Leo Belmont

Born Leopold (Leyb) Blumental in Warsaw, Leo Belmont, as he was most widely known, was an accomplished writer, translator, playwright, and social activist. Belmont was an accomplished Esperantist: the first to write Esperanto poetry, he was also an advocate for the annual World Esperanto Congress, as well as a frequent orator and essayist. He studied law at the University of Warsaw and wrote frequently in Russian, Polish, and Esperanto journals—such as Vestnik Znaniya, Izraelita, Wolne Słowo, and Pola Esperantisto—on humanitarian and progressive subjects, arguing against Polish antisemitism and Jewish exceptionalism. His other known pseudonyms include Leon Bielski, Acosta Dolinow, Kazimierz Domowicz, Fortado, and Lew Gorskij.