Hinde Ester Singer Kreytman (1891-1954), known in English as Esther Kreitman, was a Yiddish-language novelist and short story writer. She was born in Bilgoraj, Poland to a rabbinic Jewish family. Her younger brothers Israel Joshua Singer and Isaac Bashevis Singer also became writers. Their youngest brother, Moyshe, became a rabbi and died in The Holocaust. Kreitman had an unhappy childhood and agreed to an arranged marriage, partly to escape her family. In 1912 she left Poland to live with her husband, a diamond cutter, in Antwerp, Belgium. Her son, Morris Kreitman, was born there. (He later was known by his journalistic pen name, Maurice Carr, and his novelistic pen name, Martin Lea.) The outbreak of World War I forced the family to flee to London, where Kreitman lived for the rest of her life, except for two long return visits to Poland. Her marriage was not happy. She and her husband both worked in menial jobs, and she translated classic English works into Yiddish to earn extra money. She began writing relatively late in life, publishing her first novel Der Sheydims Tants (The Devils Dance) in 1936. This was translated by her son in 1946 as Deborah. Her second novel, Brilyantn (Diamonds) was published in 1944, and her book of short stories, Yikhes (Lineage) was published in 1949. Many of her works deal with the status of women, particularly intellectual women, among Ashkenazi Jews. Other works explore class relationships, and her short stories include several set in London during The Blitz, which she lived through. She died in 1954 in London. Since her death her works have been translated into French, German, Dutch and Spanish. Almost her entire small output is now available in English translation. She was almost never on good terms with her brothers, who mention her unfavorably in their memoirs In My Father's Court (I. B. Singer) and Of a World That is No More (I. J. Singer). She did not leave any memoirs of her own. Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... Biłgoraj is a town in south-eastern Poland with 27,000 inhabitants (2003). ... Israel Joshua Singer (1893-February 10, 1944) was a Yiddish novelist and the brother of Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer. ... Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer (Yiddish: יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער or יצחק בת־שבֿעס זינגער) (November 21, 1902 or July 14, 1904 - July 24, 1991) was a Nobel Prize-winning Jewish writer of both short stories and novels. ... Selection at the Auschwitz ramp in 1944, where the German Nazis chose whom to kill immediately and whom to use as slave labor or for medical experimentation, such as those of the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. ... The Cathedral of our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp) in the Handschoenmarkt, in the old quarter of Antwerp is the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and home to a number of triptychs by Belgian Baroque painter Rubens. ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead:5 million Civilian dead:3 million Total dead:8 million Military dead:4 million Civilian dead:3 million Total dead:7 million The First World... This article is about the British city. ... Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים Standard Hebrew, AÅ¡kanazi, AÅ¡kanazim, Tiberian Hebrew, ʾAÅ¡kănāzî, ʾAÅ¡kănāzîm, pronounced sing. ... German bomber over the Surrey Docks, Southwark, London The Blitz was the sustained and intensive bombing of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany during 1940–1941. ...

References

Esther Kreitman papers, YIVO. YIVO, (Yiddish: ייִוואָ), founded in 1925 as the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut (Yiddish: ייִדישער װיסנשאַפֿטלעכער אינסטיטוט), or Yiddish Scientific Institute, is the most authoritative source for orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to the Yiddish language. ...

Carr, Maurice. "My Mother, Hindele." Introduction by David Mazower. Pakn-Treger 45 (Summer 2004): 44-49.

Clifford, Dafna. "From Diamond Cutters to Dog Races: Antwerp and London in the Work of Esther Kreitman." Prooftexts 23 (2003): 320-37.

Norich, Anita. "The Family Singer and the Autobiographical Imagination." Prooftexts 10 n. 1 (Jan. 1990): 97-107.

Sinclair, Clive. "Esther, the silenced Singer." Los Angeles Times Sunday, April 14, 1991: BR1, 11.

External links

• A Bibliography of Esther Kreitman
• The Life and Works of Esther Kreitman
• Books by Esther Kreitman in English