Selig Schachnowitz (May 27, 1874 – January 23, 1952) was a Russian-born Swiss-Jewish writer and publicist.

Biography

Schachnowitz was born in 1874 in Russian-controlled Lithuania under the

Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. In 1897, the governorate covered an area of and had a population of 1,591,207 inhabitants. The governorate was defined by the Minsk Governo ...

to Isaak Schachnowitz and Lea Riszmann. He had a brother, Pinchas, who was also a writer but remained in Russia. He was trained as a teacher in Lithuania and received additional education in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. From 1901 to 1908, he worked as a cantor at the synagogue in

Endingen, Switzerland Endingen () is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Zurzach (district), Zurzach in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland. In the 18th and 19th century, Endingen was one of few villages in which Sw ...

. During a trip to

Baden, Switzerland Baden (German language, German for "Thermal bath, baths"), sometimes unofficially, to distinguish it from Baden (disambiguation), other Badens, called Baden bei Zürich ("Baden near Zürich") or Baden im Aargau ("Baden in the Aargau"), is a town ...

, he presented his first work, ''Chayim Moshiach'', to a hotelier for examination, and had found it printed the next week in the Mainz Israelite. In 1908, he started as an editor at '' Der Israelit'' magazine in Frankfurt, where he also worked as a teacher at

Solomon Breuer Solomon (Shlomo Zalman) Breuer (27 June 1850 – 17 July 1926) was a Hungarian-born German rabbi, initially in Pápa, Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Hungary, and from the early 1890s in Frankfurt as a successor of his father-in-law Samson Rapha ...

's yeshiva. He married Zessi Löb, and they had one daughter, Gertrud (1910–2007). After visiting

Eretz Yisrael The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definitions ...

, he wrote ''Zwischen Ruinen und Aufbau in Erez-Israel'' in 1931. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1938 after ''Der Israelit'' closed due to sanctions by the Nazi Party.

Selected works

* * * * *

References

External links

Selig Schachnowitz
at OpenLibrary {{DEFAULTSORT:Schachnowitz, Selig 1874 births 1952 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian Jews 20th-century Lithuanian writers Russian emigrants to Switzerland People from Jurbarkas Jewish writers from the Russian Empire