Dr. Mauritzio Nirenstein, noted economist and literateur, and one of the leading personalities in Argentinian intellectual circles, is dead here. He was 58 years old.
Dr. Nirenstein came to Argentine as a young boy with his father, who was among the earliest Jewish immigrants to settle here. The Nirensteins came from Galicia.
The professor was secretary of the Buenos Aires University and lectured on philosophy and literature in the faculty of jurisprudence. He also wrote considerably, and his translation into Spanish of Heine’s “Romanzero” is considered among the best Spanish translations of the German-Jewish poet’s works.
In his younger years Dr. Nirenstein became estranged from Jewish life, when he married the daughter of a local German scholar. His house was a typical Christian home, and his sons were raised in the Christian manner. This resulted in a great internal spiritual struggle, which became intensified after the “patriotic” anti-Semitic excesses in Buenos Aires in 1919, when his own son was one of the leaders of the patriotic anti-Semites.
This had such a tremendous effect on Dr. Nirenstein, that he again became interested in all things Jewish, and he was very active in Jewish literary circles here. He was a strong advocate for the establishment of a special chair for Hebrew literature and Judaism in the philosophy faculty here.
Dr. Nirenstein was a warm friend of Prof. Albert Einstein. Prof. Einstein had presented a picture to him on which was inscribed: “Wherever Nirenstein enters there peace doth reign.”
Dr. Nirenstein was laid to rest at the aristocratic cemetery in Buenos Aires. His widow, who has a warm regard for the Jews, did not permit any Christian rites to be performed. Leaders of Argentine and Jewish literary and educational circles eulogized him. Representatives of the various student bodies also participated.