Today’s Google Doodle marks Zamenhof, Esperanto

Today’s festive Google Doodle has a green and white starred flag, and clicking on the new design takes you to the Wikipedia page of Esperanto creator L.L. Zamenhof.

Zamenhof would have turned 150 today, and in honor of his birthday, Google added a Doodle with the flag for Esperanto. Ludovic Lazarus (L.L.) Zamenhof began developing the language in the late 1800’s to “foster peace and international understanding”- in fact, the word Esperanto means “one who hopes.” Zamenhof died in 1917, and all three Zamenhof’s children went on to perish in the Holocaust after their father’s death. (Esperantists were singled out by Nazis as well as Jews during World War II, and Zamenhof’s Russian-Jewish family was targeted, also due to Zamenhof’s creation of the language.) However, Esperanto remains in use today, with as many as two million Esperanto speakers worldwide.

Interestingly, if you hit “I’m feeling lucky,” a big, blue countdown appears- but the numbers aren’t clickable, nor is it clear what they represent.

[Source: Wikipedia]