Zelig Kalmanovich

Zelig Hirsch Kalmanovich (Latvian: Zēligs Hiršs Kalmanovičs) (1885, Kuldiga - 1944, Narva) was a Litvak Jewish philologist, translator, historian, and community archivist of the early 20th century. He was a renowned scholar of Yiddish. In 1929 he settled in Vilna where he became an early director of YIVO. He was incarcerated in the Vilna Ghetto where he became an observant Jew. During his time in the Ghetto Kalmanovich kept a secret diary which i... more

Zelig Hirsch Kalmanovich (Latvian: Zēligs Hiršs Kalmanovičs) (1885, Kuldiga - 1944, Narva) was a Litvak Jewish philologist, translator, historian, and community archivist of the early 20th century. He was a renowned scholar of Yiddish. In 1929 he settled in Vilna where he became an early director of YIVO. He was incarcerated in the Vilna Ghetto 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: 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. He was sent to a death camp in Estonia, where he died in 1944. .Dawidowicz, Lucy S. The War Against the... less