Lili Berger
Lili Berger wrote on the Polish-Jewish experience during the twentieth century, particularly focusing on other artists and writers. Born in 1916 to an observant Jewish family in Poland, Berger served as the head of the MNCR (National Movement Against Racism) in France, rescuing Jewish children. After the war, Berger began writing and publishing collections of literary criticisms and short stories, as well as books. Berger won literary awards for her books internationally. Her works include Ekhos fun a vaytn nekhtn (Echoes of a Remote Past) and a Yiddish translation entitled Briv fun toytn-hoyz (Letters from Death Row), the letters of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
In an article commemorating Jean-Paul Sartre written shortly after his death, Lili Berger emphasized his role as a writer engagé and observed: “Yes, he made mistakes, but what active person has not?” This description could easily fit Lili Berger herself. A prolific literary critic and essayist who wrote fiction, short stories and novels, Berger was also politically engaged. She wrote to educate, instruct, expose and memorialize.
Early Life and World War Two
Lili Berger was born on December 30, 1916 to an observant Jewish family in Malken, near Bialystok. Her traditional Jewish education included three years at a Hebrew school, after which she attended the Polish-Jewish Gymnasium in Warsaw. After graduating Berger went on to study pedagogy in Brussels. In 1936 she settled in Paris where she taught at a Jewish supplementary school and became involved with the Jewish left. She married Louis Gronowski (Lulke Grojnowski), a leader of the Jewish Communists in charge of the Jewish section of the MOI (Main-d’oeuvre immigrée), a network created to mobilize immigrant workers. During the war, they both assumed key roles in the French Resistance in German-occupied Paris. As head of the MNCR (Mouvement national contre le racisme), Lili Berger was active in rescuing Jewish children from deportation.
Post-War Literary Works
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Literary Themes
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Selected Works
Ekhos fun a vaytn nekhtn (Echoes of distant times). Tel Aviv: Yisroel bukh, 1986.
Esseyn un skitsn (Essays and sketches). Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1965.
Fun haynt un nekhtn (Today and yesterday). Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1965.
Fun vayt un noent (From near and far). Paris: L. Berger, 1978.
Geshtaltn un pasirungn (People and events). Paris: L. Berger, 1991.
In gang fun tsayt (In the course of time). Paris: Berger, 1976.
In loif fun tsayt (In the passage of time). Paris: Berger, 1988.
Nisht farendikte bletlekh (Incomplete pages). Tel Aviv: Yisroel bukh, 1982.
Nokhn Mabl (After the flood). Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1967.
Oif di khvalyes fun goyrl (On the waves of destiny). Paris: L. Berger, 1986.
Opgerisenne Tsvaygn (Broken branches). Paris: L. Berger, 1970.
Gryn, Ber. Morgn Frayhayt, July 16, 1967.
Emiat, Israel. Forverts, February 9, 1975.
Forman, Freida, et al., eds. Found Treasures. Toronto: 1994.
Kagan, Berl. Leksikon fun yidishe shraybers. New York: 1986.
Domankievich, L. Tsukunft. May–June, 1971.
Roitman, Efraim. Israel Shtime. Tel Aviv: November 1976.
Shulshteyn, Avraham. Dort. New York: November 1974.
van Tendeloo, Dorothée. “Paper Treasures: An Introduction to the Life and Work of the Yiddish Novelist, Literary Critic and Essayist Lili Berger (1916–1996).” Unpublished M.A. thesis, London: 2000.
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