WAWELBERG, HIPPOLITE HENRICHOVICH:

Russian banker; born at Warsaw 1844; died at St. Petersburg Oct. 20, 1901. After graduating from the real-gymnasium of Warsaw he studied at the university of that city, and later at the Agricultural College of Nova Alexandria, finally completing his studies in Germany. Upon his return to St. Petersburg he assumed the management of his father's banking establishment, and became a very successful financier. He took a lively interest in the communal affairs of St. Petersburg and of Warsaw, and contributed considerable sums of money toward the foundation and maintenance of industrial schools. He devoted large sums also to the improvement of the condition of the laboring classes. The Museum of Arts and Industries, the Technical School of Wawelberg and Rothwand, and the cheap lodging-houses of Warsaw owe their existence largely to his support.

Wawelberg contributed liberally to the publication in the Polish language of popular books on the applied sciences. It was his aim not only to raise the general economic and social condition of Poland, but also to elevate his coreligionists and to imbue them with a spirit of patriotism. He was a director of the Jewish community of St. Petersburg, and, from 1880, a member of the Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, and of the Society of Friends of Jewish Artisans and Farmers. After 1891 he was also an active member of the Jewish Colonization Association. Wawelberg was one of the trustees of the Industrial Company at Dubrovna, which endeavored to provide work for the poor Jewish artisans of that place.

Bibliography:
  • Voskhod, 1901, No. 57.
H. R. J. G. L.
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