Israel Zinberg Explained

Israel Zinberg (also known as Yisroel Tsinberg; born Sergei Lazarevich Tsinberg) (1873-1939) was a Russian-Jewish chemist and a historian of Jewish literature born in Rivne.^{[1] [2]} His works are considered significant in European Jewish Yiddish scholarship. Alumnus of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,^[3] Zinberg was not a professional historian by background or training, but worked as a chemical engineer in Petrograd and pursued literary history as an "avocation."^[4] He was a member of the St. Petersburg school of Jewish scholars along with Simon Dubnow.^[1] He drew on the works of Moritz Steinschneider and Ber Borokhov as well as Solomon Birnbaum, Maks Erik, and Max Weinreich.^[5]

In 1938, NKVD arrested Zinberg for Anti-Soviet agitation (Article 58 of the RSFSR Penal Code).^[6] The same year, he died in Vladivostok.^[7]

Publications

• Book: Zinberg, Israel . A History of Jewish Literature . 1973 . Press of Case Western Reserve University . 978-0-8295-0241-1 . en. (multiple volumes)

Notes and References

1. Wischnitzer . Mark . 1943 . Sergey (Israel) Zinberg (1873-1943) . Jewish Social Studies . 5 . 4 . 411–413 . 4464552 . 0021-6704.
2. Web site: YIVO Tsinberg, Yisroel . 2023-12-25 . yivoencyclopedia.org.
3. Book: Российский сионизм: история и культура : материалы научной конференции . 2002 . Еврейское агентство в России . 978-5-8064-0637-9 . 166 . ru.
4. Martin . Bernard . 1975 . Israel Zinberg and His Geshikhte Fun Der Literatur Bay Yidn . Hebrew Abstracts . 16 . 19–23 . 27908133 . 0438-895X.
5. Frakes . Jerold C. . 1990 . Review of Jiddische Sprachgeschichte: Versuch einer neuen Grundlegung . The German Quarterly . 63 . 2 . 288–289 . 10.2307/406353 . 406353 . 0016-8831.
6. Book: Элиасберг, Галина . --Один из прежнего Петербурга: С.Л. Цинберг--историк евреиской литературы, критик и публицист . 2005 . Российский гос. гуманитарный университет . 978-5-7281-0844-3 . 140 . ru.
7. Book: Васильков, Я. В. . Люди и судьбы: биобиблиографический словарь востоковедов--жертв политического террора в советский период (1917-1991) . 2003 . Петербургское Востоковедение . 978-5-85803-225-0 . 404 . ru.