Shloyme Bastomski
Shloyme Bastomski | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 1891 Vilna, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | March 5, 1941 (aged 49) Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Education | Vilna Teacher's Seminary |
| Occupations |
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Shloyme Bastomski (July 1891 – 5 March 1941, also referred to as Solomon or Shlomo) was a Yiddish writer, educator, and folklorist active in the Yiddishist education movement.
Biography
[edit]Shylome Bastomski was born in Vilna in June 1891 to a poor family of locksmiths. He was orphaned at a young age. He attended school both at Talmud Torah (a Jewish religious school) and a Russian public school for Jewish children, before attending the Vilna Teachers' Seminary, from which he graduated in 1912. He became a teacher at a Jewish public school in nearby Meretsh, but later transferred to one in Dieveniškės. Following the outbreak of World War I and the German occupation of the region in 1915, Bastomski was hired as a teacher at a Yiddish secular public school established by the Khevre Mefitse Haskole ('Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment'). The school was the first such institution in Vilna.[1][2]
Bastomski worked as a journalist in addition to his teaching; he had published his first article on in the Vilner Vokhnblat ('Vilna Weekly') in 1910, and began writing for the local periodicals Lebn un Visnshaft and Folksblat, a short lived paper established by journalist Moyshe Karpinovitsh. In 1916, Bastomski founded a publishing house Di Naye Yidishe Folksshul ('The New Yiddish Folk-School') along with his wife Malke Khaymson, who served as his co-editor. Their publishing house began producing Yiddish-language textbooks, children's books, games, and folklore books. In 1919, he reestablished the Yiddish children's magazine Grininke Beymelekh, and founded a magazine aimed at older children (titled Der Khaver, 'The Friend') the following year. He published some of his own stories in these journals.[1][2][3] He was a member of the folklore committee and general council of YIVO, a Jewish cultural institute based in Vilna.[2] In 1925, Bastomski published a Yiddish reader entitled Lebedike Klangen ('Lively Sounds'), in six different reading levels. This reader became adopted by various Jewish schools outside of Poland.[2]
Initially politically affiliated with the Socialist-Zionists, he later became a Jewish Territorialist, joining the Frayland-lige shortly before the outbreak of World War II. He died in Vilna in March 1941, while the city was under Soviet control (and shortly before Nazi German occupation).[2] His wife died in the Vilna Ghetto shortly after.[1]
References
[edit]Works cited
[edit]- Bar-El, Adina. "Children's Literature: Yiddish Literature". YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
- Gottesman, Itzik. "Bastomski, Shloyme". YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
- Hoge, Kerstin. "For Children and Adults Alike: Reading Bergelson's 'Children's Stories' (1914—1919) as Narratives of Identity Formation". In Sherman, Joseph (ed.). David Bergelson: From Modernism to Socialist Realism. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781351195232. ISBN 9781351195232.
- "Leksikon Fun Der Nayer Yidisher Literatur: Bastomski, Shloyme". Congress for Jewish Culture. Retrieved 6 January 2025.