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erliand, shlomo meir
(the German translation was published the same year in Der
Sturm journal). Also in the same year, the first exhibition of
his constructivist works was shown in the “Ausrto-Daimler”
Auto Salon. In addition, he founded “Reklama-Mechano,” a
functional design bureau. At the same time, he remained active
in book design and designed the typography for several
books in Yiddish and Hebrew and published articles on art in
Yiddish and Polish. His two one-man exhibitions took place
in 1926 and 1928 in Warsaw, showing his figurative works and
those inspired by Jewish themes. From 1928, Berlewi made his
permanent residence in Paris. In the early 1930s, he returned
to figurative painting and produced portraits and still lifes in
the manner of the “Neue Sachlichkeit.” In the 1930s, his exhibitions
were held in France, Belgium, and Holland. During
World War II Berlewi joined the French Resistance. In the
1950s, he returned to his experiments in abstract art and developed
a new version of “Mechano-faktura” which he called
Op Art. In 1960, Berlewi founded “Les Archives de l’Art Abstrait
et de l’Avant-garde Internationale.” He published articles
in the Paris press in French as well as in Yiddish on European
and Jewish art.
Bibliography: H. Berlewi, Mechano-faktura (1924); H. Colleye.
Henryk Berlewi: Poolsch Schilder (1937); Retrospective Ausstellung
Henryk Berlewi: Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Graphik, Mechano-Fakturen,
Plastic von 1908 – bis Heute, exh. cat., Berlin (1964); J. Malinowski,
Grupa “Jung Idysz” i żidowskie środowisko “Nowej Sztuki” w Polsce.
1918–1923 (1987); S.A. Mansbach, Modern Art in Eastern Europe. From
the Baltic to the Balkans, ca. 1890–1939 (1999), 121–23; J. Malinowski.
Malarstwo i rzeźba Żydow Polskich w XIX i XX wieku (2000), 170–80,
199–205, 214–16, 221–26.
[Hillel Kazovsky (2nd ed.)]
BERLIAND, SHLOMO MEIR (1868–1941), one of the first
members of the Ḥovevei Zion in Bessarabia and a founder
of the *Odessa Committee, the center of the Ḥovevei Zion
in Russia (1890). Berliand was born in the Ukraine. In 1920
he became the secretary of the committee for aiding Jewish
refugees from the Ukraine and in 1921 was a member of the
delegation sent to Bucharest to the Romanian prime minister
Averescu to ask for help. From 1926 until 1940 he served
as chairman of the Zionist Federation and the central committees
of *Keren Hayesod, of *Tarbut in Bessarabia, Romania,
and of the Committee for Education and Culture of the
Jewish community of Kishinev. He was also a member of the
Municipal Council of Kishinev. Berliand was an advocate of
*Aḥad Ha-Am’s “cultural Zionism.” Head of the Wissotzky
Tea Company’s agency throughout this period, he worked for
the Zionist movement wherever he traveled, and aided Jacob
Bernstein-Kogan in his Zionist activities. At the outbreak of
World War II Berliand refused to join his sons in London.
When Bessarabia was occupied by the USSR (June 1940), he
was forced to leave Kishinev. In June 1941, a week before the
German attack on the USSR, he was arrested in Czernowitz,
where he was living in his daughter’s home. Although he declared
that he had ceased all political activity, he was sent to
a forced labor camp in Kom along with a group of Zionists,
and died there. His wife, daughter, and son-in-law were also
arrested and deported.
Bibliography: Haolam (Feb. 24, 1938); M. Landau et al.
(eds.), Al Admat Bessarabia, 2 (1962), 13–14. Add. Bibliography:
M. Slipoi, in: Yahadut Bessarabia (EG, 11), 873; D. Vinitzky, Bessarabia
ha-Yehudit be-Ma’arekhoteihah bein Shetei Milḥamot ha-Olam
1914–1940 (1973), 125–27, 130–32, 157.
[David Vinitzky / Lucian-Zeev Herscovici (2nd ed.)]
BERLIGNE, ELIYAHU MEIR (1866–1959), yishuv leader
and a founder of Tel Aviv. Berligne was born in Mogilev, Russia.
He was a delegate to several Zionist congresses and at the
Fifth Congress in 1901 joined the Zionist *Democratic Fraction
under the leadership of Chaim *Weizmann. In 1907 Berligne
settled in Ereẓ Israel, where he established industrial
plants producing olive oil and soap. He was one of the founders
of Tel Aviv, served on its first administrative committee,
of which he was appointed chairman in 1909, and was made
an honorary citizen of the city in 1946. Berligne was a member
of the board of Herzliah High School in Tel Aviv. In 1919
he was a member of the yishuv delegation to the Paris Peace
Conference. He was active in the Provisional Council of Palestinian
Jewry (Ha-Va’ad ha-Zemanni), was a member of the
Va’ad Le’ummi from 1920 to 1948, also serving as its treasurer,
and was a signatory of Israel’s Declaration of Independence in
1948. He was a member of the General Zionists (“A” Group)
which later (1949) became the Progressive Party.
Bibliography: Tidhar, 4 (1950), 1736–38; M. Attias (ed.),
Sefer ha-Te’udot shel ha-Va’ad ha-Le’ummi (1963), index; A. Druyanow
(ed.), Sefer Tel Aviv (1936).
[Benjamin Jaffe]
BERLIJN, ANTON (Aron Wolf; 1817–1870), Dutch composer,
born in Amsterdam. He was for many years conductor
and director of the Royal Theater, and was made a member
of the Order of Merit by King William III of the Netherlands.
Other monarchs (of Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, and
Austria) also decorated him. He founded many choral groups,
wrote liturgical works for the synagogue, and composed a
large body of other music. His compositions included nine
operas (of which Die Bergknappen and Proserpina became
popular), an oratorio Moses auf Nebo, a symphony (performed
by Spohr at Cassel, 1857), seven ballets, and a cantata. His
archives, including correspondence with Mendelssohn and
Meyerbeer, among others, are preserved at the National and
University Library, Jerusalem.
Bibliography: Grove, Dict; Baker, Biog Dict; Riemann-Gurlitt;
Sendrey, Music, index.
[Dora Leah Sowden]
BERLIN, largest city and capital of Germany.
The Old Community (1295–1573)
Jews are first mentioned in a letter from the Berlin local
council of Oct. 28, 1295, forbidding wool merchants to supply
Jews with wool yarn. Suzerainty over the Jews belonged
444 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3