Jacob Lestschinsky

Jakob Lestschinsky (also Jacob Lestschinsky, Yankev Leshtshinski, Yankev Leshchinski, Hebrew: יעקב לשצ'ינסקי; August 26, 1876 – March 22, 1966) was a Ukrainian-born Jewish statistician and sociologist. He specialized in Jewish demography and economic history, and wrote in Yiddish, German, and English. During the February Revolution in Russia he helped found the United Jewish Socialist Workers Party and served on the editorial board of Naye tsayt, its official journal. During the war he lived in New York City, and worked with the Institute of Jewish Affairs of the World Jewish Congress. Born near Kyiv, he received a traditional Jewish education. As a teenager, he was deeply moved by Hebrew writer Ahad Ha'am. After university study in Switzerland for a decade, he returned to Russia in 1913. He was involved in various Zionist and socialist political activities, such as the Zionist Socialist Workers Party. After being imprisoned in the aftermath of the October Revolution, he left Russia in 1921 for Berlin. There he was a correspondent for the New York Yiddish daily Forverts, a role he continued for more than 40 years.