Esther Shemitz (June 25, 1900August 16, 1986), also known as "Esther Chambers" and "Mrs. Whittaker Chambers," was a pacifist American painter and illustrator who, as wife of ex-Soviet spy

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer and intelligence agent. After early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), he defected from the Soviet u ...

, provided testimony that "helped substantiate" her husband's allegations during the Hiss Case.

Background

Shemitz was born on June 25, 1900, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She was the youngest child of Rabbi Benjamin Shemitz and Rose Thorner. The family soon moved from New York City to

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, where they ran a candy store. The family had immigrated to the U.S. in the 1890s from the " Podolsk Province." In the late 1910s, Shemitz attended the Rand School. At Rand in the same period were Nerma Berman, the wife of the Soviet spy Cy Oggins, and

CPUSA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

Fosterite Carrie Katz, the first wife of philosopher

Sidney Hook Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher of pragmatism known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing communism in his youth ...

. In May 1920,

Algernon Lee Algernon H. Lee (September 15, 1873 – January 5, 1954) was an American socialist politician and educator. In addition to serving as a member of the New York City Council (then the New York City Board of Aldermen) during World War I, Lee was on ...

, educational director, presided over the graduation of the second-largest class ever at Rand, whose members included: John J. Bardsley, William D. Bavelaar, Annie S. Buller, Louis Cohan, Harry A. Durlauf, Clara Friedman, Rebecca Goldberg, William Greenspoon, Isabella E. Hall, Ammon A. Hennsey (

Ammon Hennacy Ammon Ashford Hennacy (July 24, 1893 – January 14, 1970) was an American Christian pacifist, anarchist, Wobbly, social activist, and member of the Catholic Worker Movement. He established the Joe Hill House of Hospitality in Salt Lake City ...

), Hedwig Holmes, Annie Kronhardt, Anna P. Lee, Victoria Levinson, Elsie Lindenberg, Selma Melms (first wife of Ammon Hennacy). ), Hyman Neback, Bertha Ruvinsky, Celia Samorodin, Mae Schiff, Esther T. Shemitz, Nathan S. Spivak, Esther Silverman, Sophia Ruderman, and Clara Walters.

Career

Shemitz was a pacifist long before she met Chambers, though some sources call her a communist

fellow traveler A fellow traveller (also fellow traveler) is a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization's politics, without being a formal member. In the early history of the Sov ...

or "communist sympathizer" (e.g.,

Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke, Order of the British Empire, KBE (né Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the Unite ...

), while many (e.g.,

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

) are ambiguous on the subject.

Painter, illustrator

During the early 1920s, Shemitz worked at a chapter of the

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) was a labor union for employees in the women's clothing industry in the United States. It was one of the largest unions in the country, one of the first to have a primarily female membersh ...

(ILGWU) under Juliet Stuart Poyntz in return for a stipend to the

Leonardo da Vinci Art School The Leonardo da Vinci Art School (the "Leonardo") was an art school founded in New York City (1923–1942), whose most famous students were Isamu Noguchi and Elaine de Kooning, the school's director was sculptor and poet Onorio Ruotolo. Histor ...

. On the night of April 5, 1922, "Esther T. Schemitz," described as "secretary-treasurer" of the ILGWU's

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

chapter, was arrested for disorderly conduct when she allegedly called a special police officer a "professional strike breaker." Shemitz was granted bail within two hours of jailing. In 1926, Shemitz roomed on East 11 Street on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

with writer

Grace Lumpkin Grace Lumpkin (March 3, 1891 – March 23, 1980) was an American writer of proletarian literature who focused most of her works on the Depression era and the rise and fall of communism in the United States. The most important of four books was he ...

, and they both worked at '' The World Tomorrow'' magazine. During her time at the magazine, contributors included "social reformers, suffrage leaders, black intellectuals, labor activists, and a range of other progressives. Shemitz also served as the advertising manager at the ''

New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). It was the successor to both '' The Masses'' (1911–1917) and ''The Liberator'' (1918–1924). ''New Masses'' was later merge ...

'' in 1926. In December 1926, on behalf of the ''World Tomorrow'', Shemitz took

Rebecca West Dame Cecily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...

to see the Passaic Textile Strike at the Botany Worsted Mills. There Shemtiz was beaten and arrested along with Sophie Shulman of ''New Masses'' magazine and another reporter,

Sender Garlin Sender Garlin (April 4, 1902 – December 6, 1999) was an American journalist, pamphleteer, and writer. Career Background Sender Garlin was born in Bialystok, Poland, on April 4, 1902. His family left the country in 1906 to escape pogroms. A ...

