(Chaim) Motl Zelmanowicz (c. 1914 – 16 October 2010[1]) was a Bundist[2] activist.

Zelmanowicz was born in Łódź, Poland. His father, Ephraim, was an activist in the General Jewish Labour Bund. At a very early age, he became an activist in the Bund in Poland,[3] becoming the local chairman of S.K.I.F. (Sotsyalistishe Kinder Farband). In 1940, he moved to Seattle to escape from the Holocaust. He arrived with his brother, Shloyme, his future wife, Dr. Naomi Pat (known as Emma),[4] and various friends and colleagues from the Bund. After moving to New York, he was instrumental in establishing the World Coordinating Committee of the Bund and was its chairman for many years.[5]

Zelmanowicz was on the Board of Directors and a Trustee for YIVO,[2][6][4] a member of the Board of Advisors of the Folksbiene,[7] a Vice-President of the Jewish Daily Forward,[4][8] one of the Vice-Chairs of the Democratic Socialists of America,[9][10] member of the Executive Committee of the Jewish Labor Committee,[4] and President of the International Jewish Labor Bund.

He was the author of A Bundist Comments on History As It Was Being Made: The Post–Cold War Era (2009), a collection of articles originally published in the Bundist magazine Undzer Tsayt, for which he was a major contributor;[5] and was responsible for the production of a recording of workers' songs, "In Love and Struggle" (1999), on CD.[11] He also assisted scholar Jack Lester Jacobs, the author of Bundist Counterculture in Interwar Poland, in his research.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Motl Zelmanowicz, 95, Bundist and Yiddishist –". Forward.com. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  2. ^ a b "A Light Shines Brightly From 'Miracle on 16th Street' –". Forward.com. 10 January 2003. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  3. ^ "At YIVO, Honoring Those Who Champion Mameloshn –". Forward.com. 4 June 2004. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d "Paid Notice: Deaths ZELMANOWICZ, DR. EMMA". The New York Times. 8 December 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  5. ^ a b "Motl Zelmanowicz: A Bundist Comments on History As It Was Being Made - The Post–Cold War Era" (book announcement). Bundism.net. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  6. ^ "YIVO Institute for Jewish Research | Board of Directors". Yivoinstitute.org. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  7. ^ "Welcome to The National Yiddish Theatre". Folksbiene.org. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  8. ^ http://entreprise.jigsaw.com/scid19947867/motl_zelmanowicz.xhtml[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Democratic Socialists of America". Dsausa.org. Archived from the original on 8 January 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Progressive Politics for a Fairer World". Socialist International. 30 June 2001. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ Jack Jacobs (2009). Bundist Counterculture Interwar Poland. Syracuse University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8156-3226-9.
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