Zosa Szajkowski
Encyclopedia
Zosa Szajkowski (10 January 1911, Poland-1978) is a Jewish French-American historian
born in Poland, whose work is important in Jewish Historiography
, the transfer of Jewish archives to the United States, and who was condemned for thefts of documents.
In the New York Sun
, William Meyers gives, in 2007, a portrait of Szajkowski:
"When my wife began research 35 years ago for her book on the history of Yiddish theater, she spent long days at YIVO
, the Institute for Jewish Research, at that time still located in the old Vanderbilt mansion at Fifth Avenue and 86th Street. Zosa Sjakowski was an entrenched presence there, a gnome-like man with a talent for instantly alienating almost everyone he came in contact with. But this diminutive bundle of spite had led an adventurous life. He left his native Poland in the 1920s to escape the escalting anti-Semitism
; in Paris he joined the Communist Party] and recruited other Eastern European Jews to fight for the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War
; when World War II began he joined the French Foreign Legion
; discharged from the Legion after being injured he made his way to England and joined the American Army as an intelligence officer
. On D-Day
he was parachuted into Normandy
behind the German lines; he was with the first wave of American troops to enter Berlin."
"[...]Szajkowski changed his name [from Frydman to Szajkowski] when he realized that many of the countrymen he was recruiting to fight fascism
in Spain were actually being killed not by the forces of General Franco, but by the communists who had taken over the direction of the Loyalists forces; to the Red political commissars, soldiers with different opinions were more of a threat than was Franco. Szajkowski quit the party, but was convinced the communists wanted to kill him, so he changed his name. The fear never left him, never."
Professor Jonathan Sarna
from Brandeis University
wrote in 2006, the following about Zosa Szajkowski:
"The death of Rabbi
Arthur Hertzberg
this week called to mind a course I took as a Brandeis undergraduate with the legendary YIVO Institute for Jewish Research scholar, Zosa Szajkowski. Szajkowski's idea of teaching was to talk about whatever was on his mind that day, and for a good portion of the course what was on his mind was his ex-friend Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg.Just a few years before, Rabbi Hertzberg's brilliant book entitled "The French Enlightenment and the Jews" (1968) had appeared, and Szajkowski charged that much of Rabbi Hertzberg's research was cribbed from his articles. "I am going to sue him," he fumed."
"The charge was absurd. Szajkowski, an autodidact whose English was weak, could never have written the powerfuk thesis-driven book that Rabbi Hertzberg produced. But this did not prevent the two hard-headed ex-friends from having an acrimonious quarrel. Nevertheless, a few years later, when Szajkowski died suddenly, it was Rabbi Hertzberg who conducted his funeral and eulogized him. That was his way."
), 1945-1955 [The rebuilding of the Library of the AIU (Alliance Israélite Universelle), 1945-1955"], Jean-Claude Kuperminc writes:
"Before concluding, there remains to mention a particular aspect of these moving operations of the collections of Jewish Libraries. After the nazi spoliations, we had to be submitted to non pleasant events involving some American Jewish Institutions. The case of thefts perpetrated by the historian Zosa Szajkowski is now known. It can be specified that Szajkowski was caught stealing in the rooms of the Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire
from (Strasbourg
) and condemned for theft in 1963. During the years 1949-1950, Szajkowski, who also called himself Frydman, used the Library of the Alliance and important documents then disappeared. In May 1950, the "American Friends" of the AIU informed the parisian headquarters that books belonging to the AIU had been sold by Szajkowski to the New York Public Library
and to the Jewish Theological Seminary
(JTS) of New York."
In an article on the history of the Synagogue of Fontainebleau, published in February 2010, Frédéric Viey writes in conclusion:
"Proud of its past, the Jewish Community of Fontainebleau can commemorate in 2010 without any fusss its 230 years of existence since one can find a Jewish presence in that city even prior to 1780. Indeed, even if Zosa Sjajkowski has embezzled a certain number of documents from the Archives Nationales and that he establishes the date of the settling of Jews in Fontainebleau in August 1795, he wasn't able to consult all the documents concerning the Jewish Community, in particular the register of births, marriages and deaths of that city."
There is a mention of suspicion or of documented thefts by Zosa Szajkowski at the following locales:
, in the collection of rare books and manuscripts and the "Collection Zosa Szajkowski" at the Center for Jewish History
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
born in Poland, whose work is important in Jewish Historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
, the transfer of Jewish archives to the United States, and who was condemned for thefts of documents.
