Leyb Gorfinkel (; March 14, 1896 – September 7, 1976; also known as Leib Garfunkel and Levas Garfunkelis in Lithuanian) was an advocate, journalist, and politician. He was of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n and later 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 ...

nationality Nationality is the legal status of belonging to a particular nation, defined as a group of people organized in one country, under one legal jurisdiction, or as a group of people who are united on the basis of culture. In international law, n ...

Early life and education

Leyb Gorfinkel grew up in

Kovno Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

(now Kaunas), which was then in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

but which is currently in Lithuania. While he was attending

Petrograd University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

(now Saint Petersburg State University), Gorfinel studied

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

. For a time, he moved to

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

, and moved back to Konvo at the end of 1918.

Zionist activism

In Kovno, he participated in various Jewish and Zionist activities. In 1919, he helped organize the

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

daily newspaper ''Di idishe shtime'' (The Jewish Voice), which he himself edited between February 1920 and February 1922. Gorfinkel was also a member of the presidium and then as vice chair of the Jewish National Council of Lithuania during this time. In addition, he edited the bi-weekly newspaper ''Unzer ruf'' (Our Call) in 1925-1926 and the weekly newspaper ''Di tsayt'' (The Times) in 1932. Gorfinkel was a member of the Lithuanian

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (), or simply the Seimas ( ; ), is the unicameralism, unicameral legislative body of the Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of Government of Lithuania, govern ...

(Parliament) between 1923 and 1927, where he represented the Socialist Zionists and Tze'irei Zion. He was also a member of the Kovno City Council from 1924 onward.

World War II and the Holocaust

He was an organizer of the Society to Aid Jewish Refugees from Poland in 1940; he was also arrested by the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in June of that same year. He was the vice chair of the Ältestenrat of the

Kovno Ghetto The Kovno Ghetto was a ghetto established by Nazi Germany to hold the Lithuanian Jews of Kaunas (Kovno) during the Holocaust. At its peak, the ghetto held 29,000 people, most of whom were later sent to concentration and extermination camps, o ...

between 1941 and 1944, which was when

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

was occupying Lithuania. Due to suspicion that he was engaging in "underground activity", Gorfinkel was arrested and tortured in April 1944. After the Kovno Ghetto was liquidated that same year, he was sent to

Kaufering concentration camp Kaufering () was a system of eleven subcamp (SS), subcamps of the Dachau concentration camp which operated between 18 June 1944 and 27 April 1945 and which were located around the towns of Landsberg am Lech and Kaufering, Bavaria, Kaufering in ...

, which was near

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

Later life and death

Gorfinkel lived in

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

between 1945 and 1948. In Rome, he was the head of the Organization of Jewish Refugees in Italy. He immigrated to Israel in 1948. A week before his death, Gorfinkel was the first person to be interviewed by director

Claude Lanzmann Claude Lanzmann (; 27 November 1925 – 5 July 2018) was a French filmmaker, best known for the Holocaust documentary film ''Shoah'' (1985), which consists of nine and a half hours of oral testimony from Holocaust survivors, without historical f ...

for his film ''

Shoah 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 ...

'', which was only released in 1985 (almost a decade after Gorfinkel's death). In this interview, Gorfinkel discussed his own experiences in the Kovno Ghetto during the Holocaust. Gorfinkel died in 1976 at the age of eighty and was buried at Har HaMenuchot.

Published works

* ''Žydų tautinė autonomija Lietuvoje'' ewish national autonomy in Lithuania Kaunas: Š. Neumano spaustuvė, 1920.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorfinkel, Leyb 1896 births 1976 deaths Dachau concentration camp survivors Jewish Israeli politicians Israeli people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Jewish Lithuanian politicians Kovno Ghetto inmates Lithuanian emigrants to Israel 20th-century Lithuanian journalists Lithuanian Zionists Members of the Seimas Politicians from Kaunas People from Kovensky Uyezd Jews from the Russian Empire 20th-century Israeli journalists Burials at Har HaMenuchot