MAYZEL, MAURYCY

MAYZEL, MAURYCY , last president of the Warsaw Jewish community before the Holocaust (1937–39). In the elections held in 1936, after *Agudat Israel had been in power for six years, the *Bund increased its strength to become the largest party. As the three most prominent groups (the Zionists, the Orthodox, and the Bund) could not reach agreement on the establishment of an effective administration, the government dissolved the community council. Mayzel was appointed community president, and a committee of independent personalities, including Adam *Czerniakow, Mark Lichtenbaum, Kaminer (Orthodox), and the lawyer Zondelewicz, was formed to assist him. Mayzel himself was a leader of the merchants' association and an assimilationist in outlook. The attitude of the parties' delegates and the public toward the government appointment was negative. Mayzel was essentially an administrator who sought to assure regular and vital services while obeying the instructions of the authorities; the latter supported him in the face of violent criticism from the public and the Jewish press. Mayzel promoted the publication of the important trilingual organ of the Warsaw community Glos gminy Zydowskiej (1937–39). When the Nazis invaded Poland, he fled from Warsaw; the mayor of Warsaw appointed Adam Czerniakow in his place.

bibliography:

H.M. Rabinowicz, Legacy of Polish Jewry (1965), 123–4. add. bibliography: R. Sakowska, "Z Dziejow Gminy Zydowskiej w Warszawie 1918–1939," in: Warszawa drugiej Rzeczypospolitej, 4 (1972); A. Guterman, Kehillat Varshah bein Shetei Millḥamot (1997), index

[Moshe Landau]