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Morris GhitzisJewish novelist and playwright.
Date of Birth: 29.10.1894
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Moshe Gitzis: A Literary Legacy
- Military Service and Professional Career
- Literary Debut and Career
- Literary Output
- Theater and Collaboration
- Film and Soviet Connections
- Legacy and Context
Moshe Gitzis: A Literary Legacy
Early Life and EducationMoshe Gitzis was born in the Bessarabian town of Khotyn in 1894. He completed his Russian primary education in 1908 and soon after left for the United States, where he worked as a tailor. However, he later returned to Khotyn to pursue pharmacy studies.
Military Service and Professional Career
During World War I, Gitzis served in the Russian army. After the war, he completed his pharmacy studies and worked as an assistant pharmacist. In 1922, he once again departed for the United States.
Literary Debut and Career
In New York, Gitzis began his literary career, writing prose and dramatic works. He also became an actor and later a director at a Jewish theater. His debut publication was in 1927, a series of short stories about the revolutionary events in Russia. This was followed by the dramatic poem "Glok'n" (Bells) in 1927 and a collection of stories entitled "Novl'n" (Novellas) in 1932.
Literary Output
Gitzis settled in Chicago in the mid-1920s and published numerous works, including the novellodrama "Di Zun In Mizrekh" (The Sun in the East, 1936), the dramatic anthology "Bitokhn" (Hope, 1939), and the novel and stories "Amerikanishe Rapsodie" (American Rhapsody, 1939), "Der Veg Tsum Barg" (The Path to the Mountain, 1943), and "Mam'e Erd" (Mother Earth, 1947).
Theater and Collaboration
Gitzis's plays were performed in Chicago and New York, sometimes with him as director. From 1943, he collaborated with Mattes Dich and Shloyme Shvarts to publish the annual literary almanac "Literarishe Zamlungen" (Literary Collections, 5 volumes).
Film and Soviet Connections
Gitzis also made a series of short silent films about Jewish writers in America during the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s, he began publishing regularly in the Moscow-based journal "Soветиш Геймланд" (Soviet Homeland), and his stories were released as a separate book in Moscow in 1983.
Legacy and Context
In his youth, Khotyn was a hub of Jewish literature in Bessarabia, with Gitzis joining a group of writers that included poets. Gitzis's literary legacy as a Jewish-American writer continues to be recognized as a significant contribution to both Yiddish and English literature.
