Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1940-2004 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
7 boxes (1 metre)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Chava Rosenfarb (1923-2011) was a prominent Yiddish poet, author, playwright and a Holocaust survivor. Born in Lodz, Poland, Rosenfarb received a secular Yiddish and Polish education before being incarcerated in the Lodz ghetto where she received her high school diploma. She began writing poetry in the Ghetto and was recognized early for her talent. Having survived Auschwitz, the Sasel labour camp, and Bergen Belsen, the author emigrated to Canada in 1950 where she wrote prolifically until the end of her life. She is the recipient of numerous awards including Israel’s Manger Prize, the Canadian Jewish Book Award, and two J.I Segal Awards.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Goldie Morgentaler, 2012.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Includes drafts and proofs of ‘Survivors’ (final proof 2004 and edited draft); Der Boym fun Lebn (The Tree of Life), including original holograph draft in notebooks, written in the 1940s; ‘The Song of Abram the Waiter’ Chava’s English translation from 1959-1960, as well as typescript in Yiddish titled ‘Dos lid Fun dem Yidishn Kelner Abram’ ; The Bird of the Ghetto English translation; ‘Simcha Bunim Shayevitch: the Poet of the Lodz Ghetto’ drafts; drafts of short stories in Yiddish; a DVD interview with Chava Rosenfarb and Goldie Morgentaler by Erica Pomerant, April 2004 for the Montreal Yiddish Project; correspondence and other material related to the life and work of writer and translator Chava Rosenfarb.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions on access.
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-form.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- Yiddish