Jonas Turkow (1898–1982)

Jonas Turkow was born to a Jewish family in Warsaw, Poland. His brothers were Zygmunt Turkow, Icchak Turkow, and Marek Turkow, who also had careers as actors and/or writers. He received his early education at home, then attended gymnasium (high school), and received theater training in Moravia. In 1915, he returned to Warsaw and began to take part in amateur Yiddish theater. The following year, he performed with Zygmunt in the group Artistishe Vinkele (The Artistic Corner). He worked for a while under the direction of David Herman at the Elyzium Theater, and briefly acted in German-language comedy theater in Berlin. From 1917 to 1920, he played in Ester Rachel Kamińska's traveling troupe and managed its tour through Eastern Europe. He organized two traveling companies, Dos Baveglekhe Dramatishe Teater (The Mobile Dramatic Theater) and Di Yunge Bine (The Young Stage), in which he acted and directed as they toured Poland and Galicia. In 1926, he was hired to become the first artistic director of the new Krokever Yidish Teater (Yiddish Theatre in Kraków). He received the first state subsidy given in Poland to any Yiddish theater, and used it to introduce a repertoire of classic and contemporary Yiddish plays, including those by Sholem Asch, as well as European plays such as those by Ben Jonson that had never before been staged in Yiddish. Turkow also staged German Expressionist works. Although limited by the size of his stage and its modest equipment, Turkow was nevertheless able to develop innovative staging for his productions. In 1932–1933, he directed the newly formed Vilner Yidisher Teater (Vilna Yiddish Theater) and its drama school. Turkow also worked as an actor and director in Yiddish and Polish films. After Nazi Germany invaded Poland in World War II, Turkow was imprisoned, along with his wife, actress Diana Blumenfeld, in the Warsaw Ghetto from 1940 to 1943. He organized theater performances there and worked with the Resistance movement. After the Ghetto Uprising of 1943, the couple survived in hiding in the city. Turkow was involved in the Jewish organizations that arose in Poland immediately after the war. Among other achievements, he was responsible for the first Yiddish radio programs in Poland. In 1946 and 1947, he and Blumenfeld toured displaced persons camps throughout Europe with Yiddish performances. In 1947, he emigrated to the USA, settling in New York City. From 1956, he worked as the theater archivist at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. In 1966, he moved to Israel, where he wrote prolifically for theater and film publications. Among other books, he published a handbook for amateur theater groups in 1924 and a two-volume biographical dictionary of Yiddish theater people murdered in the Holocaust. He also wrote three volumes of memoirs (1948 to 1959).