Kalmi Baruh


Kalmi Baruh was a Bosnian scholar in the field of Ladino, pioneer of the Sephardic studies and Hispanic studies in former Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Life and activities

Kalmi Baruh was born in December 1896 in Sarajevo, in one of the oldest Sephardic families in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He attended elementary school in the town of Višegrad and graduated from high school in Sarajevo. Baruh's academic studies and his PhD thesis Der Lautstand des Judenspanischen in Bosnien were at Vienna University.
He worked as a teacher at the First Sarajevan Gymnasium. He was the only Balkan Peninsula scholarship recipient from the Spanish Government for post-doctoral studies in the Spanish Center for Historical Studies in Madrid. For a long period of years, he worked together with several Yugoslav and Europe magazines in the field of linguistics and literature, such as: Srpski književni glasnik and Misao, both from Belgrade, Revista de filología Española. He collaborated with the Gajret, the Institute for Balkan Studies the University of Belgrade and the Royal Spanish Academy. He translated from Spanish to Serbo-Croatian .
Baruh presented some of the lesser-known Spanish literature in Yugoslavia and reviewed it. He also published linguistic comparative studies, school books and scientific works on philology reviews, especially in Romance languages. He collected, annotated and explored Judeo-Spanish linguistic forms and romances throughout Bosnia, Priština and Skopje. Baruh was one of the pillars of the Sarajevan progressive magazine Pregled, and a competent basis for the congregational magazines Jevrejski život and Jevrejski glas, as well as for the cultural-educational society La Benevolencija. He cooperated with Ernesto Giménez Caballero, Ivo Andrić, Isidora Sekulić, Žak Konfino, Stanislav Vinaver, Jovan Kršić, Moric Levi, Laura Papo Bohoreta and others.
Baruh spoke ten languages; he wrote his works primarily in Serbo-Croatian, in Ladino, Spanish, French and German.
During the 1930s he was an eminent, left-oriented Yugoslav intellectual. Baruh gave special attention to the pupils of poor social background, workers' education, religious tolerance and fought against antisemitism. He propagated unreserved support for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.
He died in the Nazi concentration camp called Bergen-Belsen.

Works

Most popular works

  • Španske romanse bosanskih Jevreja ;
  • El Judeo-Español de Bosnia;
  • Jevreji na Balkanu i njihov jezik ;
  • Španija u doba Majmonidesovo ;
  • Španija Filipa II ;
  • Španija u književnosti jedne generacije ;
  • Miguel de Unamuno;
  • Islamski izvori Danteove Božanske komedije.

    Separate editions of selected Kalmi Baruh's works

  • Eseji i članci iz španske književnosti, Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1956;
  • Izabrana djela, Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1972;
  • Selected Works on Sephardic and Other Jewish Topics, Shefer Publishers, Jerusalem, Israel, 2005, and 2007.