Metadata: Herman Diamand
Collection
- Country:
- Ukraine
- Holding institution:
- Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv. Manuscripts Department
- Holding institution (official language):
- Львівська національна наукова бібліотека України імені В. Стефаника. Bідділ рукописів
- Postal address:
- ul. V. Stefanika 2, 79000, L’viv
- Phone number:
- +38 (032) 236-80-28
- Email:
- manuscr@lsl.lviv.ua
- Reference number:
- F. 44
- Title:
- Herman Diamand
- Title (official language):
- Герман Діаманд
- Creator/accumulator:
- Diamand, Herman
- Date(s):
- 1774/1940
- Language:
- Polish
- German
- Hebrew
- Yiddish
- Latin
- Extent:
- 61 archival storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Scope and content:
-
Materials in this fonds may be provisionally divided into the following thematic groups:
1) Personal and property documents of Herman Diamand, including certificates and identification and other papers of Diamand and members of his family; certificates of membership in various organisations, in particular, Jewish charitable societies; family correspondence, including numerous letters from Herman Diamand to his wife Sidonia Lazarus (married name: Hermina Diamand) in which he shares thoughts and observations, in particular, on “the Jewish question” (1896); the Congress of Jewish Socialists (1897); acquaintances who converted to Christianity (1902); the stratification of Jewish society (1913); nationalist sentiment among Jewish deputies (1915); his election as chair of the Main Council of the Polish Socialist Party, which he regarded as demonstrating Jewish equality (1928); and other matters.
2) Bibliographies of Herman Diamand’s publications; notebooks, notes, drafts, and letters to party comrades, including the text of a speech on “the Jewish question” and Leon Blum given at a meeting of the Polish Socialist Party in Lwów (1927) and a letter to fellow PSP member Emil Häcker on religion and socialism (1924).
3) Letters to Moritz Diamand (Herman Diamand’s father), mainly from Jewish communities and organisations, including the Harmony and Mikra Kodesh (Hebrew: “Holy Writings”) societies of Lemberg/Lwów, the Om Olam (Hebrew: “Eternal People”) society of Odessa, as well as the Israelitische Allianz of Vienna – correspondence with the latter mainly concerns Jewish emigration from the Russian Empire in the late 19th century, that is, the situation by which Jewish pogrom refugees were coming to Galicia, where M. Diamand and other wealthy Lemberg/Lwów Jews rendered them assistance. There is also a letter from the Jewish poet and playwright Avrom Goldfadn, with the appended manuscript of an unidentified work by him.
4) Materials from the Lazarus family (Hermina Diamand’s parents’) archive, including birth and marriage certificates and passports; photographs; documents related to Moritz Lazarus’s membership in the Galician Diet (elected 1871) and the Lemberg/Lwów Municipal Council (elected 1871 and 1877); anniversary congratulations; poems in German and Hebrew by the local poet H. Kohn, etc.
5) Historical documents, including the original contract between the Lemberg Magistrate and the Jewish community regarding the water supply of the Jewish mikvah (ritual bath) on Zarvanskaia Street (1790); and a copy (1882) of a privilege issued by Empress Maria Theresa to an ancestor of Herman Diamand.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Herman (Josiah Hirsch) Diamand (1860–1931) was a politician, public figure, and commentator. He studied at the law schools of the Universities of Lemberg and Vienna, graduating from the latter in 1894. While still a student, he joined a Zionist circle. In 1892 he took part in founding the Polish Social-Democratic Party of Galicia (PPSD). He joined the party’s leadership board in 1897, and in 1904-09 represented the party at the International Bureau of the Second International. Diamand opposed the creation of a separate section or party organisation for Jewish workers, favouring instead a movement by which Jewish and Polish workers would together work out a common position. For the same reason, he was against the 1905 establishment of the Jewish Socialist Party of Galicia. Attempting to influence his fellow Jews and get them involved in the socialist movement, Diamand published and edited the Yiddish newspapers Di yidishe folksblat (1896-97), Di yidishe folkstsaytung (1903-04), and several issues of Di yidishe folksshtime (1907). In 1907, Diamand became a deputy of the Vienna Parliament (Reichsrat) from Lemberg/Lwów’s heavily Jewish third district (reelected in 1911), proving himself a brilliant speaker and expert on economic issues. During the First World War, he supported Josef Pilsudski and composed Yiddish-language appeals exhorting Jews to support the struggle for Polish independence. From 1919 until his death, Diamand served as a member of the Polish Sejm, where he frequently advocated for the civil rights of Jews. At the same time, he headed the Polish Socialist Party, from 1923–28 as deputy chairman, and from 1928 as chairman. He published a great deal, in particular in Jewish magazines. His wife Hermina (Sidonia) Lazarus, daughter of the Lemberg/Lwów merchant, banker, and philanthropist Moritz Lazarus, also wrote for the socialist press. He died in Lwów and is buried at the New Jewish Cemetery.
- Access points: locations:
- Lwów
- Access points: persons/families:
- Diamand family
- Diamand, Herman
- Diamand, Hermina
- Goldfaden, Abraham
- Lazarus family
- Lazarus, Sidonia
- Subject terms:
- Aid and relief
- Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity
- Conversion to Christianity
- Correspondence
- Jewish community
- Jewish political activity
- Jewish Question
- Legal records
- Literature
- Literature--Writers, poets, and playwrights
- Manuscripts
- Migration
- Migration--Emigration
- Mikveh
- Passports and visas
- Personal records
- Photographs
- Privileges
- Refugees
- Socialism
- Socialism--Socialist parties and organisations
- Vital records
- Vital records--Birth records
- Vital records--Marriage records
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds is arranged according to the thematic-chronological principle.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary