Alexander Granowsky, founder of the Moscow Yiddish State Theatre, died here today at the age of 47.
Born in Moscow as Abraham Azarch, he received his education in St. Petersburg (now Leningrad) and the Art Academy at Munich, from which he was graduated. Returning to Russia after the October revolution, he began his activities as a stage director in 1918. He was commissioned by the Peoples Commissariat of Education to open a Yiddish Theatre Studio.
Under Granowsky’s direction the studio opened in June, 1919, with a performance of Maeterlinck’s “The Blind, ” and Sholom Asch’s “The Sinner, ” at the old Suvorin Theatre.
Granowsky’s group later was transferred to Moscow where it was known as the Yiddish Chamber Theatre, or the Moscow Yiddish State Theatre, with its founder acting as the art director.
Granowsky and his troupe toured Western Europe in 1928 and 1929. Among the works presented under his direction were those of Sholem Aleichem, famous Jewish humorist; Sholem Asch, Ab Goldfaden, I.L. Peretz, Jules Romain and Mendele Moicher Seforim, father of modern Yiddish literature whose hundredth anniversary was celebrated last year.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
