A guide to the Forverts archival coverage of the Triangle Fire

Failed Rescue: New York?s tallest ladder couldn?t reach the top floors where fire engulfed Triangle factory workers March 25,1911. Image by Forward Association

By Forward Staff March 25, 2021

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was one of the worst industrial tragedies in America. On the eve of its 110th anniversary, read reporting published in the Yiddish-language Forverts in the aftermath of the deadly fire.

Articles were translated by Chana Pollack, Ezra Glinter and Myra Mniewski.

March 26, 1911

Our Ghastly Devastation
One day after the fire, the Forverts pens a mournful piece about the victims. “The heart is too aggrieved, the breath seized by the sight of the pile of fresh human burnt-offering, inconceivable,” it reads.

The Morgue Is Full of Our Victims!
The Forverts provides vivid and gruesome descriptions of the fire’s immediate aftermath.

A Wild, Inexplicable Mass Murder
Reports on how few fire escapes, locked doors, crooked and narrow stairways and a shop crammed with machines contributed to the disaster.

March 27, 1911

Blood-Chilling Details of Saturday’s Destruction
In the issue published two days after the fire, Forward staffers detail the fire’s devastation.

Remembering the Victims
Remembering Triangle fire victims Violet Shekhter, Benny Kurs, Yetta Rosenboym and Gussie Spunt, through vignettes.

What a Reporter from the Forverts Saw at the Morgue
A Forverts reporter provides a first-hand account of what it was like at the morgue on the day after the fire.

The Blood of the Victims Calls to Us
In his editorial, Forverts editor Abraham Cahan, writes, “The entire neighborhood is sitting shiva.”

March 28, 1911

A Closet with Wedding Clothes Is All That Is Left of Yetta Goldstein
The family of Triangle victim Yetta Goldstein remembers the 20-year-old worker.

More Tragedies in the Darkened Homes
The Forverts visits with family members of various Triangle victims.

March 29, 1911

Only A Muted Violin Is All that Remains of Them
The children of the Rosen family remember their mother and brother, who died in the Triangle fire.

Mourning the Triangle Fire Victims
The Forverts reports on the funerals of some of the Triangle fire victims.

March 30, 1911

The Quiet Tragedy of Two of the Rescued
Two of those rescued from the Triangle factory share their story with the Forverts.

April 1, 1911

Building Department Takes Steps Against New Shop of Triangle Waist Co.
Two burned victims are identified, and the Triangle factory bosses open a new shop that is “just as dangerous as their prior factory.”

April 2, 1911

Two Letters
A poem by Morris Rosenfeld in the voice of Eastern European parents wishing their daughters who work in American factories would come back home.

April 3, 1911

Metropolitan Opera House Packed With Protest Meeting About the Fire

An account of a meeting about the Triangle fire, held at the Metropolitan Opera House and attended by mostly wealthy individuals. The meeting was organized by the daughter of Wall Street magnate J. Pierpont Morgan.

April 6, 1911

The March of Tears
Morris Rosenfeld recounts the mourners’ funeral march which, he writes, had greater lamentation than “the march to counter the pogroms … during Russia’s savage empire.”

The Funeral of the Unidentified
An account of the funeral for the unidentified victims of the Triangle fire.

Half a Million People in Mourning
A dispatch from the mourners’ march that brought out more than half a million people.

April 7, 1911

Ladies Waist Maker Union Takes On the Task of Disclosing Fire Traps
The Ladies Waist Makers Union discloses firetraps to various city departments.

April 12, 1911

Triangle Bosses Arrested On Murder Charge
The two bosses of the Triangle Waist Company, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, are indicted on charges of first-degree manslaughter.

December 23, 1911

Triangle Boss a Witness
Isaac Harris, forced to give evidence on the witness stand, said that there had been five fires in the Triangle shop, and that he had given instructions to inspect the girls’ pocketbooks.

December 27, 1911

Triangle Case Goes to Jury Today
The case of the Triangle bosses goes to the jury.

December 29, 1911

The 147 Immolated Have No Effect on the Jury
The Triangle bosses are acquitted.

Confessions of a Triangle Juror
A Triangle juror speaks to the press.

The Lesson of the Triangle Trial
Forverts editor Abraham Cahan on what can be learned from the Triangle fire.

The Forward’s staff contributors are listed in our masthead.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO