Nahum Stutchkoff

Nahum Stutchkoff, Yiddish נחם סטוטשקאָװ [nɔxəm (nʊxəm) stʊtʃkɔv], originally Polish Nachum Stuczko or Yiddish נחם סטוטשקאָ [nɔxəm (nʊxəm) stʊtʃkɔ] (born 7th June 1893 in Brok near Łomża,Russian Empire, now Poland; died 6th November 1965 in Brooklyn, New York City), was a Yiddish-Polish and later Yiddish-American actor, author, lexicographer, and radio host. The largest Yiddish dictionary ever to be finished was compiled by him: the Oytser fun der yidisher shprakh (“The Treasure [Thesaurus] of the Yiddish Language”).

Nahum Stutchkoff was born Nachum Stuczko (or Nokhem Stutshko in Yiddish) into a Chassidic family living in the northeast of Congress Poland (“Vistula Land”) in the then Russian Empire. Only in America did he add a vov (װ-) to his Yiddish name and two -ff to his English name. The family moved to Warsaw in 1900, where Stutchkoff visited the traditional elementary school (cheder). He later studied at two Talmud academies (yeshivos), one in Łomża and one in Warsaw.

At the age of 16 (in 1909), Stutchkoff had his first experience with Yiddish theatre. He broke off his traditional religious schooling to join the theatre company of the cultural organisation Hazomir (Hebrew for “nightingale”), led by the author Isaac Leib Peretz. He gave his acting debut in Sholem Aleichem’s Mentshn (“Humans”) and went on to act with different troupes in Poland and Russia. In 1912 he was drafted for military service. After his release he was hired by Adolf Segal and from 1917 on he played at the Undzer vinkl theatre in Kharkiv (now Ukraine), which maintained a lively theatre scene in spite of the First World War and subsequently, the Russian Civil War. In 1921 the company was incorporated in a state theatre company which led to the group’s break up. Stutchkoff joined the Yiddish State Theatre of Vitebsk (now Belarus). In 1923 he emigrated to the United States – with his wife Tsilye and his son Misha, born in 1918.

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