Archive of Author, Poet and Journalist Mendel Mann

An exceptionally extensive archive, containing thousands of documents, from the estate of the Yiddish author and journalist Mendel Mann. Most of the archive is from the years 1947-1961.
The archive contains letters sent to Mendel Mann; letters and copies of letters from him; hundreds of handwritten leaves with stories and poems by Mendel Mann (the material has not been thoroughly examined and it is not known to us what has been published); hundreds of newspaper cuttings with his publications and articles; invitations to exhibitions, various tickets, printouts; correspondences with publishing houses and editorials of Yiddish newspapers worldwide, Yiddish organizations and congresses of Yiddish culture. The items in the archive were sent from Poland, Argentina, Germany, France, USA, Canada and other countries and reflect Yiddish culture in these countries.
Among the writers: Chone Shmeruk, Aaron Zeitlin, Haim Hazaz, Melekh Ravitsh, Menke Katz, Dov Sadan, David Pinski, H. Leivick (Halpern), Shimshom Meltzer, Avigdor HaMeiri (Long handwritten article), Melekh Ciemny, Manya Shochat, Ya'akov Lestschinsky, Joseph Opatoshu, Ya'akov Singer, I. Freilich, Daniel Tcharny, Ya'akov Glantz, Shalom Asch, Ya'akov Patt, and more.
Enclosed material: essays about Mendel Mann, photocopies of documents, catalogue of his estate, and a short biography in English.
Menachem Mendel Mann (1916-1975), born in Plonsk (Poland), studied painting in the Warsaw Art Academy. Published poems and stories in Yiddish in many of the Yiddish publications which appeared in Poland before the war. After the German invasion, he fled to Ukraine, where he married Sonia, and fled with her to Russia. In 1942 he enlisted to the Russian Army and served as an interpreter and prisoners' interrogator thanks to his proficiency in German.
Mann was one of the first ones who entered Berlin. After a stay in Poland, where he realized that all his family was murdered in the holocaust, he defected from the Russian Army and joined a unit in the American army which was involved in Nazi hunt and was based in Regensburg. At the same time he was involved in Yiddish journalism and literature which flourished in Displaced Persons Camps in the area of Munich. He was the central writer in the first issue of the weekly “der nayer moment” (enclosed is a copy of a facsimile edition) and continued to write for this weekly and edit it until 1947. Mann was among the Ma’apilim (illegal immigrants) on the ship “Exodus” who were deported back to Germany. After the establishment of the State of Israel, in December 1948 he succeeded to reach Israel through France and was right away drafted to the Independence War.
Early in the 1950s Mann joined the editorial of “Goldene Kejt” as an editor-secretary side by side with Avraham Sutzkever. This quarterly published both Hebrew and Yiddish authors, and Mann corresponded with many of them and even published his works in the quarterly (most of the material in the presented archive is from this period). In 1960, he moved to Paris and was the editor of the newspaper “Undzer Vort”. In Paris he resumed painting and befriended Marc Chagall, who even painted for him. Mendel Mann died in 1975 in Paris. He was remarkably productive and in addition to his editorial work and to journalism he composed several plays and many short stories. His first book “Di Shtilkayt Mont, Lider un Baladn” was published in Lodz in 1945 and was the first Yiddish poetry book printed in this country after the war. The trilogy which he composed, “Di Milchome Triyolge” depicts his experiences as an officer in the Red Army.
Thousands of items. Size and condition varies.