. In the latter 1920s, Shemitz studied at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

in New York under

Boardman Robinson Boardman "Mike" Michael Robinson (1876–1952) was a Canadian-born American painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Biography Early years Boardman Robinson was born September 6, 1876, in Nova Scotia. He spent his childhood in England and Canada, ...

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and Thomas Hart Benton. Shemitz also contributed cartoons to the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

'' newspaper. In 1929, Shemitz was one of many signatories to form the John Reed Club in New York. She illustrated books for

International Publishers International Publishers is a book publishing company based in New York City, specializing in Marxism, Marxist works of economics, political science, and history. Company history Establishment International Publishers Company, Inc., was founde ...

, notably ''Labor and Silk'' by Grace Hutchins (1929), with a cover designed by

Louis Lozowick Louis Lozowick (1892–1973) () was a Ukrainian-born American painter and printmaker. He is recognized as an Art Deco and Precisionist artist, and mainly produced streamline, urban-inspired monochromatic lithographs in a career that spanned 50 ...

. At year-end 1929, Shemitz partook in the first-ever art exhibition of the John Reed Club, held at the

United Workers Cooperatives United Workers Cooperatives, also known as Allerton Coops (colloquially ''Coops'' or ''Commie Coops'' ), is a historic apartment building complex located at 2700–2870 Bronx Park East in Allerton, Bronx, New York City. The complex includes three ...

apartment buildings (also called the "United Workers Cooperative Colony" and the "Commie Coops") on Bronx Park East. Artists in the show included:

Jacob Burck Jacob Burck (née Yankel Boczkowsky, January 10, 1907 – May 11, 1982) was a Polish-born Jewish-American painter, sculptor, and award-winning editorial cartoonist. Active in the Communist movement from 1926 as a political cartoonist and muralist, ...

, Fred Ellis,

William Gropper William Gropper (December 3, 1897January 3, 1977) was an American cartoonist, painter, lithographer, and muralist. A committed radical, Gropper is best known for the political work which he contributed to such left wing publications as '' Th ...

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Gan Kolski

, Morris Pass,

Anton Refregier Anton Refregier (March 20, 1905 – October 10, 1979) was a painter and muralist active in Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project commissions, and in teaching art. He was a Russian immigrant to the United States. Among his best-k ...

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, Otto Soglow, and

Art Young Arthur Henry Young (January 14, 1866 – December 29, 1943) was an American cartoonist and writer. He is best known for his socialist cartoons, especially those drawn for the left-wing political magazine '' The Masses'' between 1911 and 1917. B ...

. In 1930, Shemitz worked briefly for the Soviet-controlled

Amtorg Trading Corporation Amtorg Trading Corporation, also known as Amtorg (short for ''Amerikanskaya Torgovlya'', ), was the first trade representation of the Soviet Union in the United States, established in New York in 1924 by merging Armand Hammer's Allied American ...

, AMTORG, a job found for her by Hutchin's partner

Anna Rochester Anna Rochester (March 30, 1880 — May 11, 1966) was an American labor reformer, journalist, political activist, and Communist. Although for several years an editor of the liberal monthly '' The World Tomorrow,'' Rochester is best remembered as a ...

. In May 1930, Shemitz joined scores of artists, writers, and educators, all members of the John Reed Club, (at 102 West Fourteenth Street, New York) in signing a protest against "Red-baiting" protest. They included:

Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist. He was a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the mov ...

Walt Carmon Walt Carmon (1894–1968) was a magazine editor and writer best known for his years as managing editor of the Communist magazine the ''New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist ...

Malcolm Cowley Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), and his memoir, ''Exile's Return'' ( ...

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Carl Van Doren Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 – July 18, 1950) was an American critic and biographer. He was the brother of critic and teacher Mark Van Doren and the uncle of Charles Van Doren. He won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Aut ...

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...

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, Fred Ellis,

Kenneth Fearing Kenneth Flexner Fearing (July 28, 1902 – June 26, 1961) was an American poet and novelist. A major poet of the Depression era, he addressed the shallowness and consumerism of American society as he saw it, often by ironically adapting the lan ...

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, Harry Freeman,

Hugo Gellert Hugo Gellert (born Hugó Grünbaum, May 3, 1892 December 9, 1985) was a Hungarian- American illustrator and muralist. A committed radical and member of the Communist Party of America, Gellert created much work for political activism in the 192 ...

Mike Gold Michael Gold (April 12, 1893 – May 14, 1967) was the pen-name of Jewish-American writer Itzhok Isaak Granich. A lifelong communist, Gold was a novelist, journalist, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, playwright, and literary critic. His se ...

