DIAMAND, HERMAN

DIAMAND, HERMAN (1860–1931), Polish Socialist politician. Born in Lvov into an assimilated family, as a student he was a member of the Zionist Zion Association but afterwards left it to join the PPS (Polish Socialist Party). Diamand was one of the founders of the Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia and Silesia. He was a member of the party's executive committee from 1897 to 1899 and from 1904 to 1909 was a member of its directorate. In 1909 he represented the Polish Socialists at the International Bureau of the Second International. Diamand sat as a Galicia representative in the Austrian parliament from 1917 to 1918. After World War I he cooperated closely with Joseph Pilsudski in fighting for an independent Poland, and from 1919 until his death was a Socialist deputy in the Sejm (Polish parliament). Diamand was much concerned with the fate of the Jewish community of Lvov, and intervened many times with the authorities on its behalf. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: N.M. Gelber, Toledot ha-Tenu'ah ha-Ẓiyyonit be-Galicia 1875–1918, I–II (1958), index; H. Piasecki, Sekcja zydowska PPSD i zydowska Partia Socjalno Demokratyczna (1983), index; A. Tymieniecka, Warszaska organizacja PPS, 1918–1939 (1982), index; I. Daszynski, Pamietniki Diamanta z wyjatkow listow do zony zestawione (1932); H. Diamand, Polozenie gospodarcze Galicji przed wojna (1915). (Abraham Wein)