Samuel Adalberg (1868 – 10 November 1939) was a Polish historian of folklore, literature, a paremiologist and a state official. He is remembered for editing and publishing the first modern book on Polish

proverbs A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial ...

Biography

Born in Warsaw in 1868, in the years 1878–1888 he attended the Szkoła Realna of

Samuel Dickstein Samuel Dickstein (February 5, 1885 – April 22, 1954) was a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Congressional Representative from New York (state), New York (22-year tenure), a New York State Supreme Court Justice, and a Soviet Union, ...

. At that time he befriended Samuel Abraham Poznański. He was also employed by , an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and paremiologist, to organize his library. At that time he translated and published anonymously two collections of Yiddish proverbs (in 1888 and 1890), and published, under his own name, a book on Polish proverbs, ''Księga przysłów polskich'' (The Book of Polish Proverbs; 1889–1894) called "the first modern work on this topic in Polish" and " the most extensive collection ever made in this field". He was also involved in the release of an annotated editions of older Polish literary works, published by the

Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning (, PAU), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences (the other being the Po ...

. From 1898 he was a member of the Commission on Philology of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of his work on the study of proverbs. He was also involved with the

Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia #REDIRECT Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia {{R from other capitalisation ...

(as at that time eastern Poland, where he lived, was part of the

Russian partition The Russian Partition (), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian ac ...

of Poland). Unable to sustain himself from just his academic interests, around the turn of the century he also worked at Hipolit Wawelberg's bank. Later he became involved with the Hipolit Wawelberg Foundation and the Society for Educating the Jews (''Towarzystwo Szerzenia Oświaty Wśród Żydów''). Following the end of World War I and the restoration of Polish independence, in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

he joined the Polish Regency Council and became its top official for the Jewish affairs. Later, until 1930, he worked in various capacities in the department for Jewish affairs in the Polish Ministry of Religions and Public Education, eventually becoming its director. He was involved in issues such as the legal status of Jewish religious communities. He was also involved in the creation of the State School for Teachers of the Jewish Faith (''Państwowe Seminarium dla Nauczycieli Religii Mojżeszowej w Warszawie''), the Institute for Jewish Studies, and the Main Judaic Library in Warsaw. During his time in the government he has attracted criticism of the Agudath Israel activists, who accused him of favoring the

Zionists Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the Jewish people, pursued through the colonization of Palestine, a region roughly cor ...

. After his retirement, he was the Warsaw representative of the Gesellschaft für die Wissenschaft des Judentums (Society for Judaic Sciences). Following the

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

in September 1939, and hearing about the German plans for the creation of the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

, he committed suicide on 10 November. Polish historian of literature,

Julian Krzyżanowski Julian Krzyżanowski (4 July 1892 – 19 May 1976) was a Polish literature and folklore scholar, best known for his study of Polish proverbs. Participant of the Warsaw Uprising. Professor at the Warsaw University and others. Recipient of Order of P ...

, called him, "a pioneer of the modern study Polish paremiology."

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adalberg, Samuel 1868 births 1939 suicides 19th-century Polish Jews 19th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Paremiologists Suicides in Poland Polish civil servants Polish activists Suicides by Jews during the Holocaust 1939 deaths Proverb scholars Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust People from Congress Poland