Dr. Salo Weisselberger Jewish leader, jurist and judge, was a member of Bukovina

Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...

's Landtag

Landtag

A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...

 during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Mayor of Czernowitz

Chernivtsi

Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of the historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine...

 in 1912-1914, a member of the Senate of Romania

Senate of Romania

The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...

, and then a member of its Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Romania

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...

.

Salo Weisselberger was born in Dracynetz, near Czernowitz and studied law at the University of Czernowitz. Based on school achievements he was appointed judge at the Court of railroads and county in 1892. Later he was elected member of the Regional Parliament (Landtag) of Bukovina from 1911 to 1914 for Benno Straucher

Benno Straucher

Benno or Beno Straucher was a Bukovina-born Austro–Hungarian lawyer, politician and Jewish community representative, who spent the final part of his career in Romania. A Jewish nationalist influenced by classical liberalism and Zionism, he first held political offices in Czernowitz city...

's Jewish National People's Party

Jewish National People's Party

The Jewish National People's Party was a regional Jewish political party founded in 1906 in the Bukovina Austrian crown land by Benno Straucher, elected at the Austrian Parliament's Abgeordnetenhaus for the Jewish National Party since 1897...

. He became the mayor of Czernowitz in 1913, after having served several years as vice-mayor, and in 1914 he was deported by the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n occupation troops as a hostage to Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

, whence he returned to Austria in 1916, after a hostage exchange in November 1915 between Russia and Austria-Hungary. He was ennobled by the Austrian Emperor

Emperor of Austria

The Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...

 Franz Joseph

Franz Joseph I of Austria

Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...

 for his sufferances.

After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, Bukovina became a part of Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, and Weisselberger was a member of the Romanian Senate from 1922 to 1926 and of the Chamber of Deputies from 1927 to 1928. When elected to the Senate for Czernowitz, he got 3,800 votes against 1,991 for the Social Democrat

Romanian Social Democratic Party (defunct)

The Romanian Social Democratic Party was a social-democratic political party in Romania. It published the magazine România Muncitoare, and later Socialismul, Lumea Nouă, and Libertatea.-Early party:...

 candidate, the Bundist

General Jewish Labour Bund in Romania

The General Jewish Labour Bund in Romania was a Jewish socialist party in Romania, adhering to the political line of the General Jewish Labour Bund. Founded in 1922, shortly after the establishment of Greater Romania, it united Jewish socialists in Bukovina, Bessarabia and the Romanian Old Kingdom...

 Leon Gheller. The seat was beforehand occupied by another Social Democrat, George Grigorovici.

He died in March 1931 in a Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

sanatorium.

External links

• Photograph of (Salo von) Weisselberger, in: Hugo Gold (ed.), History of the Jews in the Bukowina, Tel Aviv, Volume 1 (1958)