Zalman Lvovich Amitin-Shapiro

Zalman Lvovich Amitin-Shapiro (1899-1968)

— a Soviet Orientalist, ethnographer, and classic of Kyrgyz scientific bibliography.

Born in Belarus and the son of a rabbi.

He was born in the village of Sosnitsa in the former Chernigov province and received a traditional Jewish education. In 1916, he graduated from the People's University in Moscow and worked as a teacher in Smolensk.

A year later, he moved to Central Asia, where he initially worked in schools and later in universities in Uzbekistan — in Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara. He graduated from the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Tashkent University (SAGU) in 1927, where he served as the chairman of the student scientific circle. In 1937, Amitin-Shapiro moved to Kyrgyzstan and became a professor at the local Pedagogical Institute, beginning to seriously study the history of the Kyrgyz people. Before his arrest, he studied the Central Asian (Bukharan) Jews and was one of the first in world science to undertake the study of the history of Jews in Xinjiang.

In 1938, he was sentenced to 8 years in a forced labor camp, which he fully served, under Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR for Zionism and was accused of "promoting bourgeois-fascist and Trotskyist interpretations." After his release, he taught at SAGU and studied the culture of small nations in Central Asia (in particular, the Dungans), with his main work in the post-war years being historiography and bibliography of Kyrgyz studies.

He authored more than 80 works totaling about 300 printed sheets, of which 60 were published, including 19 monographs addressing various issues of history, culture, religion, ethnography, historiography, and bibliography of both the indigenous ethnic group and national diasporas of Central Asia (Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Roma, Uyghurs, Dungans). Seven works are dedicated to geographical issues. Since 1924, Z. L. Amitin-Shapiro has been a full member of the Geographical Society of the USSR and one of the founders of its Kyrgyz branch in 1947.

He is buried in Bishkek.

According to the memories of Chaim Kapchitz and Yuz (Joseph) Gershtein, Zalman Amitin-Shapiro was well-versed in Yiddish and actively participated in the religious life of the Jews of Frunze, which was practically underground…

Field of scientific interests:

History and ethnography of the peoples of Central Asia; Judaica; historiography, source studies, and methodology of ethnographic science; ethnogeography.

Main scientific achievements:

Author of more than 80 works totaling about 300 printed sheets (of which 60 were published), including 19 monographs addressing various issues of history, culture, religion, ethnography, historiography, and bibliography of the indigenous ethnic group and national diasporas of Central Asia (Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Roma, Uyghurs, Dungans). Author of a series of works dedicated to geographical and bibliographical issues of Kyrgyzstan.

Membership in scientific organizations and unions:

Full member of the Geographical Society of the USSR (since 1924) and one of the founders of its Kyrgyz branch (1947).

Main publications:
• Woman and Wedding Rituals among the Indigenous (Bukharan) Jews of Turkestan // Proceedings of the Turkestan Department of the Russian Geographical Society. 1925. Vol. 17. P. 16—196;
• On Folk Medicine of the Indigenous (“Bukharan”) Jews of Turkestan // Bulletin of the Central Asian State University. 1926. Issue 13. P. 1—16;
• The Legend of the Construction of the First Synagogue in Bukhara // Collection of the Scientific Circle at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the Central Asian State University. 1928. Issue 1. P. 1—3;
• An Outline of the Legal Life of Central Asian Jews. Tashkent, 1931 (reissued — Moscow: Text-Knizhki, 2013);
• Essays on the Socialist Construction of Central Asian Jews. Tashkent, 1933;
• Beliefs and Rituals of Central Asian Jews Related to Motherhood and Early Childhood // Soviet Ethnography. 1933. No. 3/4. P. 135—166;
• National Minorities of Uzbekistan. Tashkent, 1935 (co-authored with I. M. Yuabov);
• On the History of the Study of Dungans // Proceedings of the Institute of Language, Literature, and History of the Kyrgyz Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 1948. Issue 3. P. 97—112;
• Brief Bibliographic Index of Soviet Literature on the History, Archaeology, and Ethnography of Kyrgyzstan // Proceedings of the M. V. Frunze Kyrgyz State Pedagogical Institute. 1948. Vol. 1. Issue 2. P. 107—155;
• On the History of Bibliographic Studies of the Kyrgyz People and Kyrgyzstan // Proceedings of the Przhevalsky Teacher's Institute. 1952. Issue 1. P. 57—76;
• Bibliography of Pre-Revolutionary Russian Literature on the History and Economy of the Issyk-Kul Region (1768—1917) // Ibid. 1953. Issue 2. P. 111—186;
• "Turkestan News" as a Source on the History of Kyrgyzstan // Proceedings of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Kirghiz SSR. 1955. Issue 1. P. 113—124 (co-authored with O. D. Morozov);
• Bibliographic Index of Soviet Literature on the Archaeology of Kyrgyzstan (1918-1954) // Proceedings of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Kirghiz SSR. 1956. Issue 2. P. 109—152;
• Annotated Index on the History, Archaeology, and Ethnography of Kyrgyzstan (1750-1917). Frunze, 1958 (co-authored with A. S. Stakeyeva);
• Bibliography of Publications of the Kyrgyz Research Institute of Pedagogy (1952—1958). Frunze, 1959;
• Bibliography of Kyrgyzstan. Vol. 2, Part 1: Literature on Kyrgyzstan (1925—1936). Annotated Index. Frunze, 1965;
• Bibliography of Kyrgyzstan. Vol. 1: Literature on Kyrgyzstan (1918—1924). Annotated Index. Frunze, 1968.