Selig Schachnowitz (May 27, 1874 – January 23, 1952) was a Russian-born Swiss-Jewish writer and publicist.

Selig Schachnowitz
BornMay 27, 1874
Jurbarkas, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedJanuary 23, 1952(1952-01-23) (aged 77)
Zürich, Switzerland
OccupationWriter
SpouseZessi Löb
Children1

Biography

edit

Schachnowitz was born in 1874 in Russian-controlled Lithuania under the Vilna Governorate to Isaak Schachnowitz and Lea Riszmann. He had a brother, Pinchas, who was also a writer but remained in Russia. He was trained as a teacher in Lithuania and received additional education in Frankfurt. From 1901 to 1908, he worked as a cantor at the synagogue in Endingen, Switzerland.[1] During a trip to Baden, Switzerland, he presented his first work, Chayim Moshiach, to a hotelier for examination, and had found it printed the next week in the Mainz Israelite.[2]

In 1908, he started as an editor at Der Israelit magazine in Frankfurt,[3] where he also worked as a teacher at Solomon Breuer's yeshiva.[4] He married Zessi Löb, and they had one daughter, Gertrud (1910–2007). After visiting Eretz Yisrael, he wrote Zwischen Ruinen und Aufbau in Erez-Israel in 1931. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1938 after Der Israelit closed due to sanctions by the Nazi Party.[4]

Selected works

edit
  • Schachnowitz, Selig (1911). Skizzen aus Litthauen (in German). Jüdischer Volksschriftenverlag.
  • Schachnowitz, Selig (1912). Luftmenschen: Roman aus der Gegenwart (in German). Frankfurt: Verlag des "Israelit".
  • Schachnowitz, Selig (1922). בממלכת כוזר היהודית: רומן הסטורי (in Hebrew). אמנות.
  • Schachnowitz, Selig (1923). Salomo der Falascha: eine Geschichte aus der Gegenwart (in German). Frankfurt: I. Kauffmann.
  • Schachnowitz, Selig (1936). דאס בלימל פון גליק (in Yiddish). farlag "Grininḳe beymelekh".

References

edit
  1. ^ "Hessian Biography: LAGIS Hessen". lagis-hessen.de. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  2. ^ "Texte zur jüdischen Geschichte in Baden CH (Kanton Aargau)". alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  3. ^ Schachnowitz, Selig (2007). The Light from the West: The Life and Times of the Chasam Sofer. Feldheim Publishers. p. xi. ISBN 978-1-58330-926-1.
  4. ^ a b Kaufmann, Uri (1998). "Selig Schachnowitz". Historical Dictionary of Switzerland. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
edit