Ghelerter, Ludwig Litman
GHELERTER, LUDWIG LITMAN
GHELERTER, LUDWIG LITMAN ("Leon"; 1873–1945), physician; one of the pioneers of the general and Jewish socialist movements in Romania. Born in Jassy, Ghelerter studied medicine in his native town, where he joined the socialist movement. His doctoral thesis was on a problem of social medicine: Alcool si alcoolism ("Alcohol and Alcoholism," 1899). In 1895 he was among the founders in Jassy of *Lumina, ("The Light"), the first Jewish socialist society in Romania, with a journal of the same name, and signed the memorandum of the society to the London Congress of the Second International (1896). He was also active in the struggle for civil rights of Jews deprived of Romanian citizenship, thus coming into conflict with the official leadership of the party. A notable speaker, organizer, and writer, Ghelerter continued to uphold his views during the disintegration of the movement and assisted in the reorganization of the Jewish socialist society in Jassy in 1915 and in publication of a weekly, Der Veker. After World War i he moved to Bucharest and founded a new party, Partidul Socialist Unitar ("The United Socialist Party"). Although Ghelerter held similar views to those of the Bund, he did not join that movement. He established the Socialist Workers' Party of Romania (1929) which was affiliated to the Fourth International but rejoined the Social Democratic Party of Romania on the eve of World War ii. Ghelerter founded and headed the Jewish hospital of Bucharest (1926) and helped promote popular Jewish cooperative credit banks. He accepted non-Jewish patients also in his hospital, named Iubirea de oameni ("Love of People"). While not a Zionist, he was sympathetic toward pioneering enterprises in Palestine, especially cooperatives and kibbutzim. Romanian immigrants named a New York branch of the Workmen's Circle after him.
bibliography:
J. Kisiman, Shtudien tsu der Geshikte fun Rumenishe Yidn in 19-tn un Onheb 20-tn Yorhundert (1994); lnyl, 2 (1958), 310. add. bibliography: G. Bratescu, in: Contributia evreilor din Romania la cultura si civilizatie (1996), 166–7.
[Isac Bercovici and
Moshe Mishkinsky /
Lucian-Zeev Herscovici (2nd ed.)]