Harry Schneiderman

Harry Schneiderman (January 23, 1885 – September 1, 1975) was a Polish-born Jewish-American communal administrator and editor.

Life

Schneiderman was born on January 23, 1885, in Sawin, Poland, the son of Samuel Schneiderman and Deborah Rothman. His sister was labor leader Rose Schneiderman.

Schneiderman immigrated to America in 1890. He was a ward of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York from 1893 to 1904, and worked as a teacher in its religious department from 1905 to 1908. He graduated from New York City public school in 1901 and from the College of the City of New York with a B.S. in 1908. He also received an elementary and intermediate Jewish education. In 1908, he joined the American Jewish Committee as assistant to its secretary, Herbert Friedenwald, on the recommendation of Solomon Lowenstein (the executive director of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum). In 1914, when Friedenwald's successor as secretary Herman Bernstein resigned, Schneiderman was appointed assistant secretary and served as acting secretary for the next fourteen years until Morris D. Waldman was appointed secretary. He collaborated in preparing the ''American Jewish Year Book'' since he joined the American Jewish Committee, and in 1920 he became its editor. He wrote several special articles for the ''Year Book'', and from 1928 to 1936 he wrote its "Review of the Year." He also took a directing part in expanding the Committee's cultural activities beginning in 1933.

Schneiderman edited the ''American Jewish Year Book'' until 1948 He also edited the ''Contemporary Jewish Record'' from 1938 to 1945. He wrote for the ''Jewish Tribune'' from 1923 to 1928. He was assistant secretary director of the American Jewish Committee's Library of Jewish Information from 1914 to 1945. He co-founded the Jewish Book Council of America and served as its vice-president from 1947 until his death. He was co-chairman of the American advisory board of the 1959 Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, and was a publications committee member of the Jewish Publication Society, the American Jewish Historical Society, and the Conference on Jewish Relations. He served as secretary of the Emergency Committee for Jewish Refugees from 1924 to 1928. He translated works from Joseph Samuel Bloch, Chayim Block, and Reuben Rotgeisser. He contributed to ''Our Racial and National Minorities'' in 1937, ''One America'' in 1945, the ''Universal Jewish Encyclopedia'', and the American Year Book. He wrote ''The Jewish in American History'' between 1922 and 1923 and ''The Jews of Nazi Germany: A Handbook of Facts Regarding their Present Situation'' in 1935. He was also chairman of the editorial board of ''Who's Who in World Jewry'' in 1955 and 1965.

In 1917, Schneiderman married Tillie Saymon. Their children were Herbert, Florence Dobrer, and Lois King.

Schneiderman died in the Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged on September 1, 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneiderman, Harry
1885 births
1975 deaths
People from Lublin Governorate
19th-century Polish Jews
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States
Jews from the Russian Empire
City College of New York alumni
19th-century American Jews
20th-century American Jews
Jewish American writers
Jewish American philanthropists
American book editors
20th-century American translators
20th-century American male writers
Writers from New York City
Burials in New York (state)
American Jewish Committee