YITSKHOK BORNSHTEYN (I. BORNSTEIN)

YITSKHOK BORNSHTEYN (I. BORNSTEIN) (1895-July 1943)

Born in Kovel, Warsaw Province.  According to another source (Proletarisher gedank [Proletarian thought], New York, December 1, 1943), he came from Vlotslavek (Włocławek).  He attended a religious elementary school, the local municipal school, and was an auditor at the Polish Free Senior School in Warsaw.  He worked in Lodz as a buyer for an industrial firm.  He was secretary for Dr. Yitskhok Shapir, and he also worked in the Poale Tsiyon publisher of Arbeter-heym (Workers’ home).  He was secretary and later director of the “Joint” in Warsaw.  In 1919-1920, he was selected for the left Poale Tsiyon list as a councilman for Włocławek city council.  He published a series of works concerning the economics and statistics of Jews in Poland.  He was a regular contributor to Kwartalnik statystyczny (Quarterly statistics), put out by the top state office for statistics in Poland.  He contributed as well to: Zagadnienia gospodarcze (Economic issues), Przegląd Handlowy (Overseas sales), and Sprawy Narodowościowe (Nationalities affairs).  He was the author of Rzemiosło żydowskie w Polsce (Jewish craftsmen in Poland), published by the Committee on Research into the Economic Needs of the Jewish People in Poland (Warsaw, 1936), 189 pp.  In Yiddish he published in: Luekh fun yor tsu yor (Calendar from year to year) (“Yidishe kehile” [Jewish community]) (Vilna, 1929); Dos shutloze kind (The unprotected child) (“Statistik vegn der tsol yesoymim” [Statistics on the number of orphans]) (Warsaw, 1928); Virtshaft un lebn (Economy and life) (“Agrar-reform un di yidn” [Agrarian reform and the Jews] and “Yidish bekeray-vezn” [Jewish bakeries]) (Berlin, 1929); Kooperative bavegung (The cooperative movement) (“Metod fun analizirn virtshaftlekhe farheltenishn fun der yidisher bafelkerung” [A method of analyzing economic relations of the Jewish people] and “Hoypt-printsipn fun der virtshaftlekher organizatsye in der byuro-arbet” [Main principles of economic organization in bureau of labor]) (Warsaw, 1928-1929); Tog-yedies (Daily news) (“Tsu der frage fun demografishe forshungen un statistik fun der yidisher bafelkerung in poyln” [On the question of demographic research and statistics concerning the Jewish people in Poland]) (Warsaw, 1928); Yidisher gezelshaftlekher leksikon (Handbook for Jewish society), ed. Dr. R. Feldshuh (“Dos yidishe handverk in poyln” [Jewish handicraft in Poland]) (Warsaw, 1939).  He also contributed to Folks-hilf (People’s aid) and Virtshaftlekher lebn (Economic life).  His pamphlets include: Der matsev fun der yidisher landvirtshaft in mizrekh-galitsye (The state of Jewish agriculture in eastern Galicia), separately issued by Virtshaftlekher lebn and published by the economic-statistics bureau of the Central Cooperative Bureau in Poland (undated), 44 pp.  From 1931 he was director of the economic-statistics bureau of the Central Cooperative Bureau.  In July 1943, as a representative for the Joint in Warsaw, he was shot by the Nazis.

Sources: Records of Yekopo (Yevreyskiy komitet pomoshchi zhertvam voyny—“Jewish Relief Committee for War Victims”) (Vilna, 1931); Dr. R. Feldshuh (Ben-shem), ed., Yidisher gezelshaftlekher leksikon, vol. 1 (Warsaw, 1939); Mendl Mozes, in Poylisher yid (Polish Jew), yearbook (New York, 1944); obituary in Proletarisher gedank (New York) (December 1943).