Shimon Schwarzschild (19 December 1925 – 10 November 2021) was a German-born American environmental activist. His work contributed to the establishment of a nature preserve in Assisi, Italy.Cynthia Hanson (3 November 1986). "Bringing the Birds Back to Assisi", Christian Science Monitor, (accessed 17 December 2011). Schwarzschild founded the Assisi Bird Campaign and helped organize the Assisi Nature Council.Assisi Nature Councile: History (accessed 26 February 2013) He was also active on many other environmental and neighborhood issues."About Shimon" (Shimon Schwarzschild Biography) (accessed 17 December 2011)
Schwarzschild's activism received news coverage regionally, nationally, and internationally."The Birds of St Francis" IUCN Bulletin New Series Vol. 14, Nos 10-12, October/December 1983. He was listed in the World Who's Who and Does What in Environment & Conservation.
Publications and works Schwarzschild's publications include a 1983 article in Audubon Magazine that first called international attention to the destruction of the birds of Assisi by hunting.Bert Schwarzschild (1983). "No birds sing on Saint Francis' mountain", Vol. 85, No. 2., pp.
In 2020, Schwarzschild was finishing a film project called "Transcending Terror" about his relationship with the German town in which he grew up, Wertheim. He described the film as a documentary on "Loss, Opportunity and Redemption". The film is being made with the assistance of Schwarzschild's grand-nephew Benjamin Schwarzschild, who stated that the film will include many scenes of Laudenbach, where Shimon's mother was born. As of April 2020, the film was expected to be completed in May 2020, and to premier in the county museum in autumn 2020.
Personal life Schwarzschild was born on 19 December 1925, in Wertheim, Germany. Schwarzschild's mother, Rosalia Birk, daughter of Moses and Ida Birk, was born in Laudenbach, Germany. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (1950).
In 2004 in New York City, Schwarzschild married Naomi Schechter.
In 2010, and at several other times in later years, Schwarzschild visited his birthplace, Wertheim.
In 2019, at the age of 93, Schwarzschild and his wife visited his mother's birthplace Laudenbach, where he was hosted by Anja Baier, the third mayor of Karlstadt, a town that now encompasses Laudenbach, and two members of a synagogue that Schwarzschild attended as a child.
He died in New York on 10 November 2021, at the age of 95.
References
External links Shimon Schwarzschild Memorial Videos: Part 1 (2:52) and Part 2 (3:37) (YouTube) Transcending Terror (18:15, YouTube) Personal website (archived): Shimon Schwarzschild Documentary Website (archived): Transcending Terror