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Ester Rachel Kaminska
Ester Rachel Kamińska née Halpern (Helpern, Hailpern) –
She was called the "mother of Jewish theater", born in 1870 in Porozów, near Wołkowysk, a cantor's daughter; she died in 1925 in Warsaw. She was an actress in Yiddish-language theater, the wife o Abraham Izaak Kamiński, the mother of Ida and Józef Kamiński. She began working as a modiste, selling fashionable ladies’ hats. She made her stage debut in 1888 in Warsaw. After the death of her parents, in 1893, she dedicated herself to the theater entirely. She appeared with the troupe of her future husband, Abraham Izaak Kamiński, mainly in operettas.
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Real fame came several years later, when Kamińska began appearing in serious roles, such as in the world premiere in Warsaw of Di Goldene Keyt (The Golden Chain) by I. L. Peretz and during a Russian tour in 1908-1909. Importantly, she was well received by wealthy, assimilated Jews in Moscow and Petersburg. Kamińska also performed in the United States, London and Paris. She became famous for her roles in plays by J. Gordin (particularly Mirele Efros), but also in A Doll's House by H. Ibsen and Camille, The Lady of the Camellias (La dame aux camélias ) (1860) by A. Dumas. As a pillar of the "Vilnius Troupe", she was attributed with having successfully promoted European classics in Jewish theater, including works by Shakespeare, Chekhov and Shaw. Kamińska also appeared in Yiddish-language films, including Mirele Efros (1912), Der Unbekanter (The Stranger, 1913), Di Shtifmuter (The Stepmother, 1914), Tkies Kaf (A Vilna Legend, 1924). Yidishe Vissenshaftleche Institut's Museum of Theater Studies in Vilnius was named after her. (asw)
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