ZEV COHEN

ZEV COHEN (b. January 25, 1903)

            He was born in Bender (Bendery), Bessarabia.  He studied in religious elementary school and Russian public school, and he later graduated from a high school in Dubosar (Dubasari).  He took part in the fight against Petliura’s and Makhno’s anti-Semitic camps in Ukraine.  He was secretary of the Zionist Federation in Kishinev.  In 1926 he moved to Montevideo, Uruguay.  He was a cofounder there of the Jewish community council, of the Jewish writers association, and of the first “Yiddish radio hour.”  He wrote articles for “Der id” (the Jew) in Kishinev (1922).  He later (1938) was editor of the weekly newspaper Unzer lebn (Our life) and later still (from 1941) a contributor to the daily Folksblat (People’s newspaper)—both in Montevideo.  He served as the Uruguayan correspondent for Di idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires.  He also placed pieces in Penemer un penemlekh (Appearances, big and small), Di yudishe velt (The Jewish world), and to the Spanish-language weekly Izrael (Israel) in Buenos Aires.  He published also under the pen name Avreml Melamed.  He was last living in Montevideo.

Source: Y. Vaynshenker, Boyers un mitboyers fun yidishn yishev in urugvay (Founders and builders of the Jewish community in Uruguay) (Montevideo, 1957), p. 118.

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