Daniel Auster ( he, דניאל אוסטר ‎, 7 May 1893 – 15 January 1963) was

Mayor of Jerusalem The Mayor of the City of Jerusalem is head of the executive branch of the political system in Jerusalem. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within Jerusa ...

in the final years of

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

, the first Jewish mayor of the city, and the first mayor of

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

after

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 ...

i independence.

Biography

Daniel Auster was born in

Kniahynyn Kniahynyn ( uk, Княгинин, pl, Knihinin) is a former village and currently a neighborhood in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located at northwestern portion of the city on the right bank of Bystrytsia ...

, a Galician town that is now a district of the city

Ivano-Frankivsk Ivano-Frankivsk ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вськ, translit=Iváno-Frankívśk ), formerly Stanyslaviv ( pl, Stanisławów ; german: Stanislau), is a city located in Western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk Obl ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

. He immigrated to Ottoman-controlled Palestine prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

after finishing his law studies at the university in Vienna, Austria, from which he graduated in 1914. He initially settled in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropoli ...

and taught German at the

Reali School , motto_translation = ''Walk Humbly'' , address = Hertzel 16 , city = Haifa , zipcode = 3312103 , country = Israel , coordinates = , other_name ...

. He first served at the Austrian expeditionary force headquarters in Damascus, assisting Arthur Ruppin in sending financial help from Constantinople to the starving Yishuv. In 1919, he became Secretary of the Legal Department of the Zionist Commission in Jerusalem. He became Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem under Husayn al-Khalidi in 1936. In 1937, he became the first Jewish

mayor of Jerusalem The Mayor of the City of Jerusalem is head of the executive branch of the political system in Jerusalem. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within Jerusa ...

. He was also a member of the Assembly of Representatives for the General Zionists party and a signatory of the

Israeli Declaration of Independence The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel ( he, הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708) by David Ben-Gurion, the Executiv ...

. In November 1947, he was a member of the Jewish Agency's delegation to the Working Committee of the Trusteeship Council which attempted to draw up a Draft Statute for Jerusalem, but in 1949, he openly declared his opposition to the

internationalization of Jerusalem ''Corpus separatum'' (Latin for " separated body") was the internationalization proposal for Jerusalem and its surrounding area as part of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly with ...

and stated categorically that it was not possible. He contested the 1949 Knesset elections as the leader of the "For Jerusalem" list, but it failed to win a seat.

Awards

Auster was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

.It's sad to be the mayor of Jerusalem
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auster, Dani 1893 births 1962 deaths People from Ivano-Frankivsk People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Austro-Hungarian Jews Ukrainian Jews Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the Ottoman Empire Jews in Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent General Zionists politicians Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine) Deputy Mayors of Jerusalem Mayors of Jerusalem Signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence University of Vienna alumni