Herman Lieberman

Herman Lieberman studied at Jagiellonian University. The recorded working language is German and Polish. The field of work recorded is legal work, diplomacy and political activity. Places of work recorded in the authority are Przemyśl, Paris and London. Positions recorded include Member of Abgeordnetenhaus and member of the Sejm. Distinctions recorded are Order of the White Eagle.

• Name — Herman Lieberman • Office — Minister of Justice of the Polish government-in-exile • Term Start — 3 September 1941 • Term End — 21 October 1941 • Predecessor — Marian Seyda • Successor — Karol Popiel • Office1 — Member of the Legislative Sejm • Term Start1 — 1919 • Term End1 — 1922 • Born — 4 January 1870 • Birthplace — Drohobycz, Galicia, Austro-Hungary • Died — 21 October 1941 • Place of death — London, England • Party — Polish Socialist Party • Awards — Order of the White Eagle Cross of Valour

Lieberman was born into a Jewish family in Drohobycz, Galicia, then part of Austro-Hungary. From 1907 to 1914 and from 1917 to 1918, he was a member of parliament in Vienna. During World War I he joined the Polish Legions of Józef Piłsudski as a private. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and took part in the Battle of Kostiuchnówka, for which he was awarded the Polish Cross of Valor. During the Oath crisis, when Polish troops refused to swear allegiance to Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Lieberman served as the lawyer for the Polish soldiers who were charged with treason by the German authorities. • Illustration — Sketch of Lieberman at Brest trials After World War I Lieberman became a leader of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), serving on its executive committee. In January 1919 he became a member of the Polish Sejm (parliament). In 1923 he successfully defended the Kraków workers charged in the aftermath of the 1923 Kraków riot. • Illustration — Lieberman's cenotaph at the new Jewish cemetery in Przemyśl After the May 1926 Coup d'État, he opposed Piłsudski. He was arrested and beaten by the police and then sentenced in the 1931–32 Brest trials to two and a half year in prison. Rather than serving the sentence he emigrated to France. While abroad he supported the republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and published a critical response to Marcel Déat's pamphlet Why Die for Danzig? which advocated appeasement of Hitler. During World War II, after the 1939 German invasion of Poland, Lieberman joined Władysław Sikorski's Polish government-in-exile in London, England. From 3 September 1941 to 20 October 1941, Lieberman was the government's minister of justice. He died in 1941.