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Short Biography and Bibliography
Dr. Mayer Ebner - (Meir Avner) 1872-1955
Mayer Ebner - son of Jacob and Machle Ebner was the leader of the
Zionist Jews (who believed in Herzel's ideas and vision) in Bukovina
and greater Rumania.
Ebner was born in Czernowitz, received a traditional Jewish education
and completed law school at the university of Czernowitz.
He participated in 1891, in the establishment of the Jewish national
student association- named 'Hasmonea' .
With Herzel's advent, Ebner joined the Zionist Organization attending
the First Zionist Congress in Basel (1897) and almost all succeeding
Congresses until his death in Israel.
Ebner was active in Jewish affairs in Bukovina and at the same time
worked to obtain Jewish representation in Vienna – in the local Landtag
and the Reichsrat (Austro – Hungarian Era).
In 1910 he helped Leon Kellner to found the the 'Jewish People's
Council (Judischer Volksrat).
Ebner was exiled to Siberia by the Russian conquerors in 1915, returned
in 1917 and joined the socialist Jacob Pistiner (1882-1930) in setting
up the Jewish National Council (Judischer Nationalrat) in 1918.
When Bukovina was annexed to Rumania in 1918 (After the 1st World War)
Ebner led the struggle for Jewish rights.
Between the world wars Ebner directed the national leadership of
Bukovinian Jewry and served there as longtime chairman of the Zionist
Organization.
In the Austro –Hungarian era and between the world wars Ebner devoted
his energies not only defending the individual and civil rights of the
Jews but to securing their rights as a national minority, not only as
culture or religion (see Die Welt- February 1901-Realpolitik- by M.
Ebner in the Documents section).
The leadership of Bukovinian Jewry was shaped then by B. Straucher
(1854-1940) and by Mayer Ebner which turned into a bitter rivalry
called "Thirty Tears War".
Ebner founded in 1919 his newspaper 'Ostjudische Zeitung'
(1919-1938) in which he, as editor and writer advocated Zionism as well
as the Jewish national policy in the Diaspora. This newspaper became
the chief Zionist organ in the region.
In 1926 the Jewish Unity Party (Judische Einheits Partei) – The Zionist
party in Bukovina founded by Ebner and B. Flaminger and Karl Kluger
published a platform and demands in the spirit of the Jewish National
Council.
In 1926 Ebner became head of the Czernowitz Jewish community. In the
same year he was elected to the Rumanian parliament (House of
Deputies) in Bucharest where he advocated with courage the rights of
the Jews. (Karl Kluger was elected to the senate).
In 1928 Ebner was elected to the Rumanian Senate heading the Jewish
Faction (caucus) of four members: M.Landau, J. Fischer, T
Fischer. M.Weissman and M. Ebner.
In 1931 he took part in the foundation of the 'Jewish National Party'
of Rumania as the key ideologue of the party. He was several times
elected on its behalf to the Rumanian parliament, until his election
was prevented in 1934, through the machinations of the government.
Ebner attended the international Congresses of National Minorities in
Geneva and functioned on these occasions as Vice–president of the
International Zionist Organization after the death of Leo Motzkin in
1933.
In 1934 he attended the trial in Switzerland against "The Protocols of
the Elders of Zion" as a witness against all the anti-Semitic
accusations.
In 1939 Ebner attended the 21st. Zionist Congress in Zurich and
from there travelled to Israel to settle there. His son Joseph Ebner
was already there since 1934, waiting for his parents Mayer and Adele
to join him.
The daughter of Mayer Ebner, Nataly Cremnitzer, immigrated to Israel in
1950 with her husband Lucius (Advocate).
The daughter of Mayer Ebner, Alma Menczer, her husband
Erwin and child Ariel, did not survive in Transnistria.
The son of Mayer Ebner, Dr. Joseph Ebner, immigrated to Israel in 1934.
In 1950 he married Bronka Eisenberg from Rzeshov Galicia. They had one
daughter: Zlila Ebner (Helman) born in Israel on 2.11.1951 - a
symbolic date as the Balfour Declaration was on 2.11.1917.
In Palestine (Israel) Ebner remained active in public life and
continued to write in the local newspapers (Haaretz, Hayom, Haboker).
After his retirement he was made a permanent member in the Zionist
Organization.
Ebner attended on 14.5.1948 in Tel Aviv the declaration of the creation
of a Jewish state- Israel by David Ben Gurion.
Thus his fight came to an end: His dream, his efforts, and
all that he had fought for came to pass.
After Ebner's death in Israel, streets were named after him in
Tel Aviv, Natanya, Rischon le Zion, Ramat Gan, and Jerusalem.
Zlila Ebner Helman
Granddaughter of Mayer Ebner
October 2009
Bibliography:
Kleinman-Enziklopedia le zionut (Hebrew)
M.Reifer - Dr M Ebner (German)
Grunbaum-Pnei - ha- dor (Hebrew)
Gold Hugo - The History of the Jews of Bukovina (German)
Schaari David – Jews of Bukovina between two world wars (Hebrew)
Yavetz Zvi- My Czernowitz (Hebrew)
Rotman and Vago (ed) The History of the Jews in Romania (English)
Hildrun Glass - Zerbrochene Nachbarschaft - 1918-1938 (German)
Hausleitner Mariana - Romanisierung der Bukowina - 1918-1944 (German)