Herman Lieberman (4 January 1870 – 21 October 1941) was a Polish lawyer and socialist politician.

Life

Lieberman was born into a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish family in

Drohobycz Drohobych ( uk, Дрого́бич, ; pl, Drohobycz; yi, דראָהאָביטש;) is a city of regional significance in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Drohobych Raion and hosts the administration of Drohobych urban hro ...

, Galicia, then part of Austro-Hungary. From 1907 to 1914 and from 1917 to 1918, he was a member of parliament in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he joined the Polish Legions of

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Naczelnik państwa, Chief of State (1918–1922) and Marshal of Poland, First Marshal of Second Polish Republic, Poland (from 1920). He was ...

as a private. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and took part in the

Battle of Kostiuchnówka The Battle of Kostiuchnówka was a World War I battle that took place July 4–6, 1916, near the village of Kostiuchnówka (Kostyukhnivka) and the Styr River in the Volhynia region of modern Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. It was ...

, for which he was awarded the Polish Cross of Valor. During the Oath crisis, when Polish troops refused to swear allegiance to Emperor

Wilhelm II of Germany , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

, Lieberman served as the lawyer for the Polish soldiers who were charged with treason by the German authorities. After World War I Lieberman became a leader of the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' ...

(''PPS''), serving on its executive committee. In January 1919 he became a member of the Polish ''

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

'' (parliament). In 1923 he successfully defended the

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

workers charged in the aftermath of the 1923 Kraków riot. Symboliczny grób Hermana Liebermana

After the May 1926 ''Coup d'État, he opposed Piłsudski. He was arrested and beaten by the police and then sentenced in the 1931–32 Brest trials to two and a half year in prison. Rather than serving the sentence he emigrated to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. While abroad he supported the republican cause in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

and published a critical response to

Marcel Déat Marcel Déat (7 March 1894 – 5 January 1955) was a French politician. Initially a socialist and a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), he led a breakaway group of right-wing ' Neosocialists' out of the SFIO in 1933 ...

's pamphlet ''

Why Die for Danzig? ''Why Die for Danzig?'' (french: Pourquoi mourir pour Dantzig?) is an anti-war French political slogan created on the eve of World War II. Article The phrase originated in the title of an article ("Mourir pour Dantzig?") by the French Neo-Social ...

'' which advocated appeasement of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, after the 1939

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

, Lieberman joined

Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause for Polish i ...

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. From 3 September 1941 to 20 October 1941, Lieberman was the government's minister of justice. He died in 1941.

Award

In 1941 Lieberman was posthumously awarded Poland's highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle, by the President of the Government in Exile

Władysław Raczkiewicz Władysław Raczkiewicz (; 28 January 1885 – 6 June 1947) was a Polish politician, lawyer, diplomat and President of Poland- in-exile from 1939 until his death in 1947. Until 1945, he was the internationally recognized Polish head of st ...

, in recognition of his exceptional services to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lieberman, Herman 1870 births 1941 deaths People from Drohobych People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Ukrainian Jews Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Jewish Austro-Hungarian politicians Jewish Polish politicians Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia politicians Polish Socialist Party politicians Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1907–1911) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1911–1918) Members of the Legislative Sejm of the Second Polish Republic Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1922–1927) Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1928–1930) Jewish socialists Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International Justice ministers of Poland Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)