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  ERC > LEXICON OF THE YIDDISH THEATRE  >  VOLUME 5  >  MALVINA SIEROTZKA


Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre
 BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE WHO WERE ONCE INVOLVED IN THE Yiddish THEATRE;
aS FEATURED IN zALMEN zYLBERCWEIG'S  "lEKSIKON FUN YIDISHN TEATER"
VOLUME 5: THE KDOYSHIM (MARTYRS) EDITION, 1967, Mexico City


 

Malvina Sierotzka
(Kompaneyets)


  

Born on 27 August 1881 in Odessa, Ukraine. Step-sister of the actor and theatre director A.G. Kompaneyets.

At the age of ten she was brought onto the stage by her brother's troupe, where she played until the age of fifteen, when she began to perform in prima donna roles under the name "Borisova." Later S. played as a soubrette with Avraham Fiszon, then for five years she toured with member's troupes, and after her marriage to actor Herman Serotsky for several years she played as a prima donna in Kompanayets' troupe. In 1905 S. played with Mark Arnstein-Dr. Rozenzal in Warsaw, and then she was a character role player in Zandberg's "Grand Theatre" in Lodz, which she made her permanent home. Later S. married the editor and writer Yeshaya Uger, acted until the First World War and then withdrew from the stage, performing only from time to time in benefits or in holiday productions.

Zalmen Zylbercweig writes:

"When she acted on the stage, she excelled with an exceptional natural ability. Her type, which she had created most of the time in cheap operetta repertoire, were full of life and had created incredibly the frequent absurdity and intimacy that she had brought onto the stage and had really in that role made herself beloved to the audience.

About her last period, when the Nazis took Lodz, her husband recalls--according to Y. Yonosovitsh--as the Nazis were coming

 to her home to perform an inspection and they gained access, etc:

" I had almost dragged my radio to the truck when my wife decided to ask the storm trooper to have pity on a person who is in his sixties. She asked them to allow her to help me. he agreed. She took the radio and brought it to the truck. But once they were there the storm trooper asked for the radio to be returned. She went back upstairs with the radio. However, she was once again asked bring the radio down. So she went back and forth with the radio at least thirty times on a staircase of over sixty high stairs. At the end she could not go any further. She slipped and fell down a whole flight of stairs and ended up in an unconscious state in a small corner of the house."

As Jonas Turkow retells it, S. died in the Warsaw Ghetto together with her daughter and grandchild. They apparently wandered to Warsaw and after this account. The account occurred several days after the Nazis searched their home. They perished at the hands of the Germans.



In "Crazy in Love"
 

M.E. from Jonas Turkow.

  • "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre," Vol. 2, 1934, p. 1496; Vol. 5, Mexico, 1966, pp. 3705-3715.


 

 

 

 

 

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Adapted from the original Yiddish text found within the  "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre" by Zalmen Zylbercweig, Volume 5, page 4371.

You can see the first Lexicon biography for Malvina Sierotzka in its second volume, by clicking here.
 

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