Mina Bern (May 5, 1911 – January 10, 2010) was a Polish and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

actress. She was a star of the

Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; na ...

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Biography

Mina Bernholtz was born in

Bielsk Podlaski Bielsk Podlaski (, , ) is a town in eastern Poland, within Bielsk County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 24,883. Geography Bielsk Podlaski is located in the geographical region of Europe known as ...

in Poland. Her theatrical debut was in Bialystok under the director Yehuda Greenhoyz.Ben-Avraham, Michael (September 8, 2006).
Mina Bern: Portret fun a yidisher bine-kinstlerin
(Mina Bern: Portrait of a Yiddish Stage Artist) . ''Forverts''. Retrieved March 30, 2018. In 1930, through her relative Moishe Broderzon, she shortened her name and auditioned successfully to join the Ararat Yiddish cabaret theater in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, and then played at the Warsaw ''Scala'' and later, the Kaminska theaters and the local folk theater. With Dina Halperin and Sam Bronetski she worked in the collective ''Our Theater'', and later with Zygmunt Turkov. Zylbercweig, Zalmen (1959).
Bern (Bernholts), Mina
. ''Leksikon fun yidishn teater'' exicon of Yiddish Theater With the assistance of Jacob Mestel. New York: Elisheva. Vol. 3, column 2296. A few years later, she established a small cabaret theater in

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

. Bern fled to Russia with her daughter after the

Nazi invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet ...

; there she played with the "Bialistocker yidisher miniatur-teatr" (miniature revi-teater) of Shimon Dzigan and Israel Shumacher. In 1944 she was sent to a camp in Uganda where she did children's theater for Poles stationed there. Through Jewish family connections she went to Kenya in 1945 and from there to

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 ...

where she worked with Jenny Lavitz in the revue ''Rozhinkes mit mandlen,'' favorably reviewed and subsequently staged at the Hebrew ''Li-La-Lo'' revue theater. In 1949, after an incident in which she was accused of sending a thug to beat up theater critic

Haim Gamzu Haim Gamzu (; 1910–1982) (also Haim Gamzou) was an Israeli art and drama critic. Biography Haim Gamzu was born in Chernihiv in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). In 1923, his family aliyah, immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. Gamzu studied art a ...

, who had written a bad review of her performance, she emigrated to the

United States 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 ...

. She married actor and producer Ben Bonus. Living in New York City, she and her husband operated the Village Theater, which ran Yiddish performances. She recorded songs in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

Death

She died in 2010, and was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in

Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial ...

Awards

Bern received an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

in 1999, for her performance in ''Sweet Dreams'' (''Zise khaloymes''), at the

Folksbiene The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, commonly known as NYTF, is a professional theater company in New York City which produces both Yiddish theater, Yiddish plays and plays translated into Yiddish, in a theater equipped with simultaneous sup ...

.Leon, Masha (January 11, 2010).
Mina Bern, Yiddish Theater Doyenne, Dead at 98
. ''

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

''. forward.com. Retrieved March 30, 2018.

Filmography

*''

Brooklyn Babylon ''Brooklyn Babylon'' is a 2001 film written and directed by Marc Levin, and a modern retelling of the Song of Songs, Song of Solomon, set against the backdrop of the Crown Heights riot, starring Black Thought of The Roots. Plot summary In Brookl ...

'' (2001) .... Nanna *Flawless (1999) .... Mrs. Spivak *Celebrity (1998) .... Elderly Homeowner *The First Seven Years (1998) (TV) .... Landlady *I'm Not Rappaport (1996) * Everything Relative (1996) .... Grandma Kessler * Little Odessa (1994) .... Grandma Tsilya * It Could Happen to You (1994) .... Muriel's Neighbour * Pressure Drop (1994) .... Ida Potashner * Avalon (1990) .... Alice Krichinsky * Crossing Delancey (1988) .... Would-be Victim *

Tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...

(1985) (as Mina Bern Bonas) .... Ruth

References

External links