Zsoldos (formerly Stern), Jenö

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ZSOLDOS (formerly Stern), JENÖ

ZSOLDOS (formerly Stern ), JENÖ (1896–1972), Hungarian literary scholar and philologist. Born in Budapest, Zsoldos fought as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War i. In 1919 he became a teacher and, from 1940 until his retirement in 1965, was headmaster of the Jewish community's girls' high school in Budapest. For a time, he edited the Jewish newspaper Zsidó Szemle and, between 1936 and 1943, was editor of the eminent Jewish literary periodical Libanon. In his research into Hungarian literature and cultural history Zsoldos devoted himself to a painstaking analysis of the relationship between Hungarian and Jewish literature, laying particular stress on its social significance. In an original and varied style, Zsoldos discussed the relationship between Jews and Hungarians and the manner in which these are reflected in literature. His contribution to philology was also important, and for 30 years he contributed to the periodical Magyar Nyelvőr, also publishing Hungarian grammars.

Zsoldos' writings include A felvilágosodás német zsidó irói és a magyar irodalom ("German-Jewish Authors of the Haskalah Period and Hungarian Literature," 1934), Magyar irodalom és zsidóság ("Hungarian Literature and Judaism," 1943), A héber mese jelentkezése a magyar irodalomban ("The Appearance of the Jewish Folktale in Hungarian Literature," 1946), and 1848 – 49 a magyar zsidóság életében ("1848–49, in the Life of Hungarian Jewry," 1948).