, Jack Hardy, Josephine Herbst,

Alfred Kreymborg Alfred Francis Kreymborg (December 10, 1883 – August 14, 1966) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, literary editor and anthologist. Early life and associations He was born in New York City to Hermann and Louisa Kreymborg (née Nasher) ...

, Joshua Kunitz,

, A.B. Magil,

H. L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...

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, Joseph North, Isidor Schneider,

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, Edith Segal,

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, Genevieve Taggard,

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, and

. At least one co-signer was a classmate (

), another a roommate (

), two were sponsors (

Grace Hutchins Grace Hutchins (August 19, 1885 – July 15, 1969) was an American labor reformer and researcher, journalist, political activist and communist. She spent many years of her life writing about labor and economics, in addition to being a lifelong de ...

and

), and two were teachers (

and

). In April 1931, Shemitz married

. In May 1931, she contributed a cartoon to the ''

'' magazine. In 1932, when her husband's name appeared as an editor, the names of Esther Shemitz and Jacob Burck appeared as (art) contributors for the ''New Masses'' alongside longer-term contributors like Louis Lozowick,

, William Siegel, and Joseph Vogel.

Soviet underground

Shemitz cut short her own art career when her husband entered the Soviet underground in mid-1932. Thus, unlike most of her circle, who contributed to publications such as the ''Daily Worker'' newspaper and ''New Masses'' magazine, she did not become one of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

's Federal Art Project artists during the latter part of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and into

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

In 1938, when Chambers defected from the underground, Grace Hutchins delivered a death threat against him, through her brother, attorney Reuben Shemitz. Later, following a grand jury investigation in December 1948, Reuben Shemitz told the press:

(Hutchins) said she wanted to see him on a 'matter of life and death' ... She assured me that no harm would come to my sister or her children if Whit would get in touch with someone known to Whit as Steve (
J. Peters J. Peters (born Sándor Goldberger; 11 August 1894 – 1990) was the most commonly known pseudonym of a man who last went by the name "Alexander Stevens" in 1949. Peters was a journalist, political activist, and accused Soviet spy who was a leadi ...
).

In his 1952 memoir, Chambers detailed:

There strode into my brother-in-law's office one morning a rather striking-looking white-haired woman, about fifty years old. She told the receptionist that Miss Grace Hutchins wished to see Mr. Shemitz ...
In his private office, she came to the point at once: "If you will agree to turn Chambers over to us," she said, "the party will guarantee the safety of your sister and the children." My startled brother-in-law, who, like most Americans, was completely unaware of what Communism is really like (we had never discussed the subject), tried to explain that he did not know even the whereabouts of his sister, her husband or their children ...
"If he does not show up by (such and such a day)," she said briskly, "he will be killed." with that she left ... Terrified by the visit and unable to warn us, he was frantic. He rushed to the only two people he could think of who might know where we were ... Neither of them could help him.

. She managed the family's Pipe Creek Farm from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s.

Hiss Case

During deposition for the slander suit of

Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official who was accused of espionage in 1948 for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. The statute of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjur ...

against Chambers in 1948, the Hiss legal team's rough treatment of Shemitz was the final factor in leading Chambers to disclose the existence of his "life preserver," which contained the "Baltimore Documents" and the "

Pumpkin Papers The Pumpkin Papers are a set of typewritten and handwritten documents, stolen from the US federal government (thus information leaks) by members of the Ware Group and other Soviet spy networks in Washington, DC, during 1937–1938, withheld by c ...

." During the Hiss Case and trials, Shemitz corroborated and often augmented much of her husband's testimony. (She further explained, "I am now trying to remember things I had shut out of my mind, I thought completely." ) In December 1948, with indictments in the Hiss Case pending, Shemitz struck an elderly female pedestrian with her car; the woman soon died. The accident made front pages:

''
Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...
'' Sunday, December 19, 1948 HELD IN AUTO DEATH Mrs. Whittaker Chambers, wife of the self-confessed former Communist spy, leaves the Baltimore police station after her arraignment in connection with the death of an aged woman struck by her car as she was going to the railroad station to pick up her husband after he testified before the Federal grand jury in Manhattan. Mrs. Chambers is the former Esther Shemitz of Brooklyn.

Soon after, the case was dropped, as the victim had repeatedly attempted suicide by jumping in front of oncoming cars.

