Ida Kaminska (1899–1980)

Ida Kaminska was literally born to the theatrical life. Her parents, Polish Jews, were on tour with a Yiddish acting troupe in Odessa, Russia, when she came into the world. Her father Abraham Isaac Kaminski also was a director-producer and later became the owner of Kaminski’s Theater in Warsaw. Her mother Esther Rachel Kaminska was the founder of modern Yiddish theater. Ida made her first stage appearance at age five in 1904, and continued to act throughout childhood, eventually performing in the family theater. In 1916, she made her adult debut by translating, adapting, directing and performing La vierge folle by Henry Bataille. In 1918, she married Zygmunt Turkow, a Yiddish actor and theater organizer with whom she had a daughter, Ruth. This was the Golden Age of Yiddish theater and of Polish-Jewish culture. In 1924, Ida and her husband created the Warsaw Jewish Art Theater, which was active till 1938. She also directed Kaminski’s Theater and Ida Kaminska’s Company, founded in 1932. During World War II, with her troupe, she fled to the USSR. In 1946, Ida Kaminska returned to found the Jewish State Theatre of Poland with her second husband, Marian (Meir) Melman, a Yiddish actor and director. She acted in several films, most notably starring in the Czech film The Shop on Main Street (1965), which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and international renown. Shortly after, she and her company had to leave Poland to escape anti-Semitic campaigns. Ida moved to the USA, but was disappointed that she was unable to recreate the Yiddish repertory theater. She published an autobiography, entitled in English My Life, My Theatre (1973).