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Dina Shayewicz
(Igelskaya)
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Born in May 1891 in
Sieradz, Poland. Her parents were merchants. She
learned to read and write Yiddish, a little
'davening,' and a little Polish with a cantor's
daughter. There she made the acquaintance of the
actor Yosef Shayevitsh, with whom she married and
went with him on tour. She began as a chorister in
the chorus of the Yiddish theatre with Zandberg in
Lodz, later on her own going over to small, then to
greater roles and followed the actor's path with her
husband. Since 1919, when her husband was killed
during a civil conflict in Russia, she didn't act
for a bit of time, but later she joined a member
troupe in Russia. She married the actor Avraham
Kurtz, returning to Poland, where she acted with
Esther Rukl Kaminska across the province, then in
Warsaw in the Kaminski Theatre, in the winter of
1927 with Lidia Potocka, later with other prominent
troupes and actors, among them Maurice Schwartz in
his offering of Singer's "Yoshe kalb."
Dina's son, the
composer Israel, was killed by the Nazis.
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About her tragic end,
Jonas Turkow writes:
"When the 'actions' began
in the Warsaw Ghetto, A. Kurtz with his darling wife
Dina Shayevitsh--also a Yiddish actress of merit--was tsugeshribn as
a bakery worker with her friend Korman in the bakery on
Novolipye Street. The joy did not last long, as there
came a 'selection' (a Jewish cleansing directed by the
Germans), and dos porl Kurtz aiz nor el pi ns
gelungen zikh. From then on they had aribergetrogn in
our metal 'shop' on Milne Street.
A. Kurtz had worked with
us in the men's department, and Dina Shayevitsh with my
wife and the other women, with metal and haberdashery
cleaning. During one of the first 'actions' on Milne
Street, they had the lovely, dear Dina Shayevitsh and
led her away to her place of death."
M. E.
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Jonas Turkow--
"Extinguished Stars," 1953, Vol. 1, pp. 89, 114-5.
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