Chava Rosenfarb
Encyclopedia
Chava Rosenfarb was a Holocaust survivor and Jewish-Canadian author of Yiddish poetry and novels, a major contributor to post-World War II Yiddish Literature
. Rosenfarb began writing poetry as young as eight. After surviving the Łódź Ghetto, Rosenfarb was deported to Auschwitz, where her father died, and then sent to a work camp at Sasel (subcamp of Neuengamme concentration camp), where she built houses for the bombed out Germans of Hamburg. At the end of the war she was sent to Bergen-Belsen
, where she fell ill with nearly-fatal Typhus Fever in April 1945. After the end of the war, Rosenfarb married the future nationally-famous Canadian abortion activist Henry Morgentaler
(the two divorced in 1975). She had published three volumes of poetry by 1950. The same year, Morgentaler and Rosenfarb, pregnant with Goldie, their daughter, emigrated from Europe to Canada
, landing in Montreal
in the winter of 1950, to a reception of Yiddish writers at Windsor Station
.
Rosenfarb continued to write in Yiddish, publishing in 1972 what is considered to be her masterpiece, a three-volume novel detailing her experiences in the Łódź Ghetto, Der boim fun lebn (דער בוים פֿון לעבן), or The Tree of Life.
Rosenfarb's readership decreased as the secular Yiddish culture in the Americas began to erode and assimilate. She was a regular contributor to "Di Goldene Keyt" (די גאָלדענע קייט) or, roughly translated, The Golden Chain (of Generations), a Yiddish literary journal, edited in Tel Aviv
by the poet and Vilna Ghetto
survivor Abraham Sutzkever
, until it closed.
Rosenfarb was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Lethbridge
in 2006. Her novels and short stories have won numerous international prizes, including the Canadian John Glassco
Prize and the Israeli Manger Prize, the highest award for Yiddish literature.
She died on 30 January 2011 in Lethbridge
, Alberta
. Her daughter, Goldie Morgentaler
, is also a professor at the University of Lethbridge and a translator of her mother's work. She has also translated into Yiddish Les Belles Sœurs, one of Quebec's most famous plays. Rosenfarb's son Abraham is a doctor in Boston
.
Yiddish literature
Yiddish literature encompasses all belles lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Europe, is evident in its literature.It is generally described...
. Rosenfarb began writing poetry as young as eight. After surviving the Łódź Ghetto, Rosenfarb was deported to Auschwitz, where her father died, and then sent to a work camp at Sasel (subcamp of Neuengamme concentration camp), where she built houses for the bombed out Germans of Hamburg. At the end of the war she was sent to Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
, where she fell ill with nearly-fatal Typhus Fever in April 1945. After the end of the war, Rosenfarb married the future nationally-famous Canadian abortion activist Henry Morgentaler
Henry Morgentaler
Henry Morgentaler, CM is a Canadian physician and prominent pro-choice advocate who has fought numerous legal battles for that cause.-Early life:...
(the two divorced in 1975). She had published three volumes of poetry by 1950. The same year, Morgentaler and Rosenfarb, pregnant with Goldie, their daughter, emigrated from Europe to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, landing in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in the winter of 1950, to a reception of Yiddish writers at Windsor Station
Windsor Station (Montreal)
Windsor Station is a former train station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, formerly serving as the city's Canadian Pacific Railway Station.Windsor Station was the Canadian Pacific Railway's headquarters built between 1887 and 1889. The Romanesque Revival building was designed by New York architect...
.
Rosenfarb continued to write in Yiddish, publishing in 1972 what is considered to be her masterpiece, a three-volume novel detailing her experiences in the Łódź Ghetto, Der boim fun lebn (דער בוים פֿון לעבן), or The Tree of Life.
Rosenfarb's readership decreased as the secular Yiddish culture in the Americas began to erode and assimilate. She was a regular contributor to "Di Goldene Keyt" (די גאָלדענע קייט) or, roughly translated, The Golden Chain (of Generations), a Yiddish literary journal, edited in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
by the poet and Vilna Ghetto
Vilna Ghetto
The Vilna Ghetto or Vilnius Ghetto was a Jewish ghetto established by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the occupied Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , during the Holocaust in World War II...
survivor Abraham Sutzkever
Abraham Sutzkever
Abraham Sutzkever was an acclaimed Yiddish poet. The New York Times wrote that Sutzkever was "the greatest poet of the Holocaust."-Biography:...
, until it closed.
Rosenfarb was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Lethbridge
University of Lethbridge
The University of Lethbridge is a publicly-funded comprehensive academic and research university, founded in the liberal education tradition, located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with two other urban campuses in Calgary and Edmonton. The main building sits among the coulees on the west side of...
in 2006. Her novels and short stories have won numerous international prizes, including the Canadian John Glassco
John Glassco
John Glassco was a Canadian poet, memoirist and novelist. "Glassco will be remembered for his brilliant autobiography, his elegant, classical poems, and for his translations." He is also remembered by some for his pornography.-Life:Born in Montreal to a well-off merchant family, John Glassco was...
Prize and the Israeli Manger Prize, the highest award for Yiddish literature.
She died on 30 January 2011 in Lethbridge
Lethbridge
Lethbridge is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada, and the largest city in southern Alberta. It is Alberta's fourth-largest city by population after Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, and the third-largest by area after Calgary and Edmonton. The nearby Canadian Rockies contribute to the city's...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. Her daughter, Goldie Morgentaler
Goldie Morgentaler
Goldie Morgentaler , is a Canadian translator from and to Yiddish. Morgentaler translated from Yiddish to English several books of her mother Chava Rosenfarb...
, is also a professor at the University of Lethbridge and a translator of her mother's work. She has also translated into Yiddish Les Belles Sœurs, one of Quebec's most famous plays. Rosenfarb's son Abraham is a doctor in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
.
Major publications
- Di balade fun nekhtikn vald [The ballad of yesterday’s forest] (London, 1947) *Dos lid fun yidishn kelner Abram [The song of the Jewish waiter Abram]
- Geto un andere lider [Ghetto and other poems]
- Aroys fun gan-eydn [Out of Paradise]
- Der foigl fun geto [The bird of the ghetto] (1966)
- Der boim fun lebn (1972)
- trans. into English as The Tree of Life (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004)
- Bocainy (Syracuse University Press, 2000)
- Of Lodz and Love (Syracuse University Press, 2000)
- Survivors: seven short stories (Cormorant Books, 2005)