Original Wraps. 8vo. 23 pages. 21 cm. First edition. In French. Frontispiece portrait of Leon Bramson. 'Leon Bramson and the ORT Union. ' Published on the seventieth anniversary of the World Ort Union, in memory of Leon Bramson, founder of the ORT in France. A history of the French ORT, and the life and work of Leon Bramson (Leonty; 18691941) , communal worker and writer. Born in Kovno, Bramson graduated in law from Moscow University, then settled in St. Petersburg, where he practiced, and was active in the Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews . He was also director of the central committee of the Jewish Colonization Association from 1899 to 1906. Under his direction a statistical study was carried out on the economic situation of the Jews in Russia (published in Russian in 1904 and in French in 19068) . He was one of the compilers of the Sistematicheskiy ukazatel literatury o yevreyakh na russkom yazyke ('Systematic Guide to Russian Literature About Jews, ' 1892) , and contributed many articles to Voskhod and other periodicals on problems of Jewish education, emigration, and colonization. Active in Jewish political life, Bramson was one of the founders of the 'Jewish Democratic Group. ' In 1906 he was elected to the First Duma as a deputy for Kovno province, joining the Labor faction ('Trudoviki') . During World War I, the Revolution, and the Civil War, Bramson was an organizer of the Central Committee for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers (YEKOPO) . When he left Russia in 1920, he continued to work in Western Europe on behalf of ORT (with which he had been associated in Russia from 1909) , serving as its president from 1923 until his death. (EJ 2008) . The author, Dr David Lvovitch (1882-1950) studied law and economics in St Petersburg and later studied engineering in Munich. An early Zionist from a wealthy family, he visited the USA, spending the First World War years there. He returned to Russia and was elected to the short-lived 1918 Constituent Assembly. An industrialist, he was interested in ORT's agricultural and co-operative projects. Elected as a founder member of the World ORT Union Council in 1921, he was central in developing ORT into a world organisation. Lvovitch travelled abroad with Leon Bramson to find financial support for needy Russian Jews after the First World War. He worked successfully in the USA, cultivating support among the Russian emigre community. On Bramson's death Lvovitch and Aaron Syngalowski, as co-chairmen of the ORT Executive, shared the running of World ORT throughout the Second World War and after. Lvovitch, based in Paris, was in charge of ORT's remarkable programmes assisting and retraining displaced persons in Europe. When he died, the ORT Lvovitch School in Netanya was named in his memory. Subjects: Bramson, Leontii Moiseevich, 1869-1941. World ORT Union OCLC lists 3 copies (Yale, Biblio Natl France, Biblio Sainte-Genevieve) . Wraps previously folded down center, with crease line throughout; light soiling to wraps, with minor pen marks, otherwise fresh and clean. Good condition. (HOLO2-113-14)
