Shimon Dzigan

Shimon Dzigan was born in 1905 in Łódź

Dzigan was born in 1905 in Łódź, then part of the Russian Empire, to a traditional family. His father served in the Imperial Russian Army. During World War I he was apprenticed to a tailor to help support the family, and as a young man he played football for a Polish team.

In 1927 Moishe Broderzon invited him to join the Ararat cabaret theater in Łódź, where he met Israel Schumacher. The two formed a comedy duo and in 1935 founded their own cabaret company in Warsaw. They also acted in Yiddish films such as Al khet and Jolly Paupers.

After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, they fled to the Soviet Union and kept performing. When they tried to join the army of Władysław Anders, they were arrested and held in labor camps. They were released in 1946 and later returned to Poland.

They immigrated to Israel in 1950 and faced limits on Yiddish performance, so they also worked in Argentina. They ran a theater in Tel Aviv from 1958, but the duo split up in 1960. After Schumacher died in 1961, Dzigan performed alone and opened a theater on Mendele Street in Tel Aviv.

Israeli television produced programs about him in 1975 and 1977, and in 1976 he received the Itzik Manger Prize. He suffered a heart attack during a premiere and died in Tel Aviv on April 14, 1980. He was buried in Kiryat Shaul Cemetery.