Saul Kaléko

The name Kaléko is well-known because of Saul’s famous first wife, the poet Mascha Kaléko, who kept his name as a pen name even after their divorce.

Saul, like Mascha, was one of many Jewish migrants from Eastern and Central Europe who fled to Germany at the beginning of the 20th century to escape war and persecution. He came from Eišiškės (today on the border between Lithuania and Belarus) and came to Berlin to continue his studies.

Here he became secretary of the Association of Jewish Student Organizations, which organized scholarships and support for its destitute members, among other things. The office was located at Auguststraße 17 – behind the New Synagogue – where Mascha also worked for the workers’ welfare office of the Jewish community.

Saul earned a doctorate in economics, became politically active, wrote for Jewish publications and wrote the textbook Hebräisch für Jedermann (Hebrew for Everyone). The Kalékos achieved impressive social advancement and moved from the Scheunenviertel to Charlottenburg. However, the Nazi dictatorship put them under massive pressure. They divorced in 1938. Saul emigrated to Palestine and from then on called himself Shaul Barkali. He spent the rest of his life in Israel.

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