Jewish

Sacha Piotr (Sascha Pjotr) aka Alexander Shapiro aka Sergei 1889/1890-1942(?)

Sacha Piotr.

A short biography of the obscure figure of Ukrainian anarchist Sacha Piotr-real name Alexander Schapiro, active in the Ukraine, Russia, Belgium, France and Germany. He fought with the anarchists in Spain and was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz. Father of the gifted mathematican Alexander Grothendieck.

Alexander Schapiro was born into a Jewish family with a Hasidic background in Novozybkov in the Ukraine on October 11th 1889 or 6th August 1890. This is the date given by his son Alexander, but it is not clear whether this was by the Julian or Gregorian calendar! In addition the Red Cross report of 1957 on him give two different birth dates, one of 10/11/1889 and one of 11/10/1889!

Anti-semitism and National Socialism - Moishe Postone

Victims of the holocaust.

No functionalist explanation of the Holocaust and no scapegoat theory of anti-Semitism can even begin to explain why, in the last years of the war, when the German forces were being crushed by the Red Army, a significant proportion of vehicles was deflected from logistical support and used to transport Jews to the gas chambers. The specificity of the Holocaust requires a much more determinate mediation in order even to approach its understanding.

Anti-Semitism and National Socialism
By Moishe Postone

Zadov, Lev Nikolaevich aka Zinkovsky aka Leva aka Levka the Bandit 1893-1938

Lev Zadov.

Short biography of Lev Zadov, anarchist communist, metalworker and (in)famous organiser of the Makhnovist intelligence corps.

Lev Zadov was born on April 11th 1893 in the small Jewish farming settlement of Veselaya in southern Ukraine. Around 1898-1900 his family fell on hard times and moved to Yuzovka, in the Donetsk region, where his father worked as a coachman.

Greenberg, Yiddelle 1909-194?

Soviet labour camp

Biography of Polish anarchist Yiddelle Greenberg, whose activity was crucial in the formation of the Polish anarchist movement.

A salute to a comrade,

Gorelik, Grigorii aka Anatolii, 1889-1956

A short biography of Grigorii Gorelik, Ukrainian anarchist participant in the Russian Revolution.

Grigorii Gorelik, usually known as Anatolii Gorelik was born into a Jewish family in 1889. He became an anarchist in 1904, at the age of fourteen. He was active in the Ukraine, and was arrested several times by the Tsarist police.

Wess, Woolf, 1861-1946

A short biography of Jewish anarchist Woolf, aka William, Wess, active in the Socialist League in East London.

“He was the most modest of men” - Rudolf Rocker
Woolf Wess was born to a Jewish family in Vilkomar (or Ukmerge) near Kovno in Lithuania in 1861.

He was the son of a Hasidic master baker and at age of 12 was apprenticed to a shoemaker.

Yarchuk, Efim, 1882 or 1886-1937

Kronstadt sailors in 1917

A short biography of Efim Yarchuk, who played an important role in the rebellious town of Kronstadt.

Yarchuk, Efim Zakharovich aka Khaim Zakharev - Also rendered as Yarchook, Yartchuk, Iarchuk etc.

“a man who enjoyed exceptional influence among the sailors and workers and whose idealism and devotion are matters of historic record” - My Disillusionment in Russia. Emma Goldman

Mollie Steimer, 1897-1980 - Paul Avrich

Mollie Steimer

The life of Mollie Steimer, a Jewish anarchist in New York who opposed the First World War, and later lived in exile in France and Mexico.

Mollie Steimer: An Anarchist Life
By Paul Avrich

A review of Joe Jacob's 'Out of the Ghetto' - Al Richardson

Joe Jacobs, 1950

A review of the late Joe Jacob's excellent autobiography. Growing up in London's Jewish East End, Joe was variously a Communist Party militant, anti-fascist, Trotskyist, and in his later years a member of the Solidarity libertarian socialist group.

Originally published in Vol. 5, No. 1 of the Trotskyist journal Revolutionary History.
Reprinted in Echanges et Mouvement no 80/81, 1996.

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Joe Jacobs - Out of the Ghetto; Phoenix Press, London, 1991
(Reviewed by Al Richardson)

Muehsam, Erich, 1878-1934

A short biography of Erich Muehsam, German poet, playwright, bohemian and anarchist revolutionary.

Erich Muehsam was born in Berlin in 1878 into a fairly well-to-do Jewish family. Soon after his family moved to Luebeck in north Germany where his father worked as a pharmacist (in fact the pharmacy is still there).

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