Dr.Emanuel Olsvanger, a veteran Zionist and one of Israel’s leading men of letters, died here today at the age of 72. An authority on languages and Jewish folklore, he was one of the leading proponents of Esperanto, the international language.
Born in Grayevo, Poland, Dr. Olsvanger settled in Palestine in 1930, when he joined the staff of the Keren Hayesod. He was the recipient of the coveted Tchernichovsky Prize in 1946 for his translation into Hebrew of Dante’s “Inferno, ” and of numerous citations from the Esperanto League. Among his other works are volumes on Jewish folklore, and humor, as well as translations into Hebrew of The Decameron and the Divine Comedy.
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