Meir Balaban “Di Idn-Sztot Lublin” Yiddish, (The Jewish city of Lublin), illust. by K.R. Henker 1947, Argentine
Dr. Maier Balaban, Introduction and translation into Yiddish by A. L. Shusheim
Published by Union Central Israelita Polaca en la Argentina Central Farband, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1947
In Yiddish. 191, (1) pages. Hard cover, 20.5 x 15 cm. Woodcut illustrations by Karl Richard Henker and photos
Condition: damping to cover; spine damaged ca. 2 cm.; damping and mold stains throughout the book, mainly near spine and to upper part
Karl Richard Henker (April 27, 1873 in Lauenstein, Saxony – December 15, 1942 in Berlin-Charlottenburg) was a German architect and draftsman who worked in Berlin.
Meir Balaban or Majer Samuel BaÅ‚aban (3 March [O.S. 20 February] 1877, 18 Adar [5]637, Lviv[1] – 26 December 1942, Tevet [5]702, Warsaw Ghetto[1][2][3]) was one of the most outstanding historians of Polish and Galician Jews, and the founder of Polish Jewish historiography. Balaban was born in 1877 in the city of Lviv (then known as Lemberg in Austria-Hungary's centre of East Galicia). He received a traditional education at home and traditional Jewish schooling (Hebrew language and Bible study) in a cheder. He studied law, philosophy and history at Lviv University. He accidentally encountered materials on the history of Jews in Kraków, and on the request of the Kraków Jewish kahal, he wrote the first volume of "The History of Jews in Cracow and Kazimiria 1304-1655" (Kraków, 1912). It gave him some reputation in Lviv University. Balaban then won a high ministry scholarship, and departed for a long scientific trip to PoznaÅ„, Berlin and GdaÅ„sk. He stayed for several months in Kraków collecting materials for the second volume of the history of Kraków Jews. Simultaneously he started the publication "The history of Jewish system in Poland" in "Evreiskaia Starina" ("Jewish Old Times", as translated from Russian) magazine. He taught in different schools in the Lviv region and Lviv combining studying with teaching and research. He spent the first year of World War I in Vienna teaching at the gymnasium for Galician refugees. The next three years, he spent in Lublin as a referent (reporter) on Jewish matters by the Austrian General Government. At these posts, he organised many Jewish kahals and gymnasiums. Together with Dr. Ozjasz Thon and Dr. Moses Schorr, Balaban was one of the founders of the Institute of Jewish Sciences in Warsaw. Here Balaban taught Jewish history and led the historical seminar which issued many works on the history of Jews in Poland and in particular in the Polish kingdom. Balaban had also published "The history of Jews in Galicia" in 1916. Since 1903 Balaban led the review of the bibliography of the history of Jews in Poland in the Polish historical magazine "Kwartalnik historyczny" ("History Quarterly"). During nine years Balaban had been administering the Tachkemoni Rabbinical Seminary (1920–1929) and for 1920-1921 he had been also the rector of the gymnasium "Askola". The fate of Balaban was also tragic like Schorr's one. He died in the Warsaw ghetto on 26 December 1942.