Moishe Broderzon

Who was Moishe Broderzon?

Moishe Broderzon was a Yiddish poet, theatre director, and the founder of the Łódź literary group Yung-yidish.

He was born 1890 in Moscow, but his family was among the Jews expelled in 1891. His father moved to Łódź; his mother took her children to her father's home in Nesvizh, Belorussia. In 1900, the family was reunited in Łódź.

He became a bookkeeper and began writing short narratives in the Yiddish press in Łódź. In 1914 he issued a collection of his poems called Shvartse fliterlekh He was a founder of Yung-Yidish artists collaborative.

[Broderson's] extravagant appearance quickly made an impression on the Yiddish cultural circles organized around the tutelary figure of the Yiddish and Hebrew writer Yitschak Katzenelson. Broderzon had long, thick black hair, Pushkin-style sideburns, and a black shirt characteristic of a Russian worker. He was the only poet in Łódź to wear amber and coral necklaces, and rings on his fingers..

—Gilles Rozier, YIVO Encyclopedia, Moyshe Broderzon article

When the Germans invaded Łódź, Broderson removed to Moscow and began publishing his poetry in the Yiddish press. With friends he established the Krayzl fun Yidish Natsyonaler Estetik. In 1918 he founded the Moscow Circle of Jewish Writers and Artists.