Rosenberg, Shloyme, 1896-1975

Shloyme Rosenberg, son of Henoch and Nehama Rosenberg, was born in Laskarzew, Poland on April 23, 1896. As a boy in Poland, he studied at the gymnasium Staszic in Lublin. At the age of 22, in February of 1918, Rosenberg published his first poem entitled "The Death of the Priest Eli." After this publication, as Rosenberg writes, "so I became a writer!" In 1919, he traveled to Palestine and worked in the orange groves and vineyards. The cousin of famed Yiddish theater actor Maurice Schwartz, Rosenberg also acted on the Hebrew stage in Israel.

In 1922, upon his return to Poland, he became a printer. All the while, he still wrote poems and began translating works into Yiddish from Russian, French, and Polish. As he describes it, "I read by a chance the great work of the renowned Polish writer Stanislaw Wladislaw Reymont, his 4 volume 'CHLOPI'... and I was very impressed by it." The work inspired Rosenberg to translate it into Yiddish. This was no small feat considering the book inspired Rosenberg to translate it into Yiddish. This was no small feat considering the book was approximately 2,000 pages. The endeavor took him two years, 1924 to 1926, to accomplish. Apparently, Reymont knew about the translation and was "delighted" when it was done.

...