Monthly journal, issued in Bucharest from 1929 to 1940. Adam followed the traditions of the Jewish cultural press in Romania, and in this sense was similar to the publications Anuar pentru israeliți (Yearbook for Israelites) and Sinai: Anuar de studii judaice (Sinai: Judaic Studies Yearbook). Adam was distinct, however, in that it gave particular attention to literary matters and political issues relevant to Romanian Jews. After 1932, its editors dedicated a significant share of each issue to articles on the rise of antisemitism in Nazi Germany and to similar developments in Romania.
The founder and first editor of the publication, who also created the Adam Publishing House, was the writer Isac Ludo (1894–1973). In 1935, Miron Grindea (1909–1995) took over its management, and in 1937 became the editor. Grindea retained the original orientation of the review, but also opened it to avant-garde writers and artists, with whom he was closely affiliated.
Regardless of the literary movements or political trends that they embraced, most Jewish writers and journalists living in Romania contributed to Adam during the interwar period. They were joined by militant advocates for Jewish rights and Zionist activists, including Abraham Leib Zissu, Horia Carp, and Theodor Loewenstein. A unique feature of this Jewish publication was its appeal to prestigious names from general Romanian society. Adam featured articles by the writer Tudor Arghezi, the journalist N. D. Cocea, the literary critic Eugen Lovinescu, the writer Camil Petrescu, and the scholar Constantin Stere.
Among the Jewish men and women of letters and journalists who contributed to Adam were Felix Aderca, Maria Arsene, Ury Benador, M. Blecher, H. Bonciu (Bonciu Haimovici), Benno Brănişteanu, Filip Brunea-Fox, Ion Călugăru, Idov Cohn, Emil Dorian, Heinrich Fischer-Galați, Beniamin Fundoianu, Litman Ghelerter, Constantin Graur, Meyer Abraham Halevy, Barbu Lăzăreanu, Eugen Relgis, Moise Ronetti-Roman, Meir Rudich, Moses Schwarzfeld, Yankev Shternberg, Geri Spina, Adolphe Stern, Alexandru Toma, Adrian Verea, and Ilarie Voronca. Romanian spiritual leaders such as Iacob Isac Niemirower and Alexandru Şafran contributed to the review as well.
Of particular note were the journal’s illustrations, which were fashioned by noted Romanian Jewish artists, including M. W. Arnold, Henri Daniel, Jean David, Iosif Iser, Georghe Juster, Samuel Mützner, and Lazăr Zin. Though some artistic contributors, in particular R. Rubin, became associated with Israel, others, such as Max Hermann Maxy and Marcel Iancu, are inseparably connected to the Romanian avant-garde.
Miron Grindea settled in England during World War II. After 1941, Adam was issued in English and French, and was published in London as the Adam International Review (1941, 1946–1988). The journal at that point took on a new orientation, and was exclusively dedicated to the arts, theater, architecture, and music.
Translated from Romanian by Anca Mircea