Julius Brutzkus

Julius Brutzkus was born in 1870 in Palanga

Brutzkus was born in Palanga, in the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire. His father, David Brutzkus, traded in amber. In 1878 the family moved to Moscow, where his father and uncle ran a leather goods factory.

He studied medicine at the University of Moscow and earned his degree in 1894. As a student he joined Zionist groups, including Lovers of Zion. He then worked as a physician in Minsk and Saint Petersburg.

He edited Russian Jewish periodicals, including Voskhod, which he left in 1902 when it turned against Zionism, and later Rassvet. In 1917 he was elected to the Russian Constituent Assembly for Minsk. He opposed the Bolsheviks and was arrested by the Cheka in 1920 with other Zionist delegates.

In 1922 he moved to Lithuania, where he was elected to the Jewish National Council and to the First Seimas. In early 1923 he served as acting Minister for Jewish Affairs. In 1924 he moved to Berlin and later to Paris, working mainly with the Jewish health society OSE.

During World War II he tried to issue citizenship papers to Jews held in French camps and was imprisoned. After his release he went to the United States and later to Israel. He died in Petah Tikva in 1951.