Simon Dubnow

Simon Dubnow (alternatively spelled Dubnov; Yiddish: שמעון דובנאָװ, romanized: Shimen Dubnov; Russian: Семён Ма́ркович Ду́бнов, romanized: Semyon Markovich Dubnov, IPA: [sʲɪˈmʲɵn ˈmarkəvʲɪdʑ ˈdubnəf]; 10 September 1860 – 8 December 1941) was a Jewish-Russian historian, writer and activist.

Life and career

In 1860, Simon Dubnow was born Shimon Meyerovich Dubnow (Шимон Меерович Дубнов) to a large poor family in the Belarusian town of Mstsislaw (Mogilev Region). A native Yiddish speaker, he received a traditional Jewish education in a heder and a yeshiva, where Hebrew was regularly spoken. Later Dubnow entered into a kazyonnoye yevreyskoe uchilishche (state Jewish school) where he learned Russian. In the midst of his education, the May Laws eliminated these Jewish institutions, and Dubnow was unable to graduate; Dubnow persevered, independently pursuing his interests in history, philosophy, and linguistics. He was particularly fascinated by Heinrich Graetz and the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement.

In 1880 Dubnow used forged documents to move to St Petersburg, officially off-limits to Jews. Jews were generally restricted to small towns in the Pale of Settlement, unless they had been discharged from the military, were employed as doctors or dentists, or could prove they were 'cantonists', university graduates or merchants belonging to the 1st guild. Here he married Ida Friedlin.

Soon after moving to St. Petersburg Dubnow's publications appeared in the press, including the leading Russian–Jewish magazine Voskhod. In 1890, the Jewish population was expelled from the capital city, and Dubnow too was forced to leave. He settled in Odesa and continued to publish studies of Jewish life and history, coming to be regarded as an authority in these areas.