Malka Lee (Yiddish: מלכה לי) (July 4, 1904 – March 22, 1976) was an American poet and author. She is the author of ''Durkh Kindershe Oygn'' (''Through the Eyes of Childhood''), published in 1955 and dedicated to her family, who were killed by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in the

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

of Monastrishtsh (now Monastyryska, Ukraine) in 1941, as well as six volumes of poetry in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, her mother tongue, much of it about her experience of observing the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

from the safety of the

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Personal life

Lee was born into a

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

family in Monastrishtsh, Galicia where her parents Frieda Duhl and Chaim Leopold gave her a religious upbringing. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Lee and her family fled 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. ...

. During this time she attended the Gymnasium where she studied German and Hebrew. After the war, the family returned to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Her father considered Lee's literary ambitions an 'irreligious act,' so in response in 1921, at the age of sixteen, Lee emigrated to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

completely alone. In New York, Lee worked in a sweatshop as a seamstress. Through this role she was introduced to the workers movement, and realized her potential to impact society using her voice. Lee wanted to be an activist, so from 1921-1922 she studied at the Jewish Teachers Seminary. Until 1923, she furthered her studies and attended courses at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

and City College in New York. She married writer Aaron Rappaport, with whom she had two children, Joseph (b. 1924) and Yvette (b.1937). Lee and Rappaport owned and managed a bungalow colony in High Falls,

, where many Yiddish intellectuals and writers came together. After Rappaport's death in 1966, Lee married Moshe Besser. Malka Lee died in New York on March 22, 1976.

Poetry

Lee wrote in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

as a young girl, but switched to

when she emigrated to the

in 1921. Her first published poem appeared in 1922, and she continued to write until 1972. Her poetry between 1945 and 1950 is about the pain of watching from a distance as her childhood home and family were destroyed during the Holocaust. One of her brothers, Aaron Leopold survived the

as a soldier in the

Soviet army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

. She helped Aaron and his wife Dina to emigrate to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

as the

had closed their doors to many immigrants after the war. Other poems expressed her intimate feelings, her joy in life and nature, and national themes such as love of the Yiddish language,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and her devotion to

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

. A short autobiographic article published in July 1927 in the Yiddish leftwing newspaper Frayhayt was later expanded into a book of memoirs entitled ''Durkh Kindershe Oygn'' (Through the eyes of childhood) (1955) and dedicated to her family, shot by the Germans in Monastrishtsh in 1941. A portion of this work was translated into English in the book ''Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers'' (1994). Her other volume of prose, ''Mayselekh far Yoselen'' (Little stories for Yosel) (1969), is a book of short stories and fables for children.

Works

*''Durkh Kindershe Oygn'' (1955) *''Durkh Loytere Kvaln'' (1950) *''Gezangen'' (1940) *''In Likht fun Doyres'' (1961) *''Kines fun Undzer Tsayt'' (1945) *''Lider'' (1932) *''Mayselekh far Yoselen'' (1969) *''Untern Nusnboym'' (1969)

References

Sources

*Hyman, Paula E. & Dash Moore, Deborah. ''Jewish Women in America'', Vol I. Routledge, 1977.

External links

*http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/lee-malka
Papers of Malka Lee
at the

YIVO YIVO (, , short for ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. Estab ...

Institute, New York, NY {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Malka 1904 births 1976 deaths 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American women poets American Zionists Hunter College alumni Jewish American poets People from Monastyryska Polish emigrants to the United States Yiddish-language poets 20th-century American Jews