Zemach Shabad
Zemach Shabad was a Jewish medical doctor and social and political activist. He was a member of the Senate (parliament) of the Second Polish Republic and a co-founder and vice-president of the YIVO.
In 1932, Shabad toured to Palestine with Dr. Abel Lapin from Kaunas. During his trip, Shabad hosted by the Health Committee of the Knesset and the Jerusalem Medical Association.
He was one of the originators of the volkist movement, which eventually turned into the Folkspartei. Following the October Revolution, Shabad lent a room in his residence to Belarusian General [Jewish Labour Bund|Bundist] Paul Novick, who came to take over as editor of the Bundist newspaper Undzer shtime (Our Voice) for Max Weinreich, who was elected to the governing body of the city's Jewish community. All three men were forced to take refuge in Shabad's home during the Vilna pogrom in 1919.
In the late 1930s a monument on the outskirts of Vilnius was erected in Shabad's honor; it was destroyed during WWII. In 2007 he was honoured with another monument in Vilnius, reflecting the fact that he was the prototype of "Doctor Aybolit", a good doctor from a children's poem by Korney Chukovsky.
Family
- Regina, Mrs. Max Weinreich, daughter
- Jacob Shabad, son
- Josif Shabad, son
- Uriel Weinreich, grandson, an American linguist
- Gabriel Weinreich, grandson, expert in musical acoustics