Lidia Zamenhof
Lidia Zamenhof | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 1942 (aged 37–38) |
Nationality | Polish |
Other names | Lidja |
Known for | Activity in Esperanto movement and Baháʼí Faith |
Parent(s) | L. L. Zamenhof (1859–1917) Klara Zamenhof (1863–1924) |
Lidia Zamenhof (
Around 1925 she became a member of the Baháʼí Faith.[1] In late 1937 she went to the United States to teach that religion as well as Esperanto. In December 1938 she returned to Poland, where she continued to teach and translated many Baháʼí writings.[2] ֿShe was murdered at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust.[3]
Life
Lidia Zamenhof learned Esperanto as a nine-year-old girl. By the age of fourteen, she translated from
She actively coordinated her work with the student Esperanto movement — in the International Student League, in the
In 1937 she went to the United States for a long stay. In December 1938 she had to leave the United States because that country's Immigration Service declined to extend her tourist visitor's visa because of her allegedly illegal "paid labor" of teaching Esperanto. She refused offers of marriage that could have permitted her to remain or eventually to naturalize. After returning to Poland, her homeland, she travelled around the country teaching Esperanto and the Baháʼí Faith.
Under the German occupation regime of 1939, her home in Warsaw became part of the Warsaw Ghetto. She was arrested under the charge of having gone to the United States to spread anti-Nazi propaganda,[4] but after a few months, she was released and returned to her home city where she and the rest of her family remained confined. There she endeavored to help others get medicine and food. She was offered help and escape several times by Polish Esperantists but refused in each case. To one Pole, well-known Esperantist Józef Arszennik, who had offered her refuge on several occasions, she explained, "you and your family could lose your lives because whoever hides a Jew perishes along with the Jew who is discovered."[5][6] To another, her explanation was contained in her last known letter: "Do not think of putting yourself in danger; I know that I must die but I feel it is my duty to stay with my people. God grant that out of our sufferings a better world may emerge. I believe in God. I am a Baháʼí and will die a Baháʼí. Everything is in His hands."[7]
Eventually in the end she was swept up in the mass transport heading to the extermination camp in
Memorial
In her memory and honor, a meeting was held in 1995 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The meeting called attention to Esperantists' efforts to save persecuted Jews during World War II.[citation needed]
Esperanto works
- Lidia Zamenhof (1931), Homo, Dio, Profeto (Man, God, Prophet) OCLC 718419298
See also
Notes
- ISBN 1-85168-184-1.
- ^ "Famous Baha'is". adherents.com. 2005-12-06. Archived from the original on October 19, 2000. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Lidia Zamenhof, a cosmopolitan woman and victim of the Holocaust". blogs.bl.uk. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
- ^ Heller, Wendy Lidia, The Life of Lidia Zamenhof Daughter of Esperanto, 1985, pp. 234-235
- ^ Joanna Iwaszkiewicz, Wtedy Kwitły Forsycje, 1993, pp.113
- ^ "Getto Warszawskie". Archived from the original on 2014-12-14.
- ^ Heller, Wendy Lidia, The Life of Lidia Zamenhof Daughter of Esperanto, 1985, pg. 240
- ^ "Lidia Zamenhof, a cosmopolitan woman and victim of the Holocaust". blogs.bl.uk. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
References
- In English: Wendy Heller, Lidia: The Life of Lidia Zamenhof, Daughter of Esperanto.
- In ISBN 978-90-77066-36-2)
- In Esperanto: Isaj Dratwer, Lidia Zamenhof. Vivo kaj agado
- An extensive chapter on Lidia Zamenhof in La familio Zamenhof, by Zofia Banet-Fornalowa.
- Information about Lidia Zamenhof may be found in publications of the Baháʼí Esperanto movement and in other articles.
- As of August 2006, most of this article is a translation of the corresponding Esperanto Vikipedio article.
Drama
The documentary drama Ni vivos! (We will live!) by Julian Modest depicts the Zamenhof family's fate in the Warsaw Ghetto.
External links
- Works by Lidia Zamenhof at Faded Page (Canada)
- (in English) John Dale - Notes on the life of Lidia Zamenhof
- (in Esperanto) Esperanto Translations by Lidia Zamenhof and Roan Orloff Stone Translations of several important Baháʼí writings in Esperanto.