Benjamin Abram

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| name =Benjamin Abram

| image =Benjamin Abram.jpg

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| birth_date =23 September 1846

| birth_place =Marseille, France

| death_date ={{death date and age|df=y|1938|4|30|1846|9|23}}

| death_place =Aix-en-Provence, France

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| nationality =French

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| occupation =Lawyer
Politician

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| spouse =Esther Baze

| children =Samuel Élie Paul Abram
Maurice David Joseph Abram

| parents =Abraham Abram
Précieuse Bédarrides

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}}

Benjamin Abram (23 September1846 – 30 April 1938) was a French lawyer and politician. He served as the Mayor of Aix-en-Provence from 1888 to 1896. He was the third Jewish Mayor of Aix-en-Provence and abandoned politics after the debacle of the antisemitic Dreyfus affair.

Early life

Benjamin Abram was born to a Jewish family on 23 September 1846 in Marseille.[https://archive.today/20131229000131/http://www.centredariusmilhaud.org/itinerairedujudaisme/?p=56 Centre Darius Milhaud: Avenue Benjamin Abram][http://www.geneprovence.com/benjamin-abram-1846-1938-maire-daix-en-provence/ GeneProvence] His father, Abraham Abram, was a businessman, and his mother was Précieuse Bédarrides. As a result, Jassuda Bédarrides (1804-1882), who served as the first Jewish Mayor of Aix-en-Provence from 1848 to 1849, was his maternal uncle.Charles Cohen, Les Grandes Figures du barreau d'Aix-en-Provence, Paris: Société des Écrivains, 2004, p. 154 Another uncle, Salomon Bédarrides, went on to serve as the mayor of Aix-en-Provence from 1877 to 1884.

He was educated at the Lycée Thiers in Marseille and studied the Law at the University of Aix-en-Provence.

Career

He started his career as a lawyer in 1866. He served as bâtonnier from 1885 to 1887.Paul Masson, Henri Barré, Encyclopédie départementale des Bouches-du-Rhône, Marseille, 1913, vol. 11, p. 3

A supporter of the Republic and a Freemason, he embarked upon a career in politics. He served on the General Council representing Lambesc from 1880 to 1898. He received the Knighthood of the Legion of Honour in 1887.

He served as Mayor of Aix-en-Provence from 1888 to 1896, after being re-elected in 1892.Jean-Rémy Palanque, Le Diocèse d'Aix-en-Provence, Aix-en-Provence: Editions Beauchesne, 1975, p. 217 [https://books.google.com/books?id=i-3b729fpZUC&dq=%22Benjamin+Abram%22+aix&pg=PA217] After the Dreyfus affair of 1894–1906, he abandoned politics and returned to practising the Law.