Horontchik, Simon
HORONTCHIK, SIMON
HORONTCHIK, SIMON (1889–1939), Yiddish novelist and short story writer. Born in Wielun (Poland), Horontchik moved to Kalisz in 1914, where he worked in a lace factory from the age of 17 until World War i. With the German occupation of Kalisz, Horontchik fled to Lodz, where he began his literary career, publishing poems in the local Yiddish press, as well as in Yiddish periodicals in Warsaw, New York, and Buenos Aires. For several years before the outbreak of World War ii, Horontchik lived in Paris, where he continued his literary activities. In May 1939, he returned to Poland and settled in Warsaw. After the Nazi occupation of the city, he fled, committing suicide on the road to Vilna. His novels include Farplonterte Vegn ("Confused Ways," 1924), depicting the physical and moral disintegration of a small Polish Jewish village during the German occupation of World War i. It was followed by Geroysh fun Mashinen ("Whirr of Machines," 1928), based on his experiences in the Kalisz lace factory. Zump ("Swamp," 1931) attacked exploiters of labor.
bibliography:
Rejzen, Leksikon, s.v.; lnyl, s.v.; M. Ravitch, Mayn Leksikon, 1 (1945), 65–7. add. bibliography: Y.Papernikov, Heymishe un noente (1958), 222–24.
[Elias Schulman /
Marc Miller (2nd ed.)]