__NOTOC__ Zelig Hirsch Kalmanovich ( lv, Zēligs Hiršs Kalmanovičs) (1885–1944) was a Litvak

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

philologist, translator, historian, and community archivist of the early 20th century. He was a renowned scholar of

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

. In 1929 he settled in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

where he became an early director of

YIVO YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...

. He was incarcerated in the

Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the approximatel ...

where he became an observant Jew. During his time in the ghetto, Kalmanovich kept a secret diary which is one of the few primary sources recording day-to-day life. His diary stressed the efforts of the community to retain their humanity in the face of oppression. For example, on October 11, 1942, he wrote the following entry in his diary:

On Simhat Torah eve at the invitation of the rabbi, I went for services in a house that had formerly been a synagogue and was now a music school ... I said a few words: 'Our song and dance are a form of worship. Our rejoicing is due to Him who decrees life and death. Here in the midst of this small congregation, in the poor and ruined synagogue, we are united with the whole house of Israel, not only with those who are here today ... And you in your rejoicing, atone for the sins of a generation that is perishing. I know that the Jewish people will live ... And every day the Holy One, blessed be He, in His mercy gives us a gift which we accept with joy and give thanks to His holy name.As quoted in: Stephen Howard Garrin
But I forsook not thy precepts (Ps. 119:87): Spiritual Resistance to the Holocaust
" in
Jonathan C. Friedman Jonathan C. Friedman (born 1966) is a history professor and director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at West Chester University West Chester University (also known as West Chester, WCU, or WCUPA, and officially as West Chester University o ...
(Ed.), ''The Routledge History of the Holocaust'' (pp. 337-347). London: Routledge, 2011. p. 340.

During the Nazi occupation, he was forced to work at the YIVO offices under Nazi supervision, sorting through the pillaged contents of Vilna's libraries and preparing selected volumes for shipment to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

; these labourers, known as the Paper Brigade, managed to save a portion of these documents from destruction. He was sent to the

Vaivara concentration camp Vaivara was the largest of the 22 concentration and labor camps established in occupied Estonia by the Nazi regime during World War II. It had 20,000 Jewish prisoners pass through its gates, mostly from the Vilna and Kovno Ghettos, but also ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, where he died in 1944.

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Translations

Simon Dubnow Simon Dubnow (alternatively spelled Dubnov, rus, Семён Ма́ркович Ду́бнов, Semyon Markovich Dubnov, sʲɪˈmʲɵn ˈmarkəvʲɪtɕ ˈdubnəf; yi, שמעון דובנאָװ, ''Shimen Dubnov''; 10 September 1860 – 8 Dece ...

. ''Algemeyne Idishe geshikhte: fun di eltste tsaytn biz der nayer tsayt''. Vilnius: Historisher farlag, 1920. (Translation from German of ''Weltgeschichte des Jüdischen Volkes'') *

Jaroslav Hašek Jaroslav Hašek (; 1883–1923) was a Czech writer, humorist, satirist, journalist, bohemian and anarchist. He is best known for his novel '' The Fate of the Good Soldier Švejk during the World War'', an unfinished collection of farcical incide ...

. ''Der braver soldat Shveyk in der velt-milkhome'', vols. 1–2. Riga: Bikher far alemen, 1921, 1928. (Translation from

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

to Yiddish of '' Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války''.) *

Max Brod Max Brod ( he, מקס ברוד; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a German-speaking Bohemian, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is best remembered as the friend and biog ...

. ''Di froy fun undzer beynkshaft: roman''. Riga: Bikher far alemen, 1928. (Translation from German to Yiddish of ''Die Frau, nach der man sich sehnt''.)

Notes

References

Dawidowicz, Lucy S. Lucy Dawidowicz ( Schildkret; June 16, 1915 – December 5, 1990) was an American historian and writer. She wrote books about modern Jewish history, in particular, she wrote books about the Holocaust. Life Dawidowicz was born in New York City a ...

''The War Against the Jews: 1933–1945''. Bantam, 1986. *Kalmanovitch, Zelig. ''Yoman be-Getto Vilna u-Ketavim me-ha-Izavon she-Nimze’u ba-Harisot'' ("A Diary from the Ghetto in Nazi Vilna"). Tel Aviv, 1977. *Kassow, Samuel. ''Who Will Write Our History?: Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive''. Indiana Univ. Press, 2007.

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Diary excerpts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalmanovich, Zelig 1885 births 1944 deaths People from Kuldīga People from Courland Governorate Latvian Jews Lithuanian Jews who died in the Holocaust Jewish historians Linguists from Latvia Linguists of Yiddish Linguists from Lithuania Translators to Yiddish The Holocaust in Estonia Vilna Ghetto inmates History of YIVO 20th-century translators Holocaust diarists 20th-century linguists People who died in Vaivara concentration camp

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