Simon Dubnow | |
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Born |
Shimon Meyerovich Dubnow September 10, 1860 Mstsislaw, Russian Empire (now Belarus) |
Died | December 8, 1941 Riga, Latvia |
(aged 81)
Nationality | Russian |
Occupation | Jewish historian, writer and activist |
Simon Dubnow (alternatively spelled Dubnov, Russian: Семён Ма́ркович Ду́бнов, tr. Semyon Markovich Dubnov; IPA: [sʲɪˈmʲɵn ˈmarkəvʲɪtɕ ˈdubnəf]; Yiddish: שמעון דובנאָװ, Shimen Dubnov; 10 September 1860 – 8 December 1941) was a Jewish-born Russian historian, writer and activist. He is the father-in-law of Henryk Erlich, a famous Bundist leader.
Simon Dibnow was born Shimon Meyerovich Dubnow (Шимон Меерович Дубнов) to a large poor family in the Belarusian town of Mstsislaw (Mahilyow Voblast). A native Yiddish speaker, he received a traditional Jewish education in a heder and a yeshiva, where Hebrew was regularly spoken. Later Dubnow entered into a kazyonnoe yevreyskoe uchilishche (state Jewish school) where he learned Russian. In the midst of his education, the May Laws eliminated these Jewish institutions, and Dubnow was unable to graduate; Dubnow persevered, independently pursuing his interests in history, philosophy, and linguistics. He was particularly fascinated by Heinrich Graetz and the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement.