S. An-sky (Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport, 1863–1920) was a Russian-Jewish writer, socialist activist, and ethnographer whose work preserved the cultural heritage of Eastern European Jewry. From 1912 to 1914, he led the Baron Günzburg Jewish Ethnographic Expedition through Podolia and Volhynia, documenting shtetl life and collecting Hasidic songs, folktales, religious objects, and oral traditions.

In 1915, An-sky joined the Jewish Relief Committee (EKOPO) as a relief worker in Galicia, then under Russian military occupation. His wartime diary fragments recorded widespread violence, antisemitic persecution, forced deportations, and the devastation of the very communities he had sought to document. Driven by suspicions of espionage, Tsarist military authorities subjected Jewish populations to mass expulsions, leaving thousands homeless and destitute.

His observations captured not only the humanitarian catastrophe but also the appalling conditions in hospitals, the moral dilemmas of wartime relief work, and the disintegration of traditional Jewish life. These experiences informed his memoir, The Destruction of Galicia, and profoundly shaped his literary vision. His ethnographic research and wartime encounters also contributed to The Dybbuk, his celebrated theatrical masterpiece, which transformed Hasidic folklore into a haunting drama of love, broken vows, and supernatural justice.

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