There has long been an ideal that if there was a common language that all spoke, it would go a long way toward different people solving disputes. Already as a schoolboy L. L. Zamenhof developed what he hoped could be an international language based on his native Yiddish but with a Latin script. He promoted his idea under the pseudonym Dr. Esperanto, which is Russian for doctor who hopes. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
It is a little surprising that Brazil decided to honor Dr. Zamenhof with a stamp. The practice of Esperanto in Brazil is centered around an off chute of Catholics called spiritism. This is a little off track from the task of improving the situation of Jewish minorities in eastern Europe. A stamp honoring Esperanto in the Brazil context might be better served by a spiritist such as Chico Xavier.
Todays stamp is issue A434, a 6.5 Cruzeiro stamp isued by Brazil on March 10th, 1960. It was a single stamp issue that came out a year late to properly celebrate the birth century of Dr. Zamenhof. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents unused.
Levi Zamenhoff was born in a mainly Jewish city in what was then Russia but is now eastern Poland. In his town were also Russians, Poles, Germans, and Lithuanians that all spoke different languages. Levi saw how many petty disputes escalated because people couldn’t communicate. Levi already as a school boy was a ready scholar of languages and thought he could solve it by making a simplified Yiddish but with a Latin script could be taught to all. This of course would be advantageous to Jews who were usually a minority but were well represented among merchants and professionals who deal with all. They couldn’t be all expected to learn the multiple native tongues. It also, he believed, fit with his pacifist politics. Amazingly, Levi finished his proposal for a common language at age 17.
Levi being too young to get his work published studied to become an eye doctor. He practiced his profession in Lithuania, Austria, and Russia and that reminded him of the common language need. When he married a well off girl named Wanda, Levi was able to convince his new father in law to back the publishing and promotion of his common language. He published under the pseudonym Dr. Esperanto that was quickly taken up as the name for the language. The language quickly found favor with utopian pacifist worldwide that had more than their share of Yiddish speakers. This fit with Levi'[s political views. He even rebelled against Zionism as he believed nationalism was a disease to be avoided even among oppressed minorities.
One might have expected the language of Esperanto to thrive among international political movements that so dominated the 20th century such as Communism and Fascism. Instead Nazi era Germany banned the teaching of Esperanto despite the many linguistic connections of German and Yiddish. In fact the Nazis executed Levi’s Warsaw based eye doctor son Adam during the Palmiri massacre of prominent Jews and Poles. Soviet leader Stalin decreed a more complete banning of Esperanto declaring it the language of spies and traitors.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Levi Zamenhof and all those who did their best work in high school. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.