Adam Zamenhof (1888 – 29 January 1940) was a Polish physician known for his work on

ophthalmology Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

and the son of

L. L. Zamenhof L. L. Zamenhof (15 December 185914 April 1917) was an ophthalmologist who lived for most of his life in Warsaw. He is best known as the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language. Zamenhof first dev ...

, the inventor of

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

. Before the Holocaust, Zamenhof had invented a device to check blind spots in the field of vision. During World War II, 6 September 1939, he was head of the Starozakonnych Hospital in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, and its director. On 1 October 1939 Zamenhof was arrested and sent to the camp in

Palmiry Palmiry () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czosnów, within Nowy Dwór County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is located at the edge of the Kampinos Forest, approximately south-east of Czosnów, south-eas ...

, where he was murdered by the Nazis. Adam and his wife Wanda were the parents of

Louis-Christophe Zaleski-Zamenhof Louis-Christophe Zaleski-Zamenhof (born Ludwik Zamenhof; 23 January 1925 – 9 October 2019) was a Polish-born French civil and marine engineer, specializing in the design of structural steel and concrete construction. He was a grandson of the Po ...

References

1888 births 1940 deaths Polish ophthalmologists Jewish physicians Polish people executed by Nazi Germany Esperanto speaking Jews Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust 20th-century Polish physicians {{poland-med-bio-stub