Shmuel Lehman

Shmuel Lehman (1886–1941, , ) was a prolific Polish Jewish folklorist and writer active in the first half of the twentieth century. He collected folk songs, proverbs and other cultural works from Yiddish-speaking Jews in Poland and neighboring countries. He was particularly interested in collecting from marginal figures such as sex workers, thieves and poor villagers. He died in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941.

Biography Lehman was born into a Hasidic family in Warsaw, Congress Poland on 22 October 1886. His parents died when he was four years old, and he was raised by his wealthy uncle who sent him to receive a traditional Jewish education. By 1910 he started to travel around rural areas in Poland and Ukraine, researching and collecting materials among Yiddish-speaking Jews. By the summer of 1941, reports reached the international press that he had fallen ill. He died of the illness—possibly cancer—in October 1941, and his folklore materials were destroyed or lost.