Maxim Vinaver, Famous Russian Jewish Leader, Dies in Paris at 63

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Maxim Vinaver, noted leader of Russian Jewry, died last night at Mentome, at the age of 63.

Vinaver was one of the outstanding figures in Russian Jewry during the present generation. He was known throughout the country in the days of the Czar as one of the most brilliant lawyers and he played a distinguished role as a Jewish communal leader, as well as one of the leaders of the Liberal Cadet Party. He was one of those who signed the famous “Viborg Manifesto” of the Democratic deputies in the first imperial Duma.

He was always a champion of the Jewish cause and as a deputy in the Russian Duma Vinaver organized the Society to Secure Equality for the Jews in Russia. He was also a leader of the Jewish group in the Duma, which was known as the “Narodnaya Groupa” (The People’s Group).

His reputation as an authority on law placed him in the forefront of the Russian legal profession and he was for a long time the editor of the juridical magazine “Prava”.

As a Jewish communal leader Vinaver was active in all fields of Jewish activity. He was one of the founders of the Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society. He contributed important articles on the Jewish question to various publications, particularly in the booklets which appeared as supplements to the Russian Jewish weekly “Voschod”.

After the Bolshevist revolution Vinaver emigrated from the country and settled in Paris. Recently, he evinced a keen interest in the Schwartzbard case and was scheduled to appear as one of the witnesses in Schwartzbard’s defense.