16 Facts About Meir Balaban

Meir Balaban received a traditional education at home and traditional Jewish schooling in a cheder.

Meir Balaban studied law, philosophy and history at Lviv University.

Meir Balaban then won a high ministry scholarship, and departed for a long scientific trip to Poznan, Berlin and Gdansk.

Meir Balaban stayed for several months in Krakow collecting materials for the second volume of the history of Krakow Jews.

Meir Balaban taught in different schools in the Lviv region and Lviv combining studying with teaching and research.

Meir Balaban spent the first year of World War I in Vienna teaching at the gymnasium for Galician refugees.

Together with Ozjasz Thon and Dr Moses Schorr, Meir Balaban was one of the founders of the Institute of Jewish Sciences in Warsaw.

Meir Balaban had published "The history of Jews in Galicia" in 1916.

Since 1903 Meir Balaban led the review of the bibliography of the history of Jews in Poland in the Polish historical magazine "Kwartalnik historyczny".

Meir Balaban died in the Warsaw Ghetto on 26 December 1942.

Meir Balaban was the first outstanding historian of Polish Jewry and he is fairly considered as the founder of the historiography of Polish Jews.

Meir Balaban wrote a detailed article about the Vaad of four lands for the 11th volume of "History of Jewish people".

Meir Balaban's researches written in Hebrew on the history of movements of Shabatai Zwi and Jakob Frank are especially important to note.

Some articles became the preparation for the mentioned already Meir Balaban's work entitled "Zydzi Lwowscy na przelomie XVI i XVII wieku".

Meir Balaban was awarded the first premium of Ipolit Wawelberg for this work.

Meir Balaban used rich archival data of the Archive of Bernardines in Lviv as well as of the Lviv City Archive and the Archive of Jewish Community in Lviv.