WEISS, MANFRÉD

WEISS, MANFRÉD (1857–1922), industrialist and a pioneer of industry in Hungary. Born in Pest, Weiss founded, together with his brother Berthold, the first canning factory in Hungary, which was later enlarged and converted into the armaments factory at Csepel, a suburb of Budapest. The latter enterprise was capable of supplying all the armaments of the Hapsburg Empire in the event of war, and during World War I, 30,000 workers were employed in it. After Hungary's defeat in World War I, Weiss began to manufacture household appliances, agricultural machines, and motorcars. He was the founder of the national union of Hungarian industrialists (GYOSZ) and was also involved in Jewish public life, founding several charitable institutions, among them a Jewish maternity home (named after his wife), and a hospital for chronic diseases. He also fostered such Jewish public activities as the national council for the preparation of a united Jewish autonomy (1912), which included both neologist and Orthodox members. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Egyenlöség, no. 52 (1922), 21–3; J. Dálnoki Kováts, Ipari öntudatunk ébresztöi és munkálói (1943), 250–2. (Jeno Zsoldos)