Eugen Relgis

Eugen D. Relgis was a Romanian writer, pacifist philosopher and anarchist militant, known as a theorist of humanitarianism. His internationalist dogma, with distinct echoes from Judaism and Jewish ethics, was first shaped during World War I, when Relgis was a conscientious objector. Infused with anarchopacifism and socialism, it provided Relgis with an international profile, and earned him the support of pacifists such as Romain Rolland, Stefan Zweig and Albert Einstein. Another, more controversial, aspect of Relgis philosophy was his support for eugenics, which centered on the compulsory sterilization of degenerates. The latter proposal was voiced by several of Relgis essays and sociological tracts.

The future Eugen Relgis was a native of Moldavia region, belonging to the local Jewish community. His father, David Sigler, professed Judaism, and descended from tanners settled in Neam County. Eisig had two sisters, Adelina Derevici and Eugenia Soru, both of whom had careers in biochemistry. Born in either Iai city of Piatra Neam town, Eisig was educated in Piatra Neam, where he became friends with the family of novelist and Zionist leader A. L. Zissu. It was in Zissus circle that Relgis probably first met his mentor, the Romanian modernist author Tudor Arghezi at the time, Arghezi was married to Constana Zissu, mother of his photographer son Eli Lotar. The young writer later noted that he and Zissu were both touched by the wild landscape of the Ceahlu Massif and Piatras shtetl atmosphere. In another one of his texts, Relgis recalled having been influenced in childhood by selective readings from the Romanian Jewish scholar Moses Schwarzfeld and his Anuarul pentru Israelii journal .

Source: Wikipedia