Funeral services were held yesterday for Mendel Kohansky, theater critic and theater historian, who died last Friday at the age of 70. A member of The Jerusalem Post staff since 1961, Kohansky was best known for his weekly column of theater criticism. As chairman of the Theater Critics Circle of Israel, he often represented this country abroad. He was a member of the executive committee of the International Association of Theater Critics.
Kohansky was born in Poland and attended school in Lodz. He graduated from the University of Warsaw in journalism and humanities and worked for the local press before moving to the United States. He was deeply concerned with the Holocaust he escaped and reflected this in the book he recently completed, “Mirror to Death,” which deals with the Holocaust as a theme in world drama. The book is scheduled to be published by the State University of New York.
Also about to appear is his book, “The Disreputable Profession,” about the actor’s image in society, from the ancient Greeks until the present. It will be published by the Greenwood Press in the U.S.
While in the U.S. Kohansky worked for various newspapers and radios. In 1945 he came to New York City from Chicago to be the Yiddish press and radio director of the Histadrut campaign. In 1955 he settled in Israel and did publicity work for Kupat Holim, Histadrut’s sick-fund.
In addition to his weekly column in The Jerusalem Post, which sometimes included commentaries on social and political issues, Kohansky was the author of numerous books and monographs, including “The Hebrew Theater” (1969) and “The Weidenfeld Guide to Israel” (1973).
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.
