ROTENSTREICH, FISCHEL

ROTENSTREICH, FISCHEL (1882–1938), Zionist leader. Born in Kolomyya, Galicia, Rotenstreich was active in the student Zionist movement in Galicia and later in Vienna. He taught at various government high schools in Galicia. With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy at the end of World War I and the establishment of the "West Ukrainian State" (1918) in Galicia, Rotenstreich became the chairman of the Jewish National Council. When the district was returned to Polish rule, he was arrested by the Poles. From 1922 to 1927, he was a member of the Polish senate, and from 1927 to 1930 a member in the Polish Sejm. In both of these capacities, he took an interest mainly in economic affairs. At the 18th Zionist Congress (1935), he was elected to the Executive of the Jewish Agency by the general zionists . In the same year, he settled in Palestine, where he directed the agency's Department of Commerce and Industry until his death. He published many articles in Hebrew, Yiddish and Polish on economic and financial matters. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Gruenbaum, Penei ha-Dor, 1 (1957), 295–9; Tidhar, 3 (1949), 1442–43. (Getzel Kressel)