Moshe Pasternak (Pastor)

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Lives in the Yiddish Theatre

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN THE YIDDISH THEATRE
AS DESCRIBED IN ZALMEN ZYLBERCWEIG'S "LEXICON OF THE YIDDISH THEATRE"

1931-1969

Moshe (Muni) Pastor
(Avraham Moshe Pasternak)

P. was born on 26 May 1898 in Lodz, Poland.

His father was a shoemaker.

After he had learned in the cheder, he sang in the choir of the "Deytsher Sinagogue (German Synagogue)," led by its director Darguzhanski. He finished the school for tradesmen in Lodz and as a youngster participated in the Hebrew production of Yitzhok Katzenelson's "Habima hivrit," later participating in the Hebrew and Yiddish productions of "Lida" [directed by Zalmen Zylbercweig].

In 1917 he became a professional actor in M.D. Waxman's troupe, later going across to the troupe of Julius Adler and Herman Serotsky. In 1924 he was engaged at the Warsaw "Central" Theatre and participated in the tour with the troupe across Poland. In 1926 he went with Kompaneyets' troupe to Romania, and there he later got married with the actress Sevilla Ziegler and became the regisseur of

the operetta repertoire for his father-in-law, Moshe Ziegler's troupe, with whom he went across Austria and Hungary with, as well as Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania.

Zalmen Zylbercweig, who had happened [p'n] in 1928 in Ziegler's troupe, recalls that he was very popular with the theatre audiences. He truly exhibited himself as a fine fat-lover, a good dancer and as a knowledgeable regisseur oyftsufirt oyf a sheynem ufn operetn under the difficult conditions of an itinerant troupe, often across small cities and towns on geherike aksesarn, as the necessary decorations, lighting, chorus, dancers, orchestras and tools with which operetta productions were associated [?]

According to Julian Schwartz, the Ziegler troupe was found in Austria when the country became occupied by the Nazis. The troupe soon thereafter was forced to go to Romania, but P. as a Polish citizen, was taken by the Nazis to Poland, where he was killed.

Sh. E. from Zalmen Zylbercweig and Julian Schwartz.

"Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre," New York, 1959, Vol. III, p. 1942.