SHNEUR LEVENBERG

SHNEUR LEVENBERG (b. June 4, 1907)

            He was born in Kursk, Russia.  In 1920 he moved to Riga, Latvia.  In 1926 he completed middle school in Riga, and in 1933 he graduated from the faculty of law at Riga University.  In his student years he joined the Zionist-socialist workers’ movement and served as chairman (1929-1931) of the student association Hashaḥar (The dawn) in Riga.  Over the years 1932-1934, he was chairman of the central committee of the united party of Young Zionists and Zionist socialists in Latvia.  He lived in Poland (1934-1936), and subsequently made his way to England.  His writing activities began in 1923 for the Russian newspaper Narodnaya mysl’ (People’s thought), and from 1928 he was a regular contributor to the Riga daily newspaper Frimorgn (Morning).  He also published in: Di yidishe shtime (The Jewish voice) in Kovno; In kamf (In the struggle), organ of the Labor Zionists in Poland; and from 1934 Dos vort (The word) in Warsaw (for which he served as editorial secretary, 1935-1936).  He was co-editor of Arbets-folk (Working people), organ of the Young Zionists and Zionist socialists in Latvia and of Dos naye vort (The new word) in Warsaw, and he contributed work to the London-based Di tsayt (The times) and to the Anglo-Jewish The Zionist Review (for which he served as editor, 1941-1946).  Over the years 1946-1951, he was London correspondent for the Hebrew-language daily Davar (Word) in Tel Aviv.  From 1946 he was also a contributor to the Parisian daily newspaper Unzer vort (Our word).  He also wrote for Forverts (Forward) in New York (1949-1951)—and for Tog (Day), Der amerikaner (The American), and Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter) in New York.  He served as co-editor and contributor to the Anglo-Jewish serials: Jewish Vanguard, Jewish Observer, and Jewish Quarterly—all in London.  His books include: British Labour Party on Palestine (London, 1938), 166 pp.; Study on Zionism in British Politics (London, 1943); The Jews and Palestine: A Study in Labour Zionism (London, 1945), 402 pp.; The External Front: A Zionist Survey (London, 1947), 30 pp.  He was a member of the executive of the Jewish World Congress and “Iḥud olami” (World union), a delegate to Histadrut in England, a delegate to Zionist congresses, a member of the action committee of the World Zionist Organization, and from 1949 head of the Zionist Information Bureau in England.  He was also a member of the bureau of the Socialist International.  He served as a delegate to the socialist congresses in Vienna (1951), in Milan (1952), in Stockholm (1953), in Hamburg (1954), and in London (1955).  He was a member of the executive of the British Labour Party and a member of the foreign committee of the Board of Deputies in England.  He was last living in London.

Sources: M. Gerts, 25 yor yidishe prese in letland (25 years of the Yiddish press in Latvia) (Riga, 1933); “Tsayt-report” (Report on the times), Tsayt (London) (July 18, 1949); Yahadut latviya (Judaism in Latvia) (Tel Aviv, 1953), pp. 122, 123, 193; N. Kantorovitsh, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957); Who’s Who in World Jewry (New York, 1925).

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