MANDELBERG, AVIGDOR

MANDELBERG, AVIGDOR (Victor ; 1870–1944), physician; delegate to the Second Russian Duma. Born in Berdichev, Mandelberg graduated from the faculty of medicine of the University of Kiev (1893) and settled in St. Petersburg, where he took a part in the organization of workers' circles and their intellectual activities. He was exiled for his activities to Irkutsk, eastern Siberia, in 1899 for four years, and while there, he joined the Social Democratic Labor Party, playing an active role in its organization in Siberia. Upon his release he attended his party's second congress as a delegate of the Siberian alliance and joined the Menshevik faction. He then returned to Siberia, took part in the revolutionary activities of 1905, and was elected to the Second Duma (1907), avoiding any collaboration with the three other Jewish delegates, who had joined the Kadet faction (the Russian Liberals). After the dismissal of the Second Duma and the arrest of the Social Democrats, he escaped abroad. He lived in Italy and returned to Russia with the outbreak of the revolution of 1917. When the Bolsheviks came to power, Mandelberg left for Siberia, emigrating to Palestine in 1920. He was chief physician of Kuppat Ḥolim of the *Histadrut and one of the founders of the League against Tuberculosis. In 1941 he helped found the League for Friendship with the Soviet Union (v League) and was a member of its central committee. Among his works should be mentioned: Iz perezhitogo ("Experiences," 1910) and Me-Ḥayyai (1942).

bibliography:

Ha-Ligah li-Ydidut Yisrael-S.S.S.R., Dr. Avigdor Mandelberg, Dappim le-Zikhro (1946).

[Yehuda Slutsky]