ASHENDORF, ISRAEL

ASHENDORF, ISRAEL (1909–1956), Yiddish poet, short story writer, and dramatist. Ashendorf grew up and lived in Lemberg (Lwow), Galicia (now Lviv, Ukraine), until World War II, when he fled to Uzbekistan. He spent five years in Paris and immigrated to Argentina in 1953. In Buenos Aires he served as supervisor of Jewish secular schools, taught Hebrew and Yiddish literature, and contributed to the Yidishe Tsaytung. His first poems were published in 1927, and thereafter he contributed to Yiddish periodicals in Europe, the Americas, and Israel. In 1929, he was co-editor of the literary journal Tsushtayer. Collections of his poetry were published in 1937, 1939, 1941, 1950, and 1954. His biblical dramas Der Meylekh Shoel ("King Saul," 1948) and Der Meylekh Dovid ("King David," 1956) express a pessimistic worldview. The posthumous collection Letste Shriftn ("Last Writings," <!end list > 1958. includes his poems and short stories. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: LNYL, 1 (1956), 193–4; S. Bickel, Shrayber fun Mayn Dor, 1 (1958), 160–4; M. Ravitch, Mayn Leksikon, 1 (1945), 56 ff.; J. Leftwich, Golden Peacock (1961). (Shlomo Bickel)