Brutzkus, Boris Dov

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BRUTZKUS, BORIS DOV

BRUTZKUS, BORIS DOV (1874–1938), Russian agrarian economist and communal leader. Boris Brutzkus, a brother of Julius *Brutzkus, was born in Palanga, Lithuania. He studied agriculture in Poland and in 1898 became head of the agriculture department of the *Jewish Colonization Association (ica) in Russia. The following year he took part in the association's investigation of Jewish farming in Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, and the Ukraine. In 1907 he resigned from ica because he disagreed with its philanthropic approach and became a lecturer at the Agricultural Institute in St. Petersburg, where he remained for some 15 years. At the same time he worked for the Russian-Jewish organization *ort, and came to play an important role in its activities both in Russia and in Germany.

Brutzkus was a leading figure, together with Simon *Dubnow, in the Jewish People's Party (Folkspartei), but nevertheless showed considerable interest in settlement in Ereẓ Israel. In 1922 he left the U.S.S.R. and settled in Berlin, where until 1932 he served as professor at the Russian Scientific Institute. During these years he was active in *yivo and, together with Jacob *Lestschinsky and Jacob Segall, edited the Bleter far Yidishe Demografye, Statistik un Ekonomik (1923–25). When Hitler came to power Brutzkus moved to Paris and from there to Ereẓ Israel. He settled in Jerusalem in 1936 and became professor of agrarian economy at the Hebrew University.

His principal books were Professionalny sostav yevreyskogo naseleniya v Rosii ("Jewish Population in Russia by Professions," 1908); Yevreyskiye zemledelcheskiye poseleniya Yekaterinoslavskoy gubernii ("Jewish Agricultural Settlements in Ekaterinoslav," 1913); Agrarny vopros i agrarnaya politika ("Agricultural Question and Agrarian Politics," 1922); Sotsialisticheskoye khozyaystvo ("Socialist Economy," 1923); Agrarentwicklung und Agrarrevolution in Russland (1925); Di Yidishe Landvirtshaft in Mizrekh-Eyrope (1926); Die Lehren des Marxismus im Lichte der Russischen Revolution (1928); Der Fuenfjahrplan und seine Erfuellung (1932); Economic Planning in Soviet Russia (1935, a translation and abridgment of the two foregoing works); urss, terrain d'expériences économiques (1937); and Kalkalah Ḥakla'it ("Agrarian Economics," 1942), which contains a selected list of his works.

[Joachim O. Ronall]

His son david anatol brutzkus (1910– ) was an Israeli architect. He was born in St. Petersburg and went to Ereẓ Israel in 1935. His public buildings stress their individual function and the character of the site. Brutzkus was also active in town planning. He collaborated with H. *Rau on the first town planning project for Jerusalem after the War of Independence, and after the Six-Day War worked with A. *Sharon on a plan for the Old City and surroundings.