ELYE LERMAN

ELYE LERMAN (1899-summer 1941)

            He was born in Radom, Poland.  He attended religious elementary school and a Russian high school, and later he worked as a business employee.  During WWI he moved to Warsaw.  When the Germans seized the city in 1939, he fled to Bialystok where until June 1941 he was employed in the economics division of the local writers’ association.  He began his writing activities with reportage pieces on Warsaw Jewish life in Der yud (The Jew) in Warsaw (1918), later becoming a contributor to such Warsaw newspapers as: Der moment (The moment), Haynt (Today), Radyo (Radio), Hayntige nayes (Today’s news), and Unzer ekspres (Our express) in which he ran a daily column: “Vi azoy yidn vayln zikh” (How Jews enjoy themselves)—in Warsaw and summer spots around Warsaw.  He published in the newspapers numerous recreational novels, such as: Khsidishe tekhter (Hassidic daughters), Dinst-meydlekh (Maids), and Der yeshive-bokher (The yeshiva boy), among others.  He also contributed work to: Radomer lebn (Radom life) (1922-1932); Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Bialystok (1925-1939); and Der shtern (The star) in Bialystok (1940-1941).  He authored the plays: Der tirans tokhter (The tyrant’s daughter), Der zakladnik (The hostage), Paragraf 140 (Paragraph 140), and A sho nokh der khupe (An hour after the wedding), among others.  He edited the weeklies: Der soykher (The merchant) in Warsaw (1919-1935); and Di panorama (The panorama) in Warsaw (1926-1937).  He also published under such pen names as: A. Ler and Pintele Yid.  When the Germans bombed Bialystok and the Jewish writers were evacuated into Russia, Lerman volunteered to join the people’s militia, later going to join the partisans in the Byelorussian woods, and there he died.

Sources: Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; R. Feldshuh, Yidisher gezelshaftlekher leksikon (Jewish communal handbook) (Warsaw, 1939), p. 450; M. Mozes, Der poylisher yid (The Polish Jew), yearbook (New York, 1944); Yidishe shriftn (Yiddish writings), anthology (Lodz) 1 (1946); Z. Segalovitsh, Tlomatske 13, fun farbrentn nekhtn (13 Tłomackie St., of scorched yesterdays) (Buenos Aires, 1946), pp. 27, 106; B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954), p. 217; B. Kutsher, Geven amol varshe (As Warsaw once was) (Paris, 1955), see index; M. Flakser, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), p. 377.

Khayim Leyb Fuks