Nahum Gergel

Who was Nahum Gergel?

Nahum Gergel was a Jewish rights activist, humanitarian, sociologist, and author in Yiddish. Nahum Gergel is best known for his thorough statistical studies of anti-Jewish atrocities that took place in Ukraine in 1918-1921.

Gergel received a traditional Jewish education, then studied law in Kiev. In 1914 he graduated from Kiev University and moved to St. Petersburg where he became active politically, as a Jewish rights activist and as a humanitarian. He lived in Russia, Ukraine, and eventually Germany where he emigrated in 1921. Gergel died at the age of 44 of a sudden heart attack, and was buried in the Weissensee cemetery in Berlin in 1931.