Zosa Szajkowski Collection, 1900s-1947

Creator:

Szajkowski, Zosa, 1911-1978

Abstract:

This collection contains an eclectic variety of materials collected by Jewish historian, archivist, and bibliographer Zosa Szajkowski (1911-1978). Materials include organizational records, documents, correspondence, periodicals, printed ephemera related mainly to Eastern European Jewish life in France in 1920s and 1930s and on the territories of modern Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland and Russia in the first quarter of the 20th century. There are also materials of the Russkii Obshchekolonial'nyi Komitet v Parizhe, Comité des Delegations Juives, Kharbinskoe Evreiskoe Dukhovnoe Obshchestvo, and papers of A. (Aleksei) Lozovskii.

Extent:

6 linear feet 4 document boxes; 3 tall document boxes; 2 flat boxes; 7 oversize folders (mapcase)

Language:

Russian , Yiddish , Hebrew , French , Ukrainian , Polish , Lithuanian , German , Arabic .

Scope and content:

Collection arranged in five series.

Series I contains material related to the political and cultural activities of Eastern European Jews in France, mainly in Paris, in the interwar period. At that time, Paris served as home to numerous grassroots organizations including aid and relief, cultural, workers, educational, political, medical, sport, anti-fascist, press, trade-unionist, women and other organizations, groups, and clubs. There are organizational records, correspondence, manuscripts, printed and handmade posters, flyers, event tickets, invitations and programs, calls for actions, appeals, photographs, drawings, etc. Notably this series contains an archive of the Kultur-Lige in Frankraych.

Series II comprises materials, mostly printed, related to social and political life of Jews on the territory of Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia, and Poland in the first quarter of the 20th century. There are posters, flyers, clippings, leaflets, open letters, periodicals, publications, propaganda ephemera in Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian and Yiddish covering such subjects as revolutionary events of the 1910s, pogroms, anti-semitism, the 1917 revolution and the civil war. There are also materials of various Jewish organizations and groups including the Bund, Poalei Zion, Zionists, etc., and a group of material related to the Ukrainian People's Republic, including notable legislative acts on the statute of Jewish communities and Jewish autonomy, and other documents.

Series III includes materials of two Jewish organization. First, the Comité des Delegations Juives (Committee of Jewish Delegations), international body established in 1919 to alert the Paris Peace Conference to the grave situation of the Jews in various European countries and to obtain international guarantees for safeguarding their rights. Second, Jewish organization in China - Kharbinskoe Evreiskoe Dukhovnoe Obshchestvo, established in 1902 in Kharbin.

Series IV comprises correspondence relating to the creation of the Russkii Obshchekolonial'nyi komitet v Parizhe to protect the interests of Russian citizens.

Series V consists of notes, documents, and letters of Solomon Abramovich Lozovskii (1878-1952, born Dridzo, pseudonym - A. (Aleksei) Lozovksii), prominent bolshevik, participant in the revolutionary and trade union movement in Russia and France. There are mostly his notes on the professional labor movement abroad, mainly in France. His materials are of interest to researchers of unions and labor movement of the early 20th century, as well as for a biographer of Lozovskii.

Biographical / historical:

Zosa Szajkowski, born Yehoshua or Szajko (Shaike or Shayke) Frydman, (10 January 1911, Zareby, Poland – 26 September 1978, New York), Jewish historian, archivist, bibliographer.

In 1927, Szajkowski moved to France, where he enrolled as a student at the Sorbonne. First he became involved in the French Communist movement but in the late 1930s, influenced by a group "of Jewish intellectuals from Poland, some of whom were previously connected to the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in Vilna, and from Germany" he left the Communist movement (Source: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/14512281.pdf).

With the outbreak of World War Two, Szajkowski became a member of the Foreign Legion, was wounded, and evacuated to Bordeaux and then to Carpentras. In 1941 (or late 1940), he moved to the United States, joined the United States Army, and served in Europe in the Normandy, Rhineland and Ardennes Campaigns as a combat paratrooper, interpreter, and interrogator.

From 1945 to 1978 Szajkowski was a research associate at the YIVO Institute. He authored works on a various topics in Jewish history, including the history of French Jewry and Jews in Eastern Europe.

During his life time, Szajkowski stole numerous documents related to Jewish history from French archives and sold them to libraries in the United States as detailed by Dr. Lisa Leff in "The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust" (2015, OUP).

Acquisition information:

Collection: Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--1950.

Collection: Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--1958.

Custodial history:

In January 1982 Stephen D. Corrsin, then curator of the Bakhmeteff Archive add the Parti Communiste Français, Section Juive materials to the Szajkowski collection. He wrote in his note: "Even though we bought the French materials from a dealer named Frydman in 1958, all the items are stamped 'Z. Szajkowski' (in Yiddish), fell into his subject area, so it seems reasonable to do this." What Corrsin didn't know at the time was that Frydman and Szajkowski were the same person.

Processing information:

Collection Accessioned 1950.

Collection Accessioned 1958.

Collection Processed 07/--/81.

Collection Processed 01/--/82.

This collection was processed in 2022 by Katia Davidenko, with assistance of Sandra Chiritescu, GSAS '21 and Daniela Goodman Rabner, Barnard College '22. The processing of this collection was made possible by the Norman E. Alexander Fund for Jewish Studies. Finding aid written by Katia Davidenko.

Rules or conventions:

aapm

Related material:

Political Printed Ephemera, 1875-1922

Access and use

Restrictions:: This collection is located on-site.
Terms of access:: Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred citation:: Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Zosa Szajkowski Collection; Box and Folder; Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Location of this collection:: Rare Book & Manuscript Library

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Collection