Born: December 15, 1859 in Bialystok, Russian partition of Poland (presently Poland)
Died: April 14, 1917 in Warsaw, Russian partition of Poland (presently Poland)
Early days. Initially he considered his native language to be his father's, but he also spoke his mother's Yiddish natively; as he grew older, he spoke more Polish, and that became the native language of his children. In a letter to a Th. Thorsteinsson dated March 8,1901 he wrote, Mia gepatra lingvo estas la rusa; sed nun mi parolas pli pole... "My mother tongue is Russian, but now I speak more Polish..." His father was a teacher of German, and he also spoke that language fluently. Later he learned French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian and English. In addition to the Yiddish-speaking Jewish majority, the population of Białystok was made up of three other ethnic groups: Poles, Germans, and Belarusians. Zamenhof was saddened and frustrated by the many quarrels among these groups. He supposed that the main reason for the hate and prejudice lay in mutual misunderstanding, caused by the lack of one common language that would play the role of a neutral communication tool between people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. As a student at secondary school in Warsaw, Zamenhof made attempts to create some kind of international language with a grammar that was very rich, but also very complex. When he later studied English, he decided that the international language must have a simpler grammar. Soon after graduation from school he began to study medicine, first in Moscow, and later in Warsaw.
Linguistic work. By 1878, his project Lingwe uniwersala was almost finished. In 1879, Zamenhof wrote the first grammar of the Yiddish language. In 1885, Zamenhof graduated from a university and began his practice as a doctor in Veisiejai and after 1886 as an ophthalmologist in Płock and Vienna. He also continued to work on his project of an international language. For two years he tried to raise funds to publish a booklet describing the language until he received the financial help from his future wife's father. In 1887, the book titled Lingvo internacia: Antaŭparolo kaj plena lernolibro (International language: Foreword and complete textbook) was published in Russian under the pseudonym "Doktoro Esperanto" (Doctor Hopeful), from which the name of the language derives. For Zamenhof this language, far from being merely a communication tool, was a way of promoting the peaceful coexistence of different people and cultures. In 1914, he politely declined an invitation to join a new organization of Jewish Esperantists, the TEHA. In his letter to the organizers, he said: "I am profoundly convinced that every nationalism offers humanity only the greatest unhappiness... It is true that the nationalism of oppressed peoples -- as a natural self-defensive reaction -- is much more excusable than the nationalism of peoples who oppress; but, if the nationalism of the strong is ignoble, the nationalism of the weak is imprudent; both give birth to and support each other..."
Religious philosophy. Main article: Homaranismo. Besides his linguistic work, Zamenhof published a religious philosophy he called Homaranismo (loosely translated as humanitarianism), based on the principles and teachings of Hillel the Elder.
Personal. Zamenhof and his wife Klara raised three children, a son, Adam, and two daughters, Sofia and Lidia. All three were murdered in the Holocaust.
Honors. Zamenhof was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, by four British Members of Parliament and Professor Stanley Lane Poole. The minor planet (1462) Zamenhof is named in his honor. 1421 Esperanto, another minor planet, similarly named. Also, hundreds of city streets, parks, and bridges worldwide have been named after Zamenhof. There are Zamenhof Hills in Hungary and Brazil, and a Zamenhof Island in the Danube River. Zamenhof is honored as a deity by the Japanese religion Oomoto, which encourages the use of Esperanto among its followers. Also, a genus of lichen has been named Zamenhofia rosei in his honor. His birthday, December 15, is celebrated annually as Zamenhof Day by users of Esperanto. On December 15, 2009, Esperanto's green-starred flag flew on the Google search web page, in a commemorative Google Doodle to mark Zamenhof's 150th birthday. The house of the Zamenhof family, dedicated to Ludwik Zamenhof and the Bialystok Esperanto Centre, are sites of the Jewish Heritage Trail in Bialystok, which was opened in June 2008 by volunteers at The University of Bialystok Foundation
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Encyclopedia Brittanica online
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