Joseph Opatoshu

Joseph Opatoshu (Yiddish: יוסף אָפּאַטאָשו) (January 1, 1886 – October 7, 1954) was a Polish-born Yiddish novelist and short story writer. He was the father of actor David Opatoshu. Opatoshu was born in 1886 as Yosef Meir Opatowski to Jewish parents, Dawid (or Dovid) and Nantshe, near Mława, Congress Poland.His father, a wood merchant, came from a Hasidic family and had become a Maskil. He sent Yosef to the best Polish schools in the country. At the age of 19 Yosef went to study engineering in Nancy, France.However, privation sent him to the United States in 1907, where he settled in New York City, where his name became Joseph Opatovsky, and he later took the professional name of Joseph Opatoshu.