, writer, dramatist, editor of the journal "Tomaszower Wokhenblat".
Origin and family
Born on 22 February 1903 at 7 a.m. in Tomaszow Rawski. He originated from an unpropertied Jewish family. His father Mordka Henokh Dłużnowski was a small shopkeeper in Tomaszów, who with his wife Estera née Piyus created also Yuda Beyer vel Bernard, a Tomaszowian weaver, Abram, Yuda, Noach and the youngest daughter Sara. Moshe Dluznowsky married Berta Klebanow in July 1947 in New York City. Berta was born in Minsk, emigrated to the United States at an early age. She was involved in Yiddish cultural activities and was a teacher. Moshe's daughter, Esti Dunow is a painter and art historian, expert on the work of the painter Chaim Soutine, co-author of the Chaim Soutine Catalogue Raisonne. Moshe's son Henry Dunow is a literary agent and co-owner "Dunow, Carlson and Lerner Literary Agency". He wrote a memory on his father and family.
Education and journalistic work
Moshe was educated in his native Tomaszow. He finished Itzhak Milter's primary Jewish school, which was a hot-bed for many writers and journalists who wrote their literary works in Yiddish. From 1925 to 1930 he was an editor of the local journal "Tomaszower Wokhenblat", published in Yiddish. He was also a member of the Zionist party "Poale-Zion". In 1930 he left his familiar town and emigrated to France. He settled down in Paris, where his elder brother Abram resided. In Paris Dluznowsky was a correspondent of a number of Jewish journals, e.g. "Parizer Wokhenblat". Before the Nazi conquest of France he left for Morocco and in 1942 moved to the United States.
Life and works in U.S.A.
There he settled in New York. Moshe Dluznowsky composed numerous novels, essays and theatrical works written in Yiddish. He belonged to the American association of the Jewish writers. Moshe Dluznowsky's novels, essays, and art criticism appeared regularly in the New York Yiddish newspaper, The Forward, as well as in periodicals and journals in Paris, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Israel. He maintained contacts with other Jewish writers from Poland, such as Isaac Bashevis Singer. In his book Dos Rod fun Mazl, written in Yiddish, Moshe Dluznowsky shared interesting recollections of his family's town Tomaszów. He was awarded the Zvi Kessel Literary Prize in 1949. He published a number of other books in Yiddish:
A brunem baym veg,
Harbst in vayngortn: dertseylungen un drames,
Der Rayvogn,
Vi a Boim in feld,
Vintmiln,
Tirn un fentster.
Some of his works were published in Spanish and in English. The most known Dluznowsky's drama Der ajnzame szif was successfully produced in New York, Los Angeles and in Ida Kaminska's Jewish Theater in Warsaw. He died on July 30, 1977 in New York.
Selected bibliography
A. Cygielman, Tomaszow Mazowiecki, in: Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 15, Jerusalem 1982, p. 1215 ;
Henry Dunow, The Way Home: Scenes from a Season, Lessons from a Lifetime, New York 2001, pp. 65–84, 188-193, 229-230;
Beate Kosmala, Juden und Deutsche im polnischen Haus. Tomaszów Mazowiecki 1914-1939, Berlin 2001, pp. 47, 99-101 ;
B. Katz, Moyshe Dluznovski, "Mendele: Yiddish Literature and Yiddish Language", vol. 7, No. 164, 6 III 1998;
J. Leftwich, An Anthology of Modern Yiddish Literature, The Hague – Paris 1974, pp. 329–330 ;
F. Mohrer, M. Web, Guide to the YIVO Archives, New York 1997, p. 68;
