Daniel Auster
{{Short description|Israeli politician (1893–1962)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Daniel Auster
| native_name = דניאל אוסטר
| native_name_lang = he
| image = DanielAuster22.jpg
| office = Mayor of West Jerusalem
| term_start = 1948
| term_end = 1950
| predecessor =
| successor = Shlomo Zalman Shragai
| office2 = Mayor of Jerusalem
| term_start2 = 1944
| term_end2 = 1948
| predecessor2 = Mustafa al-Khalidi
| successor2 = Teddy Kollek (1967)
| term_start3 = 1937
| term_end3 = 1938
| predecessor3 = Husayn al-Khalidi
| successor3 = Mustafa al-Khalidi
| birth_date = {{birth date|1893|05|7|df=y}}
| birth_place = Knihinin, Galicia, Austria-Hungary
| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|01|15|1893|05|7|df=y}}
| death_place = Israel
| party = General Zionists
| spouse = Julia Auster
}}
Daniel Auster OBE ({{langx|he|דניאל אוסטר}}; 7 May 1893 – 15 January 1963) was Mayor of Jerusalem in the final years of Mandatory Palestine, the first Jewish mayor of the city, and the first mayor of Jerusalem after Israeli independence.{{Cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/48F99307DEA1E9DC85256AF5006050D3|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224115145/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/48F99307DEA1E9DC85256AF5006050D3|url-status=dead|title=Summary record of a meeting between the committee on Jerusalem and Mr. Daniel Auster, Mayor of Jerusalem (Jewish sector)|archivedate=December 24, 2013}}
Biography
Daniel Auster was born in Kniahynyn, a Galician town that is now a district of the city Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.{{Cite web |url=http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/cms/knowledge/4109,poland-and-the-independence-declaration-of-the-state-of-israel-of-14-may-1948/Poland |title=and the Independence Declaration of the State of Israel |access-date=2014-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205085729/http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/cms/knowledge/4109,poland-and-the-independence-declaration-of-the-state-of-israel-of-14-may-1948/Poland |archive-date=2014-12-05 |url-status=dead }} He immigrated to Ottoman-controlled Palestine prior to World War I after finishing his law studies at the university in Vienna, Austria, from which he graduated in 1914. He initially settled in Haifa and taught German at the Reali School.{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/2007-05-15/ty-article/its-sad-to-be-the-mayor-of-jerusalem/0000017f-f405-d887-a7ff-fce5e7ef0000|title=It's Sad to Be the Mayor of Jerusalem|newspaper=Haaretz}}
He first served at the Austrian expeditionary force headquarters in Damascus, assisting Arthur Ruppin in sending financial help from Constantinople to the starving Yishuv. In 1919, he became Secretary of the Legal Department of the Zionist Commission in Jerusalem. He became Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem under Husayn al-Khalidi in 1936.
In 1937, he became the first Jewish mayor of Jerusalem. He was also a member of the Assembly of Representatives for the General Zionists party and a signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence.[http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/history/modern%20history/israel%20at%2050/the%20signatories%20of%20the%20declaration%20of%20the%20establis The Signatories of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel]
In November 1947, he was a member of the Jewish Agency's delegation to the Working Committee of the Trusteeship Council which attempted to draw up a Draft Statute for Jerusalem, but in 1949, he openly declared his opposition to the internationalization of Jerusalem and stated categorically that it was not possible.[https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/48F99307DEA1E9DC85256AF5006050D3 UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE COMMITTEE ON JERUSALEM] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224115145/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/48F99307DEA1E9DC85256AF5006050D3 |date=2013-12-24 }} He contested the 1949 Knesset elections as the leader of the "For Jerusalem" list,[https://en.idi.org.il/media/7053/%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%AA-1-%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%9F-%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D.pdf For Jerusalem] Israel Democracy Institute but it failed to win a seat.
Awards
For his service, Auster was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by King George VI.{{cite web |last1=Ben-Sorek |first1=Esor |title=The Proposed 'Ben-Sorek' Plan |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-proposed-ben-sorek-plan/ |access-date=17 September 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Stein |first1=Rose |title=Appointments, Honors and Elections |date=1946 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23602832 |journal=The American Jewish Year Book |volume=48 |pages=471–480 |jstor=23602832 |access-date=17 September 2023}}
References
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Mayors of Jerusalem}}
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Category:Politicians from Ivano-Frankivsk
Category:Politicians from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Category:Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)
Category:Jews from Austria-Hungary
Category:Jewish Ukrainian politicians
Category:Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the Ottoman Empire
Category:Jews from Mandatory Palestine
Category:Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Category:General Zionists politicians
Category:Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine)
Category:Deputy mayors of Jerusalem
Category:Signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence