LANGERMANN, MAX

LANGERMANN, MAX (1859–1919), South African mining pioneer. Born in Bavaria, he went to South Africa at the age of 20 and served in two military campaigns against African tribesmen. In the early days of the goldfields he went to Johannesburg, prospecting for minerals and taking part in industrial projects. He was particularly interested in town planning and laid out several residential suburbs in the growing mining center. Langermann was associated with the political agitation which led to the Jameson Raid (1895) and was imprisoned and fined for his activities. After the South African War (1899–1902) he sat on the Johannesburg town council and helped to gain municipal franchise for aliens. In 1907 he became a member of the Transvaal legislative council. One of the most prominent Jewish personalities of his time in the Transvaal, Langermann played a leading role in the formation of the Transvaal and Natal Jewish Board of Deputies in Johannesburg in 1903 and was its first president. For a time he headed the Territorial Organization in South Africa. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Saron and L. Hotz, Jews in South Africa (1955), index. (Louis Hotz)