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Media Contact: Kristine M. McGrath
561-297-1168 or kmcgrath@fau.edu
Mark Swiatlo
Curator of the Judaica Collection At FAU Dies At 87
Boca Raton, FL (May 22, 2003) -- Mark Swiatlo, Curator of the Judaica Collection at Florida Atlantic University's Library, died at the age of 87 on Saturday, May 17. He leaves behind a monumental legacy: the 80,000-book Judaica collection, one of the largest in the world, which he built almost single-handedly during the final fourteen years of his life.
Mr. Swiatlo began his association with FAU in 1989, when he became intrigued by the possibilities of the university's incipient Yiddish and Hebrew collections. Although he was long past retirement age, with undimmed passion and intellectual lucidity he embarked on a project of repeated travel to countries where he believed significant material could be found for the Judaica collections.
Foremost among these countries was Argentina. Having lived there with his family for eighteen years after WWII, he was able to draw on a wealth of contacts and friendships. With perseverance and a bloodhound's instinct, he located books everywhere: gathering dust in basements, buried deep in the stacks of libraries, or piled to the ceiling in the homes of elderly couples. Many of these books, journals and other material were in Yiddish and headed for oblivion. Some were priceless, issued from the Jewish presses of Poland and Russia before the rise of Nazism. Backed by modest resources, he managed to obtain the bulk of this material as a donation. He arranged for its transportation, negotiated with shipping companies, and often helped with the physical removal and packing of the books, which in the end numbered in the tens of thousands.
Later, he shifted his focus to Israel, taking advantage of his mastery of Hebrew (perfected in the course of university studies in Jerusalem during the British Mandate) and close family ties and friendships. He crisscrossed the country, canvassing publishing houses and institutions on behalf of the FAU collection. As a result of his efforts, a steady stream of Hebrew books flowed from Israel to the library for years. Mark Swiatlo's last target was Poland, his native land. On his trips there he earned the respect and support of local Jewish scholars and institutions, and obtained a great number of Holocaust-related books that would have been out of the reach of anyone unfamiliar with local language and custom.
The great success of Mr. Swiatlo's endeavors, which included cataloguing and giving shape to the collection as well as obtaining the books, journals, music scores and other material that comprise it, can be attributed in part to his wide-ranging knowledge of multiple languages and cultures.
For Judaica professors and librarians in many U.S. and foreign academic institutions, Mark Swiatlo's name is indissolubly linked to that of the FAU Judaica collection. In recognition of his outstanding contribution, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, Saul and Jean Weisser generously instituted the "Mark Swiatlo Judaica Library Acquisition Fund".
In his final three years, a severe visual impairment forced Mr. Swiatlo to discontinue his travels. Nonetheless, and in spite of a gathering illness that would eventually take his life, he went on with his work at the library, where he could be found every day as early as 8 a.m. Having learned on a recent visit to Warsaw of the existence of 7,000 first-hand testimonies taken from Holocaust survivors in the 1940's, Mark Swiatlo was at the time of his death pursuing their translation and publication in English. Florida Atlantic University, mindful of the importance of this project for Holocaust scholarship and research, is committed to bringing it to fruition.
In deep appreciation of Mark Swiatlo's work and legacy, the university will be naming its Yiddish collections after him at a ceremony to be held at a date to be determined in conjunction with his family. An announcement will be made in due course.
Contributions in memory of Mark Swiatlo should be sent to the "Voices from the Ashes Foundation", c/o David Swiatlo, 4700 West Ingraham Terrace, Coral Gables, FL 33133. For further information, please contact David Swiatlo at the address above, by phone at (305)667-8141, or by e-mail at dswiatlo@suranorte.com.
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