Nina Rogow (1922 - 2016)

The board and staff of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research note with great sadness the passing of Nina (Nechama) Szulman Rogow, long-term volunteer in the YIVO Archives.

Nina, born in Minsk in 1922, was an actress in the Yiddish Theater. During World War II, she performed with the Belarus State Yiddish Theater in Novosibirsk. She married the Yiddish actor David Rogow in 1945 and, shortly thereafter, the two left the Soviet Union for the displaced persons camps in Germany, which they toured with the traveling Munich Yiddish Theater.

In 1950, David and Nina immigrated to the United States. Nina worked at the Jewish National Fund for many years, and later, at the United Jewish Appeal. David continued his career on the Yiddish stage but also became a staff member of the Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language. Both were members of the Hebrew Actors Union.

David and Nina also contributed their skills and knowledge to YIVO. Nina was a volunteer in the YIVO Archives and David became the managing editor of YIVO bleter.

Both David and the couple’s daughter Lillian passed away in 2007. For the next nine years, Nina continued her active life even in the face of her own health problems. She died in Florida only a few days after returning from a vacation cruise.

Nina will be remembered at YIVO not only for her important work and dedication to Yiddish culture and Jewish history, but also, more personally, for her quiet intelligence, beauty, and dignity.