Ignatius Abramovich Bernstein (, ) was a

railroad engineer A train driver is a person who operates a train, railcar, or other rail transport vehicle. The driver is in charge of and is responsible for the mechanical operation of the train, train speed, and all of the train handling (also known as bra ...

and activist in the Russian Empire.

Biography

Ignatius Bernstein was born in

Kremenetz Kremenets (, ; ; ) is a city in Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kremenets Raion, and lies north-east of the Pochaiv Lavra. The city is situated in the historic region of Volhynia and features the 12th-cen ...

Volhynian Governorate Volhynia Governorate, also known as Volyn Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. It consisted of an area of and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate ...

, in 1846. He was educated at the high school of his native town, and at the St. Petersburg Institute for Engineers, from which he graduated. In the 1880s, while yet a student, he was received by the

czar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

as a delegate from many

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

families who petitioned for a restoration of their right of settlement outside the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlem ...

. He was instrumental in convincing the Russian leader to grant their request. After serving as assistant district engineer on various railroads, Bernstein was in 1896 appointed first engineer at

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

, and in the following year was sent to Tzitzikar, where he was given the direction of the fifth district of the

Chinese Eastern Railway The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, , or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (also known as Manchuria). The Russian Empire constructed the line from 1897 ...

. On July 2 he sailed for Chabarovsk on the steamship "Odessa". When the vessel was three days out it was attacked by Chinese Boxers, who killed thirteen of the passengers, Bernstein being one of the victims. A memorial service was held August 19 in the Great Synagogue of St. Petersburg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Ignatius 1846 births 1900 deaths Civil engineers from the Russian Empire Jewish engineers Jews from the Russian Empire People from Kremenets Railway engineers Russian people of the Boxer Rebellion Volhynian Jews Chinese Eastern Railway people