SHOLEM LEVIN

SHOLEM LEVIN (1877-February 2, 1968)

            He was born in Belinets (Belynichi), Mohilev (Mogilev) district, Byelorussia, the son of a Talmud instructor.  In his youth he worked as a bookbinder and became involved in the revolutionary movement.  After the founding of the Bund in 1897, he became an active Bundist.  For many he worked with the secret publisher of the party.  He later worked as a printer for the legal Bundist newspapers Folks-tsaytung (People’s newspaper) and Hofnung (Hope) in Vilna (1906-1907).  In 1910 he was arrested in Vilna and exiled to Siberia, and from there he made his way in 1912 to the United States.  After the Russian revolution of 1917-1918, he joined the Communists.  He published a book of memoirs entitled Untererdishe kemfer (Underground fighter), edited with an introduction by Moyshe Katz (New York, 1946), 381 pp.  He died in New York.

Sources: P. Kurski, Gezamlte shriftn (Collected writings) (New York, 1952), p. 356; M. Katz, in Yidishe kultur (New York) (1956); Abram dem Tate (Leyb Blekhman), Bleter fun mayn yugnt (Pages from my youth) (New York, 1959), pp. 52, 53, 158.

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