DR. LUDWIG ZAMENHOF Well-known eye specialist and founder of the international language Esperanto; died in Warsaw in 1917. of his friends in Warsaw, where he later studied, was the forerunner of Esperanto. After graduating from high school, Zamenhof studied medicine. In 1887 he received his M.D. degree and in the same year published his first textbook under the pseudonym “Dr. Esperanto,’ which means “hopeful.” Dr. Zamenhof, who in the meantime practiced ophthalmology in Warsaw, was not satisfied with his first success. He continued to work incessantly toward the widest dissemination of the new international lan- guage, which from year to year won new converts. Yet the creator of Esperanto, like other Jewish inventors, did not live very comfortably. The more honors he received for his linguistic achievements, the fewer patients would appear in his consultation room. There were even times he found himself financially strapped. Only in 1900 did his material status improve. Five years later, he permitted himself a long vacation during which he attended the first world convention of Esperantists, in Belgium. After 1905 Esperanto conventions were conducted annually, each time in a different city. In 1910, a con- vention was held in Washington and tn that same year the State of Maryland adopted Esperanto as one of its officially recognized languages. Several American schools instituted Esperanto as a required language in their curricula. In 1914, some five thousand delegates assembled in Paris at an Esperanto convention, where representatives of most of the nations of the world participated. Dr. Zamenhof died in Warsaw in 1917, ironically when a new era began in the world and many thought mankind came a step closer to his ideal — brotherhood and harmony among nations. The Bialystoker Memorial Book In Zamenhof’s birthplace of Bialystok, Esperanto became a required language in most schools. Not only in his hometown but in the world his life’s work will be remembered by many groups of Esperantists, which still exist today. In 1910, approximately 1,700 Esperanto societies were counted. Many literary works were translated into Espe- ranto, including Shakespeare, Homer’s J/iad and others. A special commission undertook a systematic transla- tion of the Bible into Esperanto, and Dr. Zamenhof himself published a translation of several books of the Old Testament. Innumerable magazines and monographs advo- cated the use of Esperanto, but later, during World War 11, it became impossible to pursue the broader dissemi- nation of Esperanto within the human family. We must redouble our efforts to fulfill the dream of this Bialystoker Jew, Zamenhof. There is no better way to reduce the likelihood of war than to promote mutual understanding and sympathy among all the peo- ples of the world. MORDECHAJ POGORELSKI POGROMS IN THE 19th CENTURY In the spring of 1882, the mood among Jews in Bialy- stok was tense. Rumors of impending pogroms added to the feeling of strain. In the saloons and the market- place, peasants and non-Jewish workers whispered the rumor that the German Kaiser had issued an order per- mitting Jewish property to be robbed. On a Sunday, peasants from the surrounding towns, many in wagons and others on foot carrying empty sacks under their arms, entered the city en masse to pillage Jewish stores. As it turned out, they fared quite poorly. It soon became known that a pogrom was immi- nent. Jewish butchers closed their shops, taking with them knives and meat cleavers, and hurried to the mar- ketplace. The hulking wagon and coach drivers pre- pared themselves with poles and sticks to greet the pogrom attackers. In the afternoon, drunken peasants took to mo- lesting Jews; groups of hooligans threw merchandise from sales booths to the ground. That was the cue for the Jewish butchers and drivers. In less than an hour, the marketplace was emptied of the peasants. The butchers waved their knives, the wagon drivers their poles and the coachmen chased the peasants on their horses. As a result, the Poles fled back to their towns, not only with empty sacks but with wounds from the knives, rods and sticks. The anticipated pogrom in Bialystok in 1882 never occurred. But in the summer of 1905, a military pogrom against the Jews was launched. On a Sabbath after- 15