Levin-Shatzkes, Yiẓḥak
LEVIN-SHATZKES, YIẒḤAK
LEVIN-SHATZKES, YIẒḤAK (1892–1963), socialist leader. Born in Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Levin-Shatzkes joined the (illegal) Dvinsk branch of the *Bund in 1912. After Latvia became an independent state, he was elected a member of the Bund central committee, served on the Dvinsk city council (1922–34), and was secretary of the Jewish community council and chairman of the professional societies in Latgale province. By 1913 he had begun contributing articles to Russian-language periodicals appearing in Dvinsk; in 1921 he turned to Yiddish and became a contributor to Riga Yiddish dailies Dos Folk and Frimorgen and to periodicals published by the Bund. He was also the editor of Latgalskaya Mysl, a Russian-language weekly appearing in Dvinsk. After the May 1934 coup in Latvia, he was arrested, but was soon released. He settled in New York in 1936 and two years later became secretary of the *Jewish Socialist Verband of America and editor of Der Veker, the Farband organ. He contributed to various Yiddish periodicals published in New York and was active in a number of Jewish organizations and institutions.
bibliography:
Yahadut Latvia (1953), index; lnyl, 5 (1963), 281–2.
[Joseph Gar]