Professor Dov Levin is a renowned authority on Baltic Jews and on Eastern European
Jewish communities in general. Born in Kovno Lithuania, he was a member of the Jewish
resistance to the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators during World War II.
Reached Palestine in 1945 and received his PhD in history at the Hebrew University
in 1971. Rising to the rank of professor, retired (1995) as Director of the Oral
History Division of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University.
Has published 14 books and some 520 articles in Hebrew, Yiddish and English, many
of which are of direct interest to Jewish genealogists. Among his English titles
are Fighting Back: Lithuanian Jewry's Armed Resistance to the Nazis, 1941-1945 (1985);
Baltic Jews under the Soviets (1994); and The Litvaks: A Short History of the Jews
in Lithuania (2000). Has wide genealogical interests, with a specialty in place
names and surnames in Lithuania. Has taken part in several genealogical conferences
and published frequently in genealogical reviews.