Curated playlist
Jewish historians
- Hans L. TrefousseHans Trefousse once argued for eleven hours to make a Nazi commander surrender in Leipzig.
- Karl MarxKarl Marx left an estate valued at just 250 pounds when he died in 1883. He died stateless in London at 64.
- JosephusJosephus told the Roman general who captured him that he would become emperor.
- Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss died in 2009, and for four days the world did not know.
- Eric HobsbawmMI5 blocked Eric Hobsbawm from a BBC job in 1945 over his communism. He later became a celebrated historian.
- Mark LewisohnA famous joke about Ringo Starr was long credited to John Lennon, but Mark Lewisohn found no record he said it.
- Abraham ZacutoAbraham Zacuto helped guide Vasco da Gama to India, then fled Portugal as a refugee. He was the king's Royal Astronomer.
- Erwin PanofskyIn 1934, Erwin Panofsky argued a famous Flemish painting was really a legal contract.
- Hans KohnHans Kohn resigned from a Zionist fundraising body in 1929 with a letter titled "Judaism is Not Zionism."
- Abba EbanAbba Eban changed his first name to the Hebrew word for "Father."