Julius Brutzkus

Julius Davidovich Brutzkus or Judah Loeb Brutzkus or Joselis Bruckus (Hebrew: יהודה ליבּ בֶּן־דָּוִד ברוצקוס, Yehuda Loeb ben David Brutzkus; Russian: Юлий Давидович Бруцкус; 1870 – January 27, 1951) was a Lithuanian Jewish activist and politician, and one of the leaders of Zionist movement in the Russian Empire.

Educated as a physician at the University of Moscow, Brutzkus was active with various Jewish organizations, including Lovers of Zion and Jewish Colonization Association, and was editor of several Jewish periodicals, including Voskhod, Evreiskaia zhizn, Rassvet. In 1917, he was elected to the Russian Constituent Assembly. He opposed the Bolshevik regime and moved to Lithuania in 1922. There he was elected to the Jewish National Council (a Kehilla), the First Seimas (parliament of Lithuania), and became the acting Minister for Jewish Affairs. In 1924, he moved to Germany and later to France. There he worked with various Jewish organizations, primarily with the World Jewish Health Society (known by its acronym OSE). During World War II, he attempted to use his status as a former government minister to issue citizenship papers to Jews in detainment camps in France, but was arrested and imprisoned. He was freed and emigrated to the United States. He later moved to Israel where he died in 1951. He was interested in the history of the Jews in Russia and wrote various articles and books on the topic.