EXHIBIT OF THE MONTH

Abraham Morevski, born Menaker (born in Vilnius in 1886–died in Warsaw in 1964), was an actor, director, translator, and essayist.

 

Morevski was born in 1886 into a wealthy family that lived in Vilnius, and attained a traditional Jewish and secular education. In 1910, he graduated from A. Suvorin Theater School of the Literary and Art Society in St. Petersburg, and starred in Russian entertainment events. In 1918, Morevski returned to his native Vilnius and began his career as an actor and director in various Jewish theatres in Vilnius, Lodz, Warsaw, Krakow, and Bialystok. In the 1920s, he went on a tour around Austria, Latvia, Estonia, Argentina, the United States and elsewhere.

 

Morevski starred in several films created in Berlin and Warsaw. He is best known today for his role of the Tsadik of Miropol that he played in the classical Yiddish movie Dybbuk (Der dibek (in Yiddish), 1937, Poland, directed by M. Waszyński). Morevski wrote the essay book Shailok and Shakespeare: The Seven Chapters of Shakespeare Studies (Shailok un Shekspir: Ziben kapiteln shekspirologje, 1937, published in Vilnius), and the book of memoirs There and Back (Ahin un tzurik, 4 vols. 1958– 1963, published in Poland).

 

Morevski survived World War II in the Soviet Union, in Central Asia, and returned to Vilnius in 1945. In 1956, he moved to Warsaw and became the main actor of the State Jewish Theatre under the direction of Ida Kaminska. Morevski died in Warsaw in 1964.

 

 

The reverse of the photograph bears a handwritten inscription by Abraham Morevski in Russian “To my dear Moses and Rosa Zusman, with best wishes / 26/09/1946 before leaving for Moscow by train”, and an inscription in Hebrew “May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year 5707 (Rosh Hashana in Hebrew)”, including a blurred photo studio stamp: “[...] promkombinato fotografija / Vilnius, Aušros vartų St. 10”.

 

Bibliography:

 

The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Morevski, Avrom by Miroslaw M. Bułat (accessible via the Internet, accessed on 04/02/2025) https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/1290

 

Dovydas Judelevičius, Abraham Morevski (accessible via the Internet, accessed on 04/02/2025) https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/abraham-morevski/