Simon Dubnow: Encyclopedia II - Simon Dubnow - Life

Simon Dubnow - Life

Born Shimon Meyerovich Dubnow (Шимон Меерович Дубнов) to a large poor family in the Belarusian town of Mstislavl (Mahilyow region), after receiving atraditional Jewish education in a heder and a yeshiva, he entered into a kazyonnoe yevreyskoe uchilishche (state Jewish school) where he learned the Russian language. Simon was unable to graduate because these institutions were soon eliminated by a Tsarist ukase (see May Laws), and he had to pursue his interests in history, philosophy, and linguistics by educating himself. He was particularly fascinated by Heinrich Graetz.

In 1880 he used forged documents to move to St Petersburg, which was officially out of reach: a rare exception to the obligation to settle in large cities was made only to "useful Jews", such as registered prostitutes, former cantonists, or very wealthy merchants (see Pale of Settlement).

Soon Dubnow's publications appeared in the press, including the leading Russian–Jewish magazine Voskhod. In 1890, during the expulsion of Jews from the capital city, Dubnow was forced to leave. He settled in Odessa and continued to publish studies of Jewish life and history, coming to be regarded an authority in these areas.

Dubnow actively participated in contemporary social and political life in the Russian Empire. He called for modernizing Jewish education, organizing Jewish self-defense (see Pogrom), and for equal rights, including the right to vote.

In 1906 he was allowed back to St Petersburg, where he founded and directed Jewish Literature and Historical-Etnographic society and edited the Jewish Encyclopedia. In the same year, he founded the Folkspartei (Jewish People's Party), which successfully worked for the election of MPs and municipal councillors in interwar Lithuania and Poland. After 1917 Dubnow became Professor of Jewish history in Petrograd University.

In 1922 he emigrated to Kaunas and later to Berlin. His magnum opus was ten volumes of History of the Jewish people, first published in German language in 1925–1929.

In August 1933, after Adolf Hitler came to power, Dubnow moved to Riga, Latvia. Nazi troops occupied Riga in July 1941, and Dubnow, with thousands of other Jews, was transferred to the Riga ghetto. According to the few survivors, Dubnow repeated to ghetto inhabitants: "Yidn, shreibt un ferschreibt" (Yiddish: "Jews, write and record").

On December 8, Simon Dubnow was murdered in the Rumbula forest, along with other ghetto Jews.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Life", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki