SZERESZEWSKI, MOSES DAVID

SZERESZEWSKI, MOSES DAVID (1844–1915), merchant and leading Jewish banker in Warsaw. His business activities did not begin until the close of the 19^th century, when he engaged in wholesale trade and the import of cloth from Russia. When the development of the Polish cloth industry at the beginning of the 20^th century made import from Russia no longer profitable, Szereszewski turned to banking. In 1911 he opened a bank in Warsaw which granted loans to industrialists and which enabled him to invest a considerable part of his fortune in construction. The fact that Szereszewski had invested his wealth in such enterprises before World War i saved him from the harmful effects of interrupted credit activities which the war brought to many other less fortunate businessmen. His son raphael was a Warsaw banker and public official between the two world wars. He and his brother michael administered the family bank after their father's death. During the 1920s the two brothers set up an industrial compound which included sugar refineries, chemical factories, and textile works. Beginning in 1916, Raphael served six times as a member of the Warsaw municipal council. He was also a member of the *Sejm from 1922 to 1927. For many years he headed the union of Jewish tradesmen in Poland and was active in many Jewish charitable societies. When the "Society for the Propagation of Jewish Sciences in Poland" was established in 1925, Raphael was appointed a member of its executive. He left Poland at the outbreak of World War ii in 1939 and in 1943 settled in New York, where he lived until his death.

bibliography:

J. Shatzky, Geshikhte fun Yidn in Varshe, 3 (1953), index; Y. Gruenbaum, in: eg, 1 (1953), index; 6 (1959), index.