Teacher, member of the Oneg Shabbat group, author of a diary from the Warsaw Ghetto.
Abraham Lewin was born in Warsaw in 1893 into an Orthodox Jewish family. He lost his father very early, forcing him to support his mother and three sisters despite his young age. In 1916, he obtained a position teaching Hebrew and Judaic studies at the private Yehudija Girls' Gymnasium at 55 Długa Street in Warsaw. There, he met Emanuel Ringelblum and his future wife, Luba Hotner. During the interwar period, he was an active member of pioneering Zionist organizations associated with so-called liberal Zionism (a branch of Zionism identifying with the European Jewish middle class).
During the war, he lived in Warsaw, working for the Jewish Social Self-Help, where he headed the youth committee. With his wife, Luba, he also taught at the underground classes at his alma mater, Yehudija High School. Later, he worked in the workshop belonging to the Ostdeutsche Bautichlerei Werkstette (known as the OBW workshop) carpentry factory at 30 Gęsia Street. In January 1942, he became a member of the underground organization "Oneg Shabbat," where, under the pseudonym "Nowolipie," he worked as a copyist of archived documents. He also provided the Archive with interviews with refugees reaching the ghetto.
The most important document donated by Lewin to the Archives was his diary, covering the period from March 26, 1942, to January 16, 1943. The exact date and circumstances of Abraham Lewin's death are unknown. The diary entries cease with the concealment of Part II of the Ringleblum Archive.
Abraham Lewin | Jewish Historical Institute
