Biographical Reminiscences

The interview focuses on Ran Leyzer's work about Yiddish language and literature. Ran Leyzer is a renowned public figure in Vilna; he was the leader of the Tzofim Jewish Scouts Organization “Di Bin” (The Bee) Jewish Movement in the period between WWI and WWII. At the end of the 30's and during the WWII he stayed in the Soviet Union, he was sometimes in good terms with the establishment and sometimes he was politically and personally disappointed. The title of one of his many and important publications is “Kraten Farband” .(words game that means “Union of the bars”, in allusion to the jails of that country) After WWII he lived many years in South America and, at the end of his life he stayed in New York. There he expanded his library, his art and photography collections, valuable documents and manuscripts he collected and most of them published. From his most important and impressive publications must be mentioned: “Jerusalem of Lithuania” - Ilustrated and Documented by Leyzer Ran, Volumes 3, New York 1974. The interview that comprehends this variety of issues was carried on in July 1988, in the interviewee's library in Jackson Heights, New York, where it seemed to be a fantastic amount of books, anthologies, newspapers, biographies, and “The Yiddish language” (daily idioms from Vilna), everything scientifically ordered as by a dedicated librarian and who knows everything.