ELYAHU OLSHVANGER (ELIYAHU OLSVANGER)

ELYAHU OLSHVANGER (ELIYAHU OLSVANGER) (December 15, 1878-September 19, 1952)

Born in Grayeve (Grajewo), in the Lomzher region of Poland.  After graduating from high school, he studied natural science and mathematics in St. Petersburg University and medicine and philosophy in the Universities of Berlin and Würzburg from which he received his doctorate.  He began writing articles about political economy in Russian, and he translated into Russian a work about cartels.  During WWI, he was one of the founders and editors of the daily Letste nayes (Recent news) in Vilna where he wrote articles on current events as well as feature pieces on theater.  He took an active part in Vilna’s community and cultural life, worked as a lecturer at the Jewish people university, and served a committee member of the Disseminators of Education (Mefitsey-haskole).  In 1919 he moved to Berlin where he managed the Vostok publishing house.  Because of the Nazi persecutions, he moved on to Paris and later to New York where he lived out his final years.  His books include: Der kleyner geometer (Beginner’s book of geometry), translation of Grace Chisholm Young and W. Young (Dresden, 1921); Der koyfer fun Soana, a translation of Der Ketzer von Soana (The heretic of Soana) by Gerhart Hauptmann (Berlin, 1922); Shtarkung fun kerper (Strengthening the body), a translation of a work by Felix Aron Theilhaber (Berlin, 1925); and a series of pamphlets concerning tuberculosis, rickets, and venereal disease (Berlin, 1924-1930).  In the collection entitled Mes-les (24 hours) (Vilna, 1918), he published an article concerning the Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen.

Sources: Pinkes far der geshikhte fun vilne (Records for the history of Vilna) (Vilna, 1922), pp. 583-90; Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1.