Lewin, Gershon

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LEWIN, GERSHON

LEWIN, GERSHON (1868–1939), physician and publicist in Yiddish and Hebrew. Son of a Lublin ḥazzan, Lewin graduated from the faculty of medicine of Warsaw University. In 1891 he joined the group around the writer I.L. *Peretz and, encouraged by the latter, was active in propagating popular Jewish culture among the assimilationists. He contributed to the newspaper Haynt, and published articles in Ha-Ẓefirah and Ha-Ẓofeh. Settling in Warsaw in 1895, he participated in Jewish public life and was a member of the executive committees of Ha-Zamir, the Yidishe Kultur-Gezelshaft, and the Jewish health organization *toz (Towarzystwo Ochrony Zdrowia). His published works include recollections of I.L. Peretz (1919); In Velt Krig (1923), his memoirs as a medical officer in World War i; In di Alte Gute Tsaytn (1925), memories of his youth; his reminiscences of Shalom Aleichem (1926); Iberlebenishr, Epizodn un Ayndrukn fun Rusish-Yapanishn Krig (1931), memoirs of a physician; and Dos Bukh fun Mayn Lebn (1937).

bibliography:

J. Glatstein, In Tokh Genumen, 1 (1947), 213–23; J. Shatzky, Geshikhte fun Yidn in Varshe, 3 (1953), 275; lnyl, 5 (1963), 267–8.

[Arthur Cygielman]