From Bibliofuture at LISNews:
In 1980 an entire body of Jewish literature--the physical remnant of Yiddish culture--was on the verge of extinction. Precious volumes that had survived Hitler and Stalin were being passed down from older generations of Jewish immigrants to their non-Yiddish-speaking children only to be discarded or destroyed. So Aaron Lansky, just twenty-three, issued a worldwide appeal for unwanted Yiddish works.
Since 1980, Lansky and his compatriots have saved over 1.5 million books and collected them together. To some he is known as 'the Yiddish Indiana Jones' or 'the Otto Schindler of Yiddish literature'. Without his work a great deal of Yiddish-language materials might have been lost forever. It sounds like a remarkable story and a reminder that one person can make a difference with persistence and by bringing people together.
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