Aftermath

Shemitz was subject to rumors from Hiss supporters, particularly one claiming that not only were she and Lumpkin lesbian lovers but they were also involved in a four-way menage with their allegedly gay husbands – most recently put forward in biography of lesbians Anna Rochester and Grace Hutchins. In fact, Hutchins was the source of many such rumors: another she spread to the Hiss defense team was that Shemitz had told Hutchins that Chambers had spent time in the Westchester Division of the

Bloomingdale Insane Asylum The Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (1821–1889) was an American private hospital for the care of the mentally ill, founded by New York Hospital. It was located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, where Columbia Un ...

, a claim she later withdrew. (

Robert Cantwell Robert Emmett Cantwell (January 31, 1908 – December 8, 1978), known as Robert Cantwell, was a novelist and critic. His first novel, ''Laugh and Lie Down'' (1931) is an early example, twenty years before Jack Kerouac, of the American classic gen ...

, a close friend of Chambers, had received treatment there in the 1940s; "Robert Cantwell" was an alias Chambers had used in the Soviet underground.) A.B. Magil (a long-time ''

'' writer and editor and CPUSA member) told Elinor Ferry (a Hiss supporter) that Chambers' wife and her roommate Grace Lumpkin ''appeared'' to be lesbians. "Esther was masculine in appearance and in her voice. Grace was the softer, more feminine type." The overall experience of the Hiss Case led Shemitz to avoid all press and never speak to researchers, including

Allen Weinstein Allen Weinstein (September 1, 1937 – June 18, 2015) was an American historian, educator, and federal official who served in several different offices. Under the Reagan administration, he was cofounder of the National Endowment for Democracy i ...

Personal life and death

Shemitz's older brother was attorney Reuben Shemitz. A nephew was

Nathan Levine Nathan Levine (January 18, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American labor lawyer and real estate attorney in Brooklyn, New York, who, as attorney for his uncle, Whittaker Chambers, testified regarding his uncle's "life preserver." This packet in ...

; another was Sylvan Shemitz. In 1926, Whittaker Chambers first saw Shemitz at the Passaic Textile Strike, which he described at length in his 1952 memoir. In 1930, Chambers and friend Mike Intrator began to court Shemitz and Lumpkin; both couples married in 1931. Shemitz's marriage was witnessed by Grace Hutchins and her life partner

. Shemitz and Chambers had a daughter in 1933 and a son in 1936. Once Chambers defected, husband and wife lived at the Pipe Creek Farm, near

Westminster, Maryland Westminster is a city in and the county seat of Carroll County, Maryland, United States. The city's population was 19,960 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Westminster is an outlying community in the Baltimore metropolitan area, whic ...

, for the rest of their lives. The couple had two children, Ellen and John, during the 1930s, despite the Communist leadership expecting couples to remain childless, but many refused, a choice Chambers cited as part of his gradual disillusionment with communism. Daughter Ellen died in 2017; her children are Stephen, Pamela, and John. Shemitz made her first and only trip abroad, to Europe, with Chambers in the summer of 1959, during which they met

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler (, ; ; ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest, and was educated in Austria, apart from his early school years. In 1931, Koestler j ...

and Margarete Buber-Neumann among others. When Chambers died of his seventh heart attack on July 9, 1961, Shemitz collapsed and was rushed to the nearest hospital in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On August 16, 1986, she died age 86 at her home.

Works

Paintings, illustrations

All of Shemitz's paintings are held privately by her family or friends. Her illustrations appeared in the ''Daily Worker'' newspaper, the ''New Masses'' magazine, and the book ''Labor and Silk'' and include: * "Alookin' f'r a home," ''New Masses'' (May 1931)

Books, articles

* "Creative Impulse in a Hostile Environment" with

, '' The World Tomorrow'' (April 1926) * ''Labor and Silk'' by

, illustrations by Esther Shemitz, cover by

(New York:

, 1929) * ''Cold Friday'' by Whittaker Chambers, edited by

Duncan Norton-Taylor Duncan Norton-Taylor was an American journalist who was a senior editor at ''Time'' magazine and managing editor at ''Fortune'' magazine from the 1940s through the 1960s. Background Norton-Taylor graduated Brown University, where he worked at T ...

and Esther Shemitz (New York: Random House, 1964)

References

External sources

* * * *
Hathi Trust
Labor and Silk {{DEFAULTSORT:Shemitz, Esther 1900 births 1986 deaths American pacifists American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American editorial cartoonists American women editorial cartoonists Jewish American editorial cartoonists 20th-century American Jews Art Students League of New York alumni Jewish pacifists Jewish socialists Jewish women painters Jewish American painters Painters from New York City Painters from Maryland 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American painters