Maksymilian Apolinary Hartglas (7 April 1883 – 7 March 1953) was a

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

activist and one of the main political leaders of Polish Jews during the interwar period, a lawyer, a publicist, and a

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

deputy from 1919 to 1930.

Biography

Maksymilian Apolinary Hartglas was born into a lawyer family from

Podlasie Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

. Between 1892 and 1900 he attended a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Biała Podlaska. Subsequently he earned a law degree from

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializat ...

in 1904. Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert, Małgorzata Smogorzewska, ed. "Posłowie i senatorowie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1919-1939. Słownik biograficzny, tom II: E-J" (''Delegates and senators of the Second Polish Republic 1919-1939, Biographical Dictionary, Vol II: E-J''), Warszawa 2000 Between 1907 and 1919 he practiced law in

Siedlce Siedlce () ( ) is a city in the Masovian Voivodeship in eastern Poland with 77,354 inhabitants (). The city is situated between two small rivers, the Muchawka and the Helenka, and lies along the European route E30, around east of Warsaw. It is ...

with an additional office in Warsaw. Jolanta Żyndul, "The Legal Practice of Apolinary Hartglas", Justice, The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, No. 30, Winter 2002, pg. 4

While at the university he became involved with the Zionism, Zionist movement and in 1906 he participated in a Zionist

Helsingfors Helsinki () is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipality, with million in the capital region and ...

conference in Helsinki. After the Nazi invasion of Poland and German occupation he was made a member of the Warsaw

Judenrat A ''Judenrat'' (, ) was an administrative body, established in any zone of German-occupied Europe during World War II, purporting to represent its Jewish community in dealings with the Nazi authorities. The Germans required Jews to form ''J ...

. In December 1939, he managed to escape to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, Italy and immigrated to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. He settled in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. After the establishment of the State of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

he served as a high ranking administrator in the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

Political career

In 1919 he was elected by constituents of Biała Podlaska as a deputy to the first Sejm of the newly independent Polish state which was charged with writing a new constitution. In all he served three terms as a delegate. Before the elections of 1922 together with

Yitzhak Gruenbaum Yitzhak Gruenbaum (, Hebrew language, Hebrew and Yiddish: ; 1879–1970) was a Polish and later Israeli politician. He was a leader of the Bloc of National Minorities and one of the top Zionist leaders in Second Polish Republic, interwar Poland. ...

he was a co-creator of

Bloc of National Minorities Bloc may refer to: Government and politics * Political bloc, a coalition of political parties * Trade bloc, a type of intergovernmental agreement * Voting bloc, a group of voters voting together * Black bloc, a tactic used by protesters who wear ...

, a parliamentary organization whose purpose was to represent ethnic minorities in the Polish parliament. One of his first acts as a deputy of the Sejm was to introduce a law which annulled all Russian sponsored laws which discriminated against Jews in the former

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

. In 1920 he took part in the Polish-Soviet War as a volunteer. Between 1938 and 1939 he was a member of the

Warsaw City Council Warsaw City Council, officially the Council of the Capital City of Warsaw () is a unicameral governing body of the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The council was first created following the location of Warsaw under the terms of the Magdebu ...

. During this time he published articles in "Głos Żydowski", "Tygodnik Żydowski" and "Życie Żydowskie" newspapers.

Published works

In 1996, his memoirs were published posthumously in Poland under the title ''At the border of two worlds'' (Polish: ''Na pograniczu dwóch światów'') (), in which he described the social and political realities of Poland at the turn of the century, during World War I, and the interwar period. In the book he wrote:Natalia Aleksiun, "Narratives under Siege: Polish-Jewish Relations and Jewish Historical Writings in Interwar Poland", The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism, Tel Aviv University, 200

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartglas, Apolinary 1883 births 1953 deaths People from Biała Podlaska People from Siedlce Governorate Jews from the Russian Empire Jewish Polish politicians Polish Zionists 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) Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Jews from Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent

Biography

Political career

Published works

See also

References