Biography
Zosa Szajkowski is born on 10 January 1911, at Zaręby Kościelne (in yiddish, Zaromb), a small town in Eastern Poland, in the region of Białystok.In the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
, William Meyers gives, in 2007, a portrait of Szajkowski:
"When my wife began research 35 years ago for her book on the history of Yiddish theater, she spent long days at YIVO
YIVO
YIVO, , established in 1925 in Wilno, Poland as the Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut , or Yiddish Scientific Institute, is a source for orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to the Yiddish language...
, the Institute for Jewish Research, at that time still located in the old Vanderbilt mansion at Fifth Avenue and 86th Street. Zosa Sjakowski was an entrenched presence there, a gnome-like man with a talent for instantly alienating almost everyone he came in contact with. But this diminutive bundle of spite had led an adventurous life. He left his native Poland in the 1920s to escape the escalting anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
; in Paris he joined the Communist Party] and recruited other Eastern European Jews to fight for the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
; when World War II began he joined the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
; discharged from the Legion after being injured he made his way to England and joined the American Army as an intelligence officer
Intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...
. On D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
he was parachuted into Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
behind the German lines; he was with the first wave of American troops to enter Berlin."
"[...]Szajkowski changed his name [from Frydman to Szajkowski] when he realized that many of the countrymen he was recruiting to fight fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
in Spain were actually being killed not by the forces of General Franco, but by the communists who had taken over the direction of the Loyalists forces; to the Red political commissars, soldiers with different opinions were more of a threat than was Franco. Szajkowski quit the party, but was convinced the communists wanted to kill him, so he changed his name. The fear never left him, never."
Professor Jonathan Sarna
Jonathan Sarna
Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of and the director of the Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership. He is regarded as one of the most prominent historians of American Judaism...
from Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
wrote in 2006, the following about Zosa Szajkowski:
"The death of Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Arthur Hertzberg
Arthur Hertzberg
Arthur Hertzberg was a Conservative rabbi and prominent Jewish-American scholar and activist.-Biography:...
this week called to mind a course I took as a Brandeis undergraduate with the legendary YIVO Institute for Jewish Research scholar, Zosa Szajkowski. Szajkowski's idea of teaching was to talk about whatever was on his mind that day, and for a good portion of the course what was on his mind was his ex-friend Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg.Just a few years before, Rabbi Hertzberg's brilliant book entitled "The French Enlightenment and the Jews" (1968) had appeared, and Szajkowski charged that much of Rabbi Hertzberg's research was cribbed from his articles. "I am going to sue him," he fumed."
"The charge was absurd. Szajkowski, an autodidact whose English was weak, could never have written the powerfuk thesis-driven book that Rabbi Hertzberg produced. But this did not prevent the two hard-headed ex-friends from having an acrimonious quarrel. Nevertheless, a few years later, when Szajkowski died suddenly, it was Rabbi Hertzberg who conducted his funeral and eulogized him. That was his way."
Thefts of documents
In an article published in 2001, in the "Archives juives", on the topic of "La reconstruction de la bibliothèque de l'AIU (Alliance Israélite UniverselleAlliance Israélite Universelle
The Alliance Israélite Universelle is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world...
), 1945-1955 [The rebuilding of the Library of the AIU (Alliance Israélite Universelle), 1945-1955"], Jean-Claude Kuperminc writes:
"Before concluding, there remains to mention a particular aspect of these moving operations of the collections of Jewish Libraries. After the nazi spoliations, we had to be submitted to non pleasant events involving some American Jewish Institutions. The case of thefts perpetrated by the historian Zosa Szajkowski is now known. It can be specified that Szajkowski was caught stealing in the rooms of the Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire
Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire
The Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire , is a public library in Strasbourg, France. It is located on Place de la République, the former Kaiserplatz, and faces the Palais du Rhin.- History :...
from (Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
) and condemned for theft in 1963. During the years 1949-1950, Szajkowski, who also called himself Frydman, used the Library of the Alliance and important documents then disappeared. In May 1950, the "American Friends" of the AIU informed the parisian headquarters that books belonging to the AIU had been sold by Szajkowski to the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
and to the Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
(JTS) of New York."
In an article on the history of the Synagogue of Fontainebleau, published in February 2010, Frédéric Viey writes in conclusion:
"Proud of its past, the Jewish Community of Fontainebleau can commemorate in 2010 without any fusss its 230 years of existence since one can find a Jewish presence in that city even prior to 1780. Indeed, even if Zosa Sjajkowski has embezzled a certain number of documents from the Archives Nationales and that he establishes the date of the settling of Jews in Fontainebleau in August 1795, he wasn't able to consult all the documents concerning the Jewish Community, in particular the register of births, marriages and deaths of that city."
