[Xmca-l] Re: FW: Fyi

Thu Jun 21 20:49:05 PDT 2018

Thanks Mike, I’d love to claim a connection in blood, but it’s hard to say. My grandparents left with what they could carry and only memories of a few old relatives helped me piece together a sketchy genealogy awhile back. The best I could come up with was my father’s grandparents; nobody could trace anything deeper or wider than that.

       Jacob Azaroff b.Gomel, Byelorussia
                                              m.Rose Rosen b.Gomel, Byelorussia, d.US

                                                        Salman Smagorinsky
                                                        married his cousin
                                                        Rachel Smagorinsky
                                                                +

And Smagorinsky is probably an Ellis Island corruption; I’ve come across people with slightly different spellings, likely related. The original family home was Smorgonie, which I looked up long ago to find the following, only for those with time on their hands:

The Smagorinsky family presumably originated in the town of Smorgonie (also Smorgon, Smorgonie, Smargon) in Byelorussia. It is a very small town (1931 population: 4,090; 1959 population: 6,500) about 40 miles southeast of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania; it lies between Vilnius and Minsk. It is in the central Molodechno oblast near the Viliya River in the Wilno District in Oszmiana County.  In the Sixteenth Century it was owned by the wealthy Lithuanian Despot Zenowicz, and was later the private town of Prince Radziwill's family.  It is now an agricultural processing
center, producing linen, wool, hides and hops. The dairy industry
and sawmilling and brick manufacturing are the other primary
industries. The town still has the ruins of a 16th century church.
Smorgonie passed from Poland to Russia in 1793, was reverted to
Poland in 1921, and was finally ceded to the USSR in 1945. It was
occasionally used as a stopping place for troops passing between
Russia and Poland, and during World War I, just after the
Smagorinskys had emigrated to America, heavy struggles took place
in the vicinity between Russian and German troops.
              Smorgonie is typical of cities in West European USSR. The
population before the time of Hitler was nearly half Jewish.
Though obscure, it has its place in history: On December 5, 1812,
Napoleon, while retreating from Moscow, stopped in Smorgonie to
dispatch a bulletin to Paris reporting on his success in Moscow
but ultimate submission to the bitter Russian elements. He meant
to reassure his fellow French that he was indeed alive and well,
and in control of the French government, just as others at home
were plotting to depose him. That evening, to stop the
insurrection at home, he left his army in Smorgonie under the
authority of King Murat and went to Paris.
              Commoners in the town baked famous cakes and biscuits which were sold at fairs and bakeries. These came to be known throughout eastern Europe as "smorgoni."
              Smorgonie is also famous for its dancing chickens and trained bears.  In the small provincial towns of eastern Europe, a major source of entertainment is the traveling circuses. One of their featured attractions was dancing chickens, all of which were
trained in Smorgonie. The chickens were trained by putting them in
a confining cage, placing the cage on a hot stove, and playing a
lively tune with whatever instrument was handy. Conditioned
thusly, they would hop and dance about in the circuses when cued
by the playing of an appropriate tune.
              Smorgonians also grew and tamed bears which they featured in shows as they toured all of Europe. Hence the famous sayings,
according to a Polish encyclopedia, "Smorgonian academy,"
"Smorgonian Academician" (for a graduate), "Smorgonian rascal,"
and other such appellations.
              The Smagorinsky family originated in Smorgonie, but moved to other parts of Byelorussia. The cities they settled in were Minsk and Gomel.

From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> On Behalf Of mike cole
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2018 12:07 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: FW: Fyi

That is a pretty small gene pool there in Gomel, Peter. You should go on Ancestry
to see check out the Jewish population at the time, Peter. Maybe you and LSV come from the same extended family! In fact, quite seriously an historical study of the families of the LSV generation and Davydov/Zinchenko/Ilyenkov/Akhutina...  generation would be of real interest. We are reading The Government House here at home; that building was located only a few blocks the Luria household, very close
to the Kremlin. The name Luria shows up in the book. I am finding it very enlightening
about the social historical context of the first generation of cultural-historical, non-classical, psychology.

We are living in a very different world. But eerily the same as the year I was born.

mike

On Thu, Jun 21, 2018 at 1:25 PM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu<mailto:smago@uga.edu>> wrote:
I also do some admittedly speculative dot-connecting on Vygotsky’s Jewish heritage in this article, but I later read Van der Veer’s better informed account, and the two jibe well. (I forget which RVdV, there’s a lot).

Smagorinsky, P. (2012). Vygotsky, "defectology," and the inclusion of people of difference in the broader cultural stream. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 8(1), 1-25. Available at http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Vygotsky-and-Defectology.pdf

From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>> On Behalf Of David Preiss
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2018 9:13 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: FW: Fyi

Many thanks, David and Peter!

On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 2:23 PM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu<mailto:smago@uga.edu>> wrote:

Attached. p
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>> On Behalf Of David H Kirshner
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2018 7:19 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: FW: Fyi

Here’s another reference from Bella and Theodore:

Kotik-Friedgut, B., & Friedgut, T. H. (2008). A man of his country and his time: Jewish influences on Lev Semionovich Vygotsky’s world view. History of Psychology, 11(1), 15-39.

David

From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>> On Behalf Of David Preiss
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2018 10:22 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: FW: Fyi

Many thanks for sharing this, Peter. I have always been curious about LSV jewish heritage and did not know of many sources available. (My father was born in Russia  and his parent are Jews from Poland and Austria, holocaust survivors...)

On Sun, Apr 15, 2018 at 12:41 PM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu<mailto:smago@uga.edu>> wrote:
Another interesting paper by Rene and colleague on LSV's Jewish heritage, something I've been fascinated by for several years (my grandparents were Jews from Gomel, came to the US in 1913 and 1916 to escape pogroms; my dad had 2 brothers born there, he and a brother were born in New York).

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