Ch. Lemchen in his apartment in Vilnius in 1992. (Photo by P. Lileikis) © The Central State Archives of Lithuania (0-111555)
Chackel Lemchen (1904-2001) is a philologist of Jewish origin, lexicographer, Lithuanian language standardizer, bodybuilder. After joining the University of Lithuania (from 1930 – Vytautas Magnus University) in Kaunas he became interested in the general Lithuanian language course taught by Jonas Jablonskis and eventually became the best student of this famous Lithuanian linguist. J. Jablonskis himself repeatedly emphasized that there are not many Lithuanian students who could speak their language as well as the Jewish Chackel. After becoming a scholar, Ch. Lemchen devoted most of his time to compiling Lithuanian and Russian dictionaries. Later, no dictionary of these languages was published without his efforts.
Exclusive Ch. Lemchen’s studio is based on a master’s thesis and was completed in 1970. A monograph “The influence of the Lithuanian language on the Lithuanian Jewish dialect” was published. This study of Jewish philology is unique in two respects: it is written in Lithuanian and published during the Soviet and Soviet times.