There is a mention of suspicion or of documented thefts by Zosa Szajkowski at the following locales:
- Library of the Alliance Israélite UniverselleAlliance Israélite UniverselleThe Alliance Israélite Universelle is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world...
, in Paris, 1949-1950 - Bibliothèque nationale et universitaireBibliothèque nationale et universitaireThe Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire , is a public library in Strasbourg, France. It is located on Place de la République, the former Kaiserplatz, and faces the Palais du Rhin.- History :...
(StrasbourgStrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
), 1963 - Archives Nationales, in Paris
Works by Szajkowski
The list of publications by Szajkowski, chronologically, is as follows (some are out-of-print):- 1942 How the mass migration to America began
- 1944 The decline and fall of Provençal Jewry
- 1946 The growth of the Jewish population of France
- 1947 Internal conflicts in French Jewry at the time of the revolution of 1848
- 1947 The organisation of the "UGIF" in Nazi-occupied France
- 1948 Dos loshn fun di Yidn in di arba' kehiles fun Komta-Venessen
- 1948 The language of the Jews in the four communities of Comtat Venaissin
- 1948 Socialists and radicals in the development of antisemitism in Algeria (1884–1900)
- 1948 Antisemitizm in der Frantseyzisher arbeter-bavegung
- 1951 Jewish emigration policy of the Rumanian "exodus", 1899-1903
- 1952 Emigration to America or reconstruction in Europe
- 1953 Agricultural credit and Napoleon's anti-Jewish decrees
- 1954 The economic status of the Jews in Alsace, Metz and Lorraine (1648–1789)
- 1954 Poverty and social welfare among French Jews (1800–1880)
- 1955 The Comtadin Jews and the annexation of the Papal province by France, 1789-1791
- 1955 Relations among Sephardim, Ashkenazim and Avignonese Jews in France: From the 16th to the 20th centuries
- 1956 The European aspect of the American-Russian passport question
- 1956 ha-Komunah ha-Parsa'it veha-Yehudim
- 1956 Jewish emigration from Bordeaux during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
- 1956 Protestants and Jews of France in fight for emancipation, 1789-1791
- 1957 French Jews in the Armed Forces during the revolution of 1789
- 1958 Glimpses on the history of Jews in occupied France
- 1958 The reform of the état-civil of the French Jews during the Revolution of 1789
- 1959 Autonomy and communal Jewish debts during the French Revolution of 1789
- 1959 The emancipation of Jews during the French Revolution: A bibliography of books, pamphlets and printed documents, 1789-1800
- 1959 Notes on the demography of the Sephardim in France
- 1960 Bibliography of Jewish periodicals in Belgium, 1841–1959
- 1960 Jewish diplomacy: Notes on the occasion of the centenary of the Alliance Israélite Universelle
- 1962 Catalogue of the exhibition, Morris Rosenfeld (1862–1923) and his time
- 1962 Franco-Judaica: An analytical Bibliography of Books, Pamphlets, Decrees, Briefs
- 1962 Mazarinades of Jewish interest
- 1966 Analytical Franco-Jewish gazetteer, 1939–1945, with an introd. to some problems in writing the history of the Jews in France during World War 2
- 1970 One hundred years of the yiddish press in America, 1870-1970: Catalogue of the exhibition
- 1971 or 1972 Index of articles relative to Jewish history and literature published in periodicals from 1665 to 1900
- 1972 The attitude of American Jews to World War I, The Russian Revolution of 1917, and Communism (1914–1945)
- 1974 The impact of the 1919-1920 Red Scare in America
- 1975 Jews and the French Legion
- 1976 An Illustrated Sourcebook on the Holocaust
- 1977 Kolchak, Jews, and the American intervention in Northern Russia and Siberia, 1918-1920
- 1977 The mirage of American Jewish aid in Soviet Russia, 1917-1939
- 1980 An illustrated sourcebook of Russian antisemitism, 1881–1978
- 1982 Behaviour of recent silty clays of Nile origin off Israel under cyclic loading (Faculty publication)
- 1984 Suggested international procedure for test of one dimensional consolidation, swelling and collapse properties of soil (Faculty publication)
Archives of Zosa Szajkowski
The personal archives of Zosa Szajkowski are located at the Library of Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, in the collection of rare books and manuscripts and the "Collection Zosa Szajkowski" at the Center for Jewish History
Center for Jewish History
The Center for Jewish History is a partnership, or consortium, of five Jewish organizations based in Manhattan. It is a partnership of five organizations of Jewish history, scholarship, and art: the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute, the...