Literatureקלמן אהרון ברתיני

K. A. Bertini

K. A. Bertini was a Hebrew poet, children's author, editor and translator who won the Tchernichowsky Prize in 1977.

1903 to 1995Hebrew poetry about old ageTranslations from Yiddish and FrenchChildren's stories and poems

Born: 15 June 1903, Briceva
Died: 20 February 1995, Israel
Occupation: poet, translator, literary editor, writer

K. A. Bertini was born in 1903 in Briceva

Kalman Aharon Bertini was born in 1903 in Briceva, a mostly Jewish town in Bessarabia, then part of the Russian Empire. His parents were David Golergant and Elka Greenberg.

He studied at a cheder and at a Hebrew high school in Bălți. He then studied Jewish studies at Charles University in Prague from 1923 to 1925 and at the Sorbonne in Paris from 1925 to 1927. In 1924 he married Bertha Lerch, a physician, and their son Shlomo, later the conductor Gary Bertini, was born in 1927.

From 1927 to 1940 he taught in Tarbut Hebrew schools in Bessarabia and headed the network's Jewish high school in Soroca. During World War II he was exiled to Siberia. He survived and moved with his family through Austria, Italy and France, reaching the Land of Israel in 1947.

In Israel he taught literature in Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv. His poetry moved from an ornate style to personal modern verse and dealt with old age. He wrote for children, adapted classics for young readers and translated dozens of books from Yiddish and world literature.

He received the Tchernichowsky Prize for translation in 1977. He died in 1995.