HERSHL (SHMUEL-HIRSH) HIMELFARB

HERSHL (SHMUEL-HIRSH) HIMELFARB (1889-January 19, 1964)

            He was born in Novidvor (Nowy Dwor), Poland, into a family of craftsmen.  Until age fourteen he studied in religious primary school, yeshiva, and with private tutors.  From 1904 he was active in the Jewish socialist movement.  From 1904 to 1906, he was the leading Bundist in Warsaw.  He was arrested many times.  He lived in London, 1907-1914, where he was active in the trade union movement.  He was also secretary of the Jewish division of the British socialist party.  In 1917, after the Russian Revolution, he returned to Russia and was active in Minsk, Mohilev, and Vitebsk as the envoy from the central committee of the Bund.  Over the years 1918-1939, he lived in Warsaw and was one of the leading figures in the Bund and in the trade union movement in Poland.  During WWII he escaped into Russia.  In late 1941, he arrived in Israel with the Polish army crossing Iran.  After the war he lived for a time in Belgium and in 1950 came to the United States.  He was a member of the world coordinating committee of the Bund.  He was a delegate to the second World Jewish Culture Congress in 1959 in New York.  He published articles on socialist and trade union issues in: Dos arbayter-vort (The workers’ word) in London (1916-1917); Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper), Nodl-arbeter (Needle workers), and Der ruf (The call) in Warsaw; Der veker (The alarm) in Brussels (1947-1948); Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris; and other serials.  He lived until his death in New York.

Source: Dr. R. Feldshuh, Yidisher gezelshaftlekher leksikon (Jewish communal handbook), vol. 1 (Warsaw, 1939), pp. 839-40.