S. J. Goldsmith

S. J. Goldsmith
Born18 April 1910
Jonava, Lithuania
Died18 January 1995
OccupationJournalist, author, editor
LanguageHebrew, English, Yiddish
Alma materVytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
SpouseSonia Minsky
ChildrenTessa Rajak

S. J. Goldsmith (Hebrew: שמואל יוסף גולדשמידט; born Shmuel Yosef Goldshmidt; 18 April 1910[a] – 18 January 1995), also known as Sam Goldsmith, was a journalist, author, and editor of Lithuanian Jewish heritage in the European Jewish press and English press.

Early life and education

Goldsmith was born in Jonava, Lithuania on April 18, 1910[1] He graduated from the Hebrew high school ('Schwabes') in Kaunas and from the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas.[1]

His early career was in the Jewish press of Eastern Europe, writing for the daily Yiddishe Shtimme (The Jewish Voice). From 1934 to 1939 he wrote for Hayntike Nayes (Today's News), the paper's evening edition, becoming its editor in 1933.[1] He relocated to London in 1939.[1]

In England

From 1939, he reported and wrote op-eds for the Hebrew daily newspaper HaBoker in Tel Aviv, and for the British Sunday paper Reynold's News. As a British war correspondent he was the first journalist to enter the Bergen-Belsen camp after liberation and among the first in Dachau. He covered the Belsen Trial in Lüneburg (1945) and the Nuremberg Trials (1945-6) as a British war-correspondent.

Between 1958 and 1975 he served as European editor for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.[1] He was a prolific freelance contributor to various newspapers and journals, in several languages. During 1975–82, he wrote features for The Times, introducing aspects of Jewish ideas, culture, and politics to the British public. Among the causes he promoted were Hebrew language education in the Diaspora with the fostering of bilingualism, the rights of Soviet Jewry (during the eighties).

He was a founding member and chairman of the London branch of the World Hebrew Union. He was also well-known as an expert in its classic Yiddish language and literature. He was one of the speakers at the fifth European Conference on Yiddish culture which took place in London in 1966.[2]

Bibliography

Books

Goldsmith published books in both English and Hebrew, including five collections of essays. His works include:

  • Twenty 20th Century Jews. Shengold Publishers. 1962. Library of Congress catalogue no 62-21943[3]
  • חצי מיליון יהודים בערפל: יהודי בריטניה [Half a Million Jews in the Fog: The Jews of Great Britain] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: World Jewish Congress Yiddish Committee. 1963.
  • Jews in Transition. Wentworth Book Company. 1969. ISBN 978-0901418005.
  • In the Passage of Time. Culmus Publishing. 1978.
  • Goldsmith, Samuel Joseph (1984). The Slaughter of Sacred Cows. London. ISBN 978-0946999002.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • The Edge of the Conflagration: Essays in Disapproval. Janus. 1992. ISBN 978-1857560268.

As editor

  • Goldsmith, S.J., ed. (1978). Joseph Leftwich at eighty-five: A collective evaluation. World Jewish Congress Yiddish committee.

Personal life

He married Sonia Minsky, economist and teacher, in Kaunas in 1939, and they have one daughter, the British ancient historian, Professor Tessa Rajak.[where?][citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ His obituary in The Times gives his date of birth as 18 April 1910.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e There is no citation here.
  2. ^ "Five-day European Conference on Yiddish Culture Held in London". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 3 February 1966. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  3. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1963: July-December. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. 1965.

Sources