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

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

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

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 t ...

deputy from 1919 to 1930.

Biography

Maksymilian Apolinary Hartglas was born into a lawyer family from Podlasie. Between 1892 and 1900 he attended a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

in Biała Podlaska. Subsequently he earned a law degree from

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

in 1904.

Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert (born 12 October 1952 in Warsaw) is a Polish historian and lecturer, specializing in the history of Polish resistance movement in World War II. Since April 2010 he is the secretary general of the Council for the Protectio ...

, 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 [] ( yi, שעדליץ ) is a city in eastern Poland with 77,354 inhabitants (). Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously the city was the capital of a separate Siedlce Voivodeship (1975–1998). The city is situated b ...

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 ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The cit ...

conference in Helsinki. After the

Nazi 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 ...

and German occupation he was made a member of the Warsaw

Judenrat A ''Judenrat'' (, "Jewish council") was a World War II administrative agency imposed by Nazi Germany on Jewish communities across occupied Europe, principally within the Nazi ghettos. The Germans required Jews to form a ''Judenrat'' in every c ...

. In December 1939, he managed to escape to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

, Italy and

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to Palestine. He settled in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. After the establishment of the State of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

he served as a high ranking administrator in the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

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 ( pl, Izaak Grünbaum, Hebrew and Yiddish: ; 1879–1970) was a noted leader of the Zionist movement among Polish Jewry in the interwar period and of the Yishuv in Mandatory Palestine. Gruenbaum was the first Interior Minister o ...

he was a co-creator of

Bloc of National Minorities The Bloc of National Minorities ( pl, Blok Mniejszości Narodowych, (, BMN; be, Блёк нацыянальных меньшасьцяў, ; uk, Блок національних меншин, ; german: Block der Nationalen Minderheiten; yi, ב� ...

, 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, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian 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 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 ( pl, Rada Miasta Stołecznego Warszawy) is a unicameral governing body of the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The council was first created following the location of ...

. 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 in Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent

Biography

Political career

Published works

See also

References