TSVI-HIRSH VAKSMAN (ZVI HIRSCH WACHSMAN)

TSVI-HIRSH VAKSMAN (ZVI HIRSCH WACHSMAN) (1900-September 13, 1943)

            Born in Jerusalem into a pious family, he studied in religious elementary school, yeshiva, and later secular subjects.  He was an active Zionist leader.  During WWI he took part in the underground struggle against the Turkish authorities, and later participated in the Jewish Legion.  In 1920 he went to Poland, lived for a time in Warsaw and Lodz, and later moved to Prague where he was active in the Zionist Revisionist movement.  In 1925 he settled in Paris and until 1940 was the general secretary of the world association of the Revisionists’ military organization “Brit haḥayal” (Soldier's Alliance).  When the Nazis invaded France, he escaped to the United States.  In New York he was a contributor to the foreign publicity bureau of the Czech government.  When the Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia, he resigned his post and concentrated on Zionist Revisionist activities and journalism.  He debuted in print with short stories and humorous sketches in Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper) and with correspondence pieces from Israel in 1918.  He contributed to: Folksblat (People’s newspaper) and Nayer folksblat (New people’s newspaper) in Lodz; Moment (Moment), Unzer ekspres (Our express), Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves), and Unzer veg (Our way)—in Warsaw; Yidishe bilder (Jewish images) in Riga; Parizer haynt (Paris today); and the Yiddish and Hebrew publications of the Revisionist Party.  He published correspondence pieces and travel impressions of Jewish life in various countries.  He was the Geneva correspondent for Moment, Lodzer tageblat, and for Czech and Austrian newspapers and magazines.  From 1940 until his death, he periodically placed work in the New York Yiddish and English press.  He was also the New York correspondent for: Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Idishe zhurnal (Jewish journal) in Toronto; Di prese (The press) in Buenos Aires; and Hamashkif (The spectator) in Tel Aviv.  He was the author of: In land fun maharal un masarik, shtrikhn fun a rayze iber tshekhoslovakay, ilustrirter reportazh (In the land of the Maharal and Masaryk, features of a trip through Czechoslovakia, illustrated reportage) (Warsaw, 1936), 237 pp.; Iber estraykh on politik, reportazh (Through Austria without politics, reportage), with a preface by Wolfgang von Weisl (Warsaw, 1938), 221 pp.; Fun der legyon tsu der yidisher armey, tsum 21 yorikn yoyvl fun di yidishe legyonen in erts yisroel (From the Legion to the Jewish army, on the twenty-first anniversary of the Jewish Legions in the Land of Israel) (Paris, 1939), 35 pp.; Yan masarik, a fraynd fun yidishn folk (Jan Masaryk, a friend of the Jewish people) (New York, 1943), 13 pp. in Yiddish and 7 pp. in English; Yidn nokhn nitsokhn, di goles-regirungen un zeyer shtelung tsu yidn (Jews after victory, the governments-in-exile and their attitude toward the Jews), a collection of documents of governments-in-exile and their connection to Jewry (New York, 1943), 96 pp.; Lomir hobn dem mut, yan masarik vegn der yidn frage (Let’s have courage, Jan Masaryk on the Jewish question) (New York, 1946), 26 pp.  In German: Gute Nachbarschaft (Good neighborhood) (Vienna, 1936), 180 pp.  In English: Trailblazers for Invasion (New York, 1943), 80 pp.; Jews in Post War Europe (New York, 1944), 111 pp.; and more.  He died during a visit to Montreal.  His remains were transported to New York for burial.

Sources: Keneder odler (Montreal) (September 14, 1948); Forverts, Tog, and Morgn-zhurnal (all in New York) (September 15, 1948); American Jewish Year Book (1950), p. 525.