Alex Aronson (; 30 October 1912 — 10 December 1995) was a German-born Israeli author and educator.

Early life

He was born on 30 October 1912 at Breslau, then part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

(now

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

in Poland). As a young man he fled the rise of Hitler, studying comparative literature at

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

and then English literature at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. A German Jew he sought refuge from the impending

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

then showing its initial signs in Europe by opting to leave and settle in the Indian village of

Santiniketan Shantiniketan (IPA: Help:IPA/Bengali, �antiniketɔn is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendra ...

, in West Bengal, west of

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. On contacting

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

he was asked to get in touch with Amiya Chakravarty and

Charles Freer Andrews Charles Freer Andrews (12 February 1871 – 5 April 1940) was an Church of England, Anglican priest and Christian missionary, educator and social reformer, and an activist for Indian independence movement, Indian independence. He became a clos ...

, who were in London at that time. Aronson reached Santiniketan in November 1937.

Santiniketan

Santiniketan provided shelter to Aronson during a troubled period the world around. In one of his letters to

Martin Kämpchen Martin Kämpchen (born 9 December 1948) is an author, translator, journalist and social worker. Early life He studied literature in Vienna and French in Paris. He earned his first doctorate in Vienna He worked for three years as a German teache ...

he wrote, "The hospitality I received there goes beyond all praise. It is something I shall never forget and for which I shall be forever grateful." He plunged into his teaching career, preparing students for the BA examination of the University of Calcutta. He was a voracious reader and tried to understand the Eastern mind. He played the piano and listened to music with

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

, then an art student at Visva Bharati. He contributed book reviews and articles for Santiniketan's official journals, ''Visva Bharati Quarterly'' and ''Visva Bharati News''. In time, he emerged as one of the most prolific writers from Santiniketan of that period. With the outbreak of World War II, Aronson suddenly became an "enemy alien" for the British colonial rulers in India. He was sent to an internment camp first at Fort William and then to

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impre ...

. With the repeated intervention of Tagore, he was able to return after two months. However, it was a traumatic experience for him. Tagore had a vast collection of newspaper clippings that had been collected during his foreign tours. He asked Aronson to put them in order. With many months of dedication and hard work, he classified the newspaper articles and correspondence, and laid the foundations of the archives at Santiniketan. With the wealth of information, he had, Aronson wrote a book ''Rabindranath Through Western Eyes''. It was published in 1943, after Tagore's death. It became an iconic book that has been mentioned and quoted till the present times. Tagore's impact outside India was seen in a totally unromantic, unsentimental and critically sober manner. It obviously did not go down well with the Santiniketan intelligentia. In 1944, he wrote ''The Story of a Conscience'', a book on Tagore's friend,

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

. Jointly with Krishna Kripalani he edited ''Rolland and Tagore'', a collection of letters and essays. In 2000, Visva Bharati published ''Dear Mr. Tagore'', a collection of letters from well known writers, scholars and public figures in Europe and America. It was a major archival contribution of Aronson. In 1946, he wrote, ''Europe looks at India, a study in Cultural Relations''. This book on Europe's cultural response to India opened Aronson's horizon beyond Tagore. Aronson taught at the University of Dhaka in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) for two years before immigrating to Palestine after the war.

Israel

After immigrating to British-mandate Palestine, Aronson took up different teaching assignments, most importantly at the Aleph Municipal High School in Tel Aviv, where he taught for many years, having a lasting influence on students such as

Dan Miron Dan Miron (; born 1934) is an Israeli-born American literary critic and author. An expert on modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature, Miron is a Professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently the Leonard Kaye Professor of ...

. After the establishment of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the founding of

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, he joined the English department at this university. In his old age he settled in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. He continued writing – ''Music and the Novel'', two books on Shakespeare, one on twentieth century diaries and three volumes of his autobiography.

Awards

Visva Bharati University Visva-Bharati (IAST: ''Viśva-Bhāratī''), () is a Public university, public Central University (India), central university and an Institute of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath ...

conferred on him its highest award, Desikottama (D Litt), in 1993. At the request of the vice-chancellor,

went and delivered the Insignia of Desikottama at his home on the slopes of Mountain Carmel, overlooking Haifa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aronson, Alex 1912 births 1995 deaths Writers from Wrocław People associated with Santiniketan English-language writers from Germany German emigrants to India Immigrants to Israel Pakistani emigrants