Herz Bergner (1907–1970) was a novelist who was born in Radymno,

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia in Eastern Europe. The Cr ...

in 1907. His family moved to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria, at the start of World War I, and returned to Poland at the end of the war. Bergner's brother, Melech Ravitch, a Yiddish writer, emigrated to Australia in 1933. Herz Bergner followed him in 1938, originally to raise funds for Jewish secular schools in Poland. Once in Australia Bergner met Pinchus Goldhar and other Yiddish writers and, together with Abraham Schulman and Goldhar, began the literary publication ''Oyfboy'' which was published in Melbourne.Austlit – Herz Bergner
/ref> In 1948 Bergner was awarded the

ALS Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the ...

for his novel '' Between Sky and Sea''. Herz Bergner died in 1970.

Bibliography

Novels

* '' Between Sky and Sea'' (1946) * ''A shtot in poyln'' (A City in Poland, 1950) * ''Light and Shadow'' (1963)

Short story collections

* ''Shtubn un gasn'' (Homes and Streets, 1935) * ''The New House'' (1941) * ''Dos hoyz fun dzheykob ayziks'' (The House of Jacob Isaacs, 1955) * ''Where the Truth Lies'' (1966) * ''M’darf zayn a mentsh, dertseylungen'' (One must be a good person, 1971)

Awards

* 1948 winner

– ''Between Sky and Sea''"Melbourne Author Wins Gold Medal" ''The Argus'', 10 December 1948, p10
/ref>

References

Australian male novelists Australian people of Polish-Jewish descent ALS Gold Medal winners Jewish Australian writers Polish emigrants to Australia Writers from Melbourne Yiddish-language novelists Yiddish-language writers 1907 births 1970 deaths People from Radymno People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Jews from Austria-Hungary Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) {{Australia-writer-stub