Memoirs of a Pioneering Hebrew Educator: a vanished European heritage and new frontiers in Africa

This talk will trace the extraordinary life and times of Lithuanian born Alexander Levin, through his 1954 autobiography as a pioneering Hebrew educator across Eastern Europe at the turn of last century and through the inter-war years. Mervyn will share Alexander’s eyewitness experiences, both of severe discrimination and the delights of now vanished Jewish life and identity, across Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The fascinating memoir achieved a wider audience when translated into English only 5 years ago. The family emigrated to South Africa in 1928 where Alexander became the founding Principal of the first Jewish day school in South Africa. Mervyn recently travelled to Lithuania to retrace Alexander’s footsteps and will share his experiences. The learnings have relevance today, both in the context of the Holocaust and current geopolitical conflict in the Region.

Mervyn Levin is Alexander’s South African born grandson. He has a first-class Honours degree in Political Science from the University of Cape Town. Like his grandfather who escaped military service from Lithuania to Ukraine, Mervyn became a refugee in the UK, also by avoiding conscription, at the height of the apartheid era. His international career spans policy, commercial and research areas, initially for Reuters and subsequently in policy positions as the UK Government’s first head of Digital Content policy. He has done business in over 40 countries and now lives in Bristol. Remaining active today, he is also an Honorary Research Fellow in Digital Humanities at University of Sheffield.