PERLZWEIG, MAURICE L.

PERLZWEIG, MAURICE L. (1895–1985), Reform rabbi and official of the World Jewish Congress. Born in Poland, the son of a cantor who moved to London, Perlzweig was educated in England, where he was founder and chairman of the University Labor Federation of Great Britain and (from 1933. president of the World Union of Jewish Students and deputy member of the Executive of the Jewish Agency. He also officiated at the Liberal Synagogue in London. A founding member of the World Jewish Congress and the first chairman of its British section, in 1942 Perlzweig was nominated head of the World Jewish Congress Department of International Affairs in New York and represented it at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and subsidiary bodies. He attended numerous international conferences and meetings as a spokesman of Jewish interests and causes and drafted many documents submitted to the United Nations, particularly the Commission of Human Rights and Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination, on crucial problems of Jewish communities around the world. While working for the World Jewish Congress, Perlzweig had an influence in securing a commitment by the Allies to hold the nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals. (Natan Lerner)