YISHAYE VARSHAVSKI

YISHAYE VARSHAVSKI

            He lived in Warsaw.  He studied at the Institute of Judaic Studies, founded in 1928 by Professor Mayer Balaban, and received his M. A. degree from Warsaw University.  He was a member of the circle of young Jewish historians in the society “Friends of YIVO” in Warsaw.  He distinguished himself in this group of young historians by his talents and his sensibility when it came to “primary sources”; he worked through archival materials and often read his papers before the historians’ circle.  He wrote in both Polish and Yiddish.  He published: “Yidn in di nay-oysgeboyte shtet in kongres-poyln” (Jews in the newly built cities in Congress Poland), Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) 3 (1932), pp. 28-35, in Vilna; and a highly valuable work, “Yidn in kongres-poyln (1815-1831)” (Jews in Congress Poland, 1815-1831), Historishe shriftn (Historical writings) 2 (1937), pp. 222-54, a YIVO publication in Vilna.  The latter of these essays is constructed in its first part on archival materials, and in the second part (entitled “Yidn in der geheymer politsey” [Jews in the secret police]) is built upon new, hitherto unknown, materials concerning well-known men who secretly served or aided the Tsarist police in Poland—among them, Antoni Ayzenboym (Anthony Eisenbaum), the founder of the first Yiddish newspaper in Poland, Der beobakhter an der vaykhsel (The observer on the Vistula).  He worked together with Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum who thought highly of the young historian.  He died during the Nazi occupation—when and where remain unknown.

Sources: Dr. P. Fridman, the collection “Bleter fun geshikhte” (Pages of history), Yivo-bleter (New York) 34 (1950), pp. 232, 239; oral information from Yishaye Trunk who worked with Varshavski in the group of historians at YIVO in Warsaw.