People

Shimon Osovitzky (Polish: Szymon Osowicki, שמעון אסאוויצקי) was born in Bialystok on 25 July 1906 into a poor, but happy and musical Jewish family. They lived in a small street named “Chiste Zeshitnie” (Czysta street).

He received a traditional Jewish education and attended a secular gymnasium in Białystok, as well as a drama school in Warsaw focused on singing.

He had 5 brothers and one sister. His grandfather was a Hazan and his father was a weaver and played violin asa hobby. The whole family’s hobby was singing as a choir.

Shimon Osovitzky was very talented and since his childhood he loved singing and playing theater. As a boy he used to follow street singers, jugglers and magicians instead of going to school. Once he finished the Jewish gymnasium in Bialystok, he joined a theater troupe that was performing around the Bialystok area and later on, all around Poland with another troupe.

In Bialystok his hometown, he was an active member in the Esperanto language association that was created years before, by Ludwik Zamenhof in Bialystok. They believed that a universal language can promote exchanges between people of different ethnicities and bring peace to the world.

On 21 January 1939 he married Bella Mittelpunkt from Zamosc. Bella joined his theatre troupe as well.

He became a member of the Jewish polish artists – “Zwiazek Artystow Scen Zydowskich" and collaborated with various theatrical Yiddish companies in Poland, such as: Warsaw Yiddish Art Theater (Varshever Yidisher Kunst  Teater - VYKT) directed by Ida Kaminska and Zygmunt Turkow. They performed in Warsaw but also spent considerable time touring other Polish cities.

When the World War II started he was playing in the theatre of  “Dzigan and Shumacher” in Warsaw. When the Nazis occupied the city they escaped together to the Soviet territory so they survived during the war. They continued to perform in Bialystok and many others cities in Soviet Union, among others Moscow, Leningrad, L’wow, Minsk, Kijov and Thaskent, where first daughter of Osovitzkys - Nechama was born in 1945.

Like the rest of Yidish-language culture, Yiddish theatre was devastated by the Holocaust.

On 1 August 1941 Shimon Osovitzky’s big family - parents, brothers, their wives and children were evicted from their home in Bialystok into the ghetto. There they lived in “Piacigorskaja” 24 St. until 5 th February 1943 when they were transferred by the Nazis to Auschwitz and murdered there.

After the war Osovitzky returned to Bialystok trying to find out what happened to his family and friends. But no one survived there. He continued traveling to displaced people camps throughout Poland .

In 1950 he left Poland and settled in Israel with his wife and 5 years old daughter, in order to build safe and new life. His second daughter Yemima was born in Israel.

Osovitzky’s career raised in Israel. He performed and participated successfully a variety of entertainments, including operettas, dramas, comedies, revues, and single recitals all over the country. He recorded several music Yidish albums that were frequently broadcasted in “Kol Israel” –the Israeli national radio station.

In the sixties and seventies, he also toured many Jewish communities throughout west Europe with Yiddish performances.

Shimon Osovitzky passed away on 15 July 1999 in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

(Bio written exclusively for Museum of the Jews of Bialystok by S. Osovitzky's daugher - Yemima, Tel-Aviv 2018)

Listen to the music of Shimon Osovitzky.