Shmuel Shilo

Shmuel Shilo or Shmulik Shiloh (Hebrew: שמואל שילה‎; 1 December 1929 – 4 October 2011) was an Israeli actor, director and producer, born in the Second Polish Republic, and best remembered for his role on the Israeli production of Rechov Sumsum, a popular TV show based on Sesame Street. In 1983 he founded the Negev Theatre and served as its creative director for fifteen years.^[1]

Life

Shmuel Shilo was born in Łuck, eastern Poland (now Lutsk, Ukraine). Following the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland and the creation of the Łuck Ghetto by the German occupation authorities in December 1941,^[2] Shmuel (Shmulik, age twelve) was interned in the ghetto along with his family and 20,000 other Polish Jews.^[3] He survived the ghetto liquidation action of August 19, 1942 in a cellar with his mother and siblings, and the subsequent deportation to Górka Połonka killing fields, but all alone on September 12, to join the slave workers in a Nazi labor camp set up at the Jewish school building. He escaped once more, during a prisoner revolt by hiding under a work bench,^[4] and survived the war in the forests amongst partisans. After reuniting with his sister rescued by the Poles, in 1946 the two made their way to Palestine. He was a member of Palmach and was a founding member of Kibbutz Tze'elim.

Shilo studied acting and performed regularly in several theatres. In 1983 he founded the Negev Theatre and served as its art director until 1997. He also acted in several films and television series, best known for his role on the Israeli production of Sesame Street, Rechov Sumsum.^[1] He died of cancer at the age of 82.^[1]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Sipur Intimi
1982	Noa Bat 17	Shraga
1982	Hamsin
1985	Goodbye, New York	Moishe
1986	Yaldei Stalin
1986	Malkat Hakitah	Baruch
1986	Gloves
1987	I Don't Give a Damn
1987	Ha-Holmim	Halperin
1987	The Impossible Spy	Rabbi	TV movie
1989	Sadot Yerukim
1992	Double Edge	Moshe
1998	Aviv	Shmuel
2001	Ajimae	King Bataton	TV movie
2003	Meorav Yerushalmi		Episode: "Kise Ha-Sandak"
2006	The Galilee Eskimos	Faybel
2006	Ha-Chaim Ze Lo Ha-Kol	Ephraim Rozanski	Episode: "Yam Shel D'maot"
2007	The Little Traitor	Mr. Lazarus
2009-2012	Prisoners of War	Yoske	2 episodes, (final appearance)
2011	Footnote	Committee Member

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Adva Cohen (10 June 2011), Actor Shmuel Shiloh dies. Ynetnews.com. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
^ Dr Pawel Goldstein, Lutsk (Luck) Ghetto. Geni.com. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
^ Yad Vashem, Mass-murder of Łuck Jews at Gurka Polonka in August 1942 on YouTube Note: village Połonka (Polish: Górka Połonka or its Połonka Little Hill Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine subdivision) is misspelled in the documentary, with testimony of eyewitness Shmuel Shilo. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
^ Yad Vashem, testimony of Shmuel Shulman (Shmulik Shilo), Liquidation of the Jewish inmates of the Łuck labor camp in December 1942 on YouTube. Retrieved July 21, 2015.