Shmuel Lehman
Shmuel Lehman | |
|---|---|
שמואל לעהמאן | |
 | |
| Born | 22 October 1886 Warsaw |
| Died | October 1941 (aged 54–55) Warsaw Ghetto |
| Occupations | folklorist, writer |
| Years active | 1902–1941 |
| Notable work | Arbet un Frayhayt |
Shmuel Lehman (1886–1941, Polish: Szmul Lehman, Yiddish: שמואל לעהמאן) was a prolific Polish Jewish folklorist and writer active in the first half of the twentieth century. He collected folk songs, proverbs and other cultural works from Yiddish-speaking Jews in Poland and neighboring countries. He was particularly interested in collecting from marginal figures such as sex workers, thieves and poor villagers. He died in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941.
Biography
Lehman was born into a Hasidic family in Warsaw, Congress Poland on 22 October 1886.[1][2][3] His parents died when he was four years old, and he was raised by his wealthy uncle who sent him to receive a traditional Jewish education.[4][3] He joined the General Jewish Labour Bund in his teen years.[2] He made his money working in a tulle shop and later in the lumber trade, and was also supported by his wife's family wealth.[3][5]
He became fascinated by folklore and started collecting it in around 1902, although he never received any formal training; during this time he focused his efforts on Central Poland.[5][4][6] By 1910 he started to travel around rural areas in Poland and Ukraine, researching and collecting materials among Yiddish-speaking Jews.[3] He was interested in jokes, nicknames, curses, legends, songs, and so on.[1][5] After the war, with the annexation by newly independent Poland of the former Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia, he did research there as well, and was particularly interested with how folklore was different between the formerly "Russian" and "Austrian" parts of Poland.[5]
He didn't receive any institutional support for this work and mostly traveled alone, visiting taverns and markets and befriending his informants by chance; among these were many marginal figures such as sex workers and thieves.[6][7][4] By 1912 he was involved in a Warsaw-based folklore circle which included Noach Pryłucki, Eli Almi, and Pinchas Graubard, whom he published with and who in turn published his solo works.[8][9][2] After contributing to some books published by this group, he published his first important solo collection in 1921, Arbet un Frayhayt (Work and freedom), a collection of songs from the era of the Russian Revolution of 1905.[2] He followed that work with another volume in 1928, Ganovim-lider mit melodyes (Thieves' songs with melodies).[2] During this entire era, he was popular in literary circles in Warsaw, and become involved with YIVO's folklore section after it was founded in 1925, and in his later years they funded him as a teacher of folklore collecting.[5][1]
He was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Second World War, where he continued his folklore collecting and writing.[4] He received more formal support there than he had as a free citizen; wealthier internees funded his work, fed him, and even hired him a secretary towards the end.[5] He interviewed refugees who were deported to the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis.[6][10] By the summer of 1941, reports reached the international press that he had fallen ill.[11] He died of the illness—possibly cancer—in October 1941, and his folklore materials were destroyed or lost.[3][6][5][1]
References
- ^ a b c d Ravitsh, Melekh (1945). Mayn leḳsiḳon (in Yiddish). Montreal. pp. 36–8.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c d e Gottesman, Itzik. "The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe". YIVO Encyclopedia. YIVO. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
- ^ a b c d e Fogel, Joshua. "Lehman, Shmuel (Szmil) (October 22, 1886–October 24, 1941) — Congress for Jewish Culture". Congress for Jewish Culture. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
- ^ a b c d Hertz, J. S. (1956). Doyres Bundistn (in Yiddish). New York: Unzer Tsayṭ Farlag. pp. 252–3.
- ^ a b c d e f g Auerbach, Rachel (1974). Ṿarsheṿer tsaṿoes̀ : bagegenishn, aḳṭiṿiṭeṭn, goyroles̀ 1933-1943 (in Yiddish). Tel Aviv: Yisroel-bukh.
- ^ a b c d Trunk, Isaiah (1962). Geshṭalṭn un gesheenishn hisṭorishe eseyen (in Yiddish). Buenos Aires: Tsenṭral-farband fun Poylishe Yidn in Argenṭine. pp. 47–50.
- ^ Rappaport, I. (23 July 1948). "A groyser folklorist vos iz aleyn gevorn a shtik folklor". Fraye Arbeter Shtime (in Yiddish). p. 5. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica. New York: Macmillan. 1971. p. 1295.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Jewish folklore and traditions. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. 2013. p. 421. ISBN 9780765620255.
- ^ Smith, Mark Lee (2019). The Yiddish historians and the struggle for a Jewish history of the Holocaust. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780814346136.
- ^ "Bakante Idishe Shrayber Geshtorben in Varshe". Forverts (in Yiddish). 29 August 1941. Retrieved 1 February 2026.