Abraham Axelrad

Abraham Axelrad (also known as Awrom Axelrod; 1858 – November 11, 1925) was a Jewish comedian, actor, and theater director. He is considered one of the most important representatives of popular Yiddish theater culture in Czernowitz.

Biography and career Axelrad was born in Iași (then in the Principality of Moldavia, now in Romania) in 1858. As a youth, he came into contact with the Jewish theater of Abraham Goldfaden. As a member of the ensemble, he followed Goldfaden's troupe to Bucharest, where he met the playwright and theater director Moses Horowitz, who recruited him as a comedian for his own ensemble.

Shortly thereafter, Axelrad settled in Czernowitz (in Austria-Hungary, now in Ukraine), joining the Deutsch-jüdisches Theater (German-Jewish Theater), which had been under the direction of Elias (or Berl) Margulies since its founding in 1877.