Hatred and Prejudice Due To Lack of One Common Language

Some of you might have heard about L. L. Zamenhof. Ludwig Lazarus (Louis Lazare) Zamenhof was born on December 15, 1859 in the town of Bialystok in Poland. He considered his native language to be his father's Russian, but also spoke his mother's Yiddish natively. He also spoke that language fluently, though not as comfortably as Yiddish. Later he learned French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and English, and had an interest in Italian, Spanish and Lithuanian. As he grew older, he spoke more Polish, and that became the native language of his children. Zamenhof believed that the real reason for hatred and prejudice around the world lay in mutual misunderstanding, caused by the lack of one common language.  Thus, he created what he felt would be an international auxiliary language, Esperanto, and  he  strongly believed that it would be the way of promoting the peaceful coexistence of different peoples and cultures which could bring about peace.

Familio Zamenhof: Ludoviko, Klara kaj iliaj gefiloj: Adamo (nask.1888), Sofia (1889), Lidia (1904)Zamenhof and his wife Klara had three children, one son Adam, and two daughters, Sofia and Lidia. Lidia, who was the youngest, became an active promoter of Esperanto.  Her life and actions as a Bahá'í of Jewish background and as a promoter and user of Esperanto and translator of many Bahá'í writings into that language make her a significant figure in the history of the European and American Bahá'í including Esperanto movements in the 1920s and 30s.

Miss Agnes B. Alexander (Hand of the Cause, 1875-197) and Miss Martha Root with Esperantists in Peking in 1923 - When Miss Alexander was in Korea in 1921 she met a young Chinese man who moved to Tokyo and asked Miss Alexander if she would teach Esperanto conversation to a group of Chinese students. She happily did so. Their text book was in Japanese, which they could not understand, so one of the students, Mr. H.C. Waung, acted as interpreter.Dr. Zamenhof died at the age of 58 in Warsaw on April 14, 1917. Lidia was determined to follow her father’s footsteps who she loved so much. In August 1925, Lidia attended the Universal Esperanto Congress in Geneva, where, 19 years earlier, her father had spoken of the programs against the Jews in his own home town and had urged the Esperantists to show forth the light of mutual understanding and friendship.  

Lidia ZamenhofGeneva, Switzerland was at the heart of all international hopes -for peace, for justice and for education in all the meanings of the words. Martha Root, a noted international journalist who traveled from Brooklyn, New York to Geneva explained that the Red Cross was started in Switzerland and said that Geneva was a very scholastic city.  Martha felt there was a great mystery for her being there as an International Journalist & Lecturer as well as a Bahá'i  Esperantist;  wondering if she should be spending so much time studying Esperanto, she decided that she would master this international auxiliary language and would put it to good use while traveling in Europe. She hoped to be fluent in Esperanto by the time the Congress opened in August. It was the17th Universal Esperanto Congress, with eight hundred delegates -Martha Root and Julia Culver representing the Bahá'i Faith- and several thousand Esperantists filling Victoria Hall.  Zamenhof’s two daughter’s Sofia and Lidia were present at the second session. Sofia read what her father had said about the need for a universal auxiliary language.
   
Martha Louise Root (1872 – 1939)In August 1926, Lidia and Martha meet again at the 18th Universal Esperanto Congress in Edimbourg (Edinburgh, capital city of Scotland). They both enjoyed each other's company and Martha felt that as a Bahá'i she had been guided to Lidia who had been raised in a universalistic and largely secularized atmosphere and who was at first skeptical about this new Faith. But Martha's prayers and patient personality eventually had their effect on Lidia, and after the two had lived together for a number of months (Lidia to help Martha improve her Esperanto and Martha to help Lidia improve her English), Lidia began to see the Bahá'í model of progressive revelation and God's own universality as the extension and fulfillment of her own beliefs and identity. She became "profoundly convinced" that "Esperanto was created directly under the influence of Bahá'u'lláh, (the Founder of the Baha’i Faith) although the author of the language did not know it." (Source: Lidia, p. 71.)     

Ludwig Lazarus (Louis Lazare) ZamenhofAfter becoming a Bahá'í, in 1926, Lidia of course encountered the disapproval of some members of her own family and many Esperantists who wanted to keep any affiliation with religious views separate. She also encountered the skepticism of some Bahá'ís about Esperanto. Lidia faced difficulties with her own spiritual life bringing her to depression due to her sensitivity, shyness and ideals mixed with the darkness of the world surrounding her as she continued being exposed to religious hatred and racism during that time of her life. She translated many Bahá'í writings into Esperanto (most of which unfortunately still remain unpublished). In 1930 Lidia published the book "Baha’u’llah and the new Era" in Esperanto. She worked also on “Paris Talks” and many other books.

Lidia Zamenhof (1904–1942)In September 1932, Lidia who was only 28 years old became a confirmed Esperantist traveler teacher and an independent woman following her own mind. As intolerance toward Esperanto grew in France Lidia received an invitation from a group of Esperantists from Lyon. Thru the efforts of Esperantists, Emile and Marie Borel, and after a cold and difficult trip through the North of Europe, Lidia arrived in Lyon with the flu.  On January 20, 1933 she offered her first lessons at the University of Lyon with about 400 hundred people in attendance. It was a real success.

In August 1935 at the 27th Esperanto Congress in Rome, Italy, for the first time a Bahá'í talk was offered on the program and presented by Lidia who spoke about the nature of man, the existence of God and his relation with his creatures, immortality of the spirit, free desire and destiny and the meaning of suffering.

"Mummy, why are all those people climbing instead of using the road?" "Oh, they all have their reasons, dear. Some don't know there is a road ; some won't use it because roads are artificial ; and some have plenty of time." - USE THE HIGHWAY! Learn Esperanto now.In 1937, Lidia was invited to visit New York City by the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and she described her visit for the most part as successful for both the Bahá'í Faith and Esperanto movements, but within a year the question of her status arose, and the Immigration Service denied a request for an extension of stay because she was trading Esperanto lessons for room and board including food which were her only way to provide the service of teaching. Efforts to reverse the decision of the Immigration Service produced only a small extension, and in December 1938, Lidia sailed back to Poland.

During 1938 the news coming from Europe had never been so alarming. The discrimination, the boycott and the violence against Jews grew all over Europe, not just Germany and Poland. One American Jewish leader said: "We are back to the Middle Age." During August 1942, the Zamenhofs were arrested at the «Umschlagplatz», and although they managed to escape for a while, they were ultimately captured.  When the family was arrested, Lidia had the opportunity to remain free because she was now a Bahá'í and not considered a Jewess but her love for her family was so great and in desperation to remain with them, she shared the same tragic ending in the Warsaw Ghetto and died at the Nazi extermination camp at Treblinka some time after the summer of 1942.

The story of Lidia Zamenhoff has been very well researched in a book by Wendy Heller, published by George Ronald (Lidia: The Life of Lidia Zamenhof, Daughter of Esperanto.)  (Source: Notes on the life of Lidia Zamenhof from John Dale--www.baha’i.)