(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)
The funeral of Maxim Vinaver took place here today in the cemetery of Pere Lachaise. The hearse was followed by a large gathering of Russian and French Jews. The religious service was performed by Rabbi J. H. Dreyfus and the rabbi of the Temple of la rue des Victoires, M. Henri Kahn, assisted by the choir of the Temple. Wreaths were laid on the grave by the Committee of Jewish Delegations, the Jewish World Relief Conference, the Russian Jewish Community, the Russian Constitutional Democratic Party (Cadets), and the ex-members of the Russian Duma who were signatories of the Viborg Manifesto and were imprisoned together with Vinaver.
M. Paul Miliukov, former Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Russian Provisional Government, speaking in Russian dwelt on the great importance of what Vinaver had done for Russia. especially in the Duma. Russian histroy, M. Miliukov declared, will never forget the name of Vinaver.
M. Sliosberg, who spoke in the name of the Russian Jews in Paris, spoke of Vinaver’s work for Russia and for the Jewish people. Vinaver had understood, M. Sliosberg said, that the Jewish people could enjoy freedom only in a free Russia and for that reason he had devoted the whole of his life and all his energies to the cause of political freedom in Russia.
M. Salomon Reinach paid a tribute in the name of the Alliance Israelite Universelle to Vinaver as the first Russian Jew who had taken part in the activities of the Alliance.
M. Aksentieff, a former member of the Russian Duma, expressed the sorrow of a number of Russian political organizations, especially the Russian League of Nations Union, at the loss of so distinguished a man, whose place in Russian political and social life will long remain unfilled.
Leo Motzkin, speaking in Hebrew in the name of the Zionist Organization, pointed out that it had been Vinaver who in the first Duma had formulated the rights of the Jews as the rights of the Jewish nation.
Rabbi Eisenstadt, former Chief Rabbi of Petrograd, spoke of Vinaver’s achievements for the Jewish people. In his last conversation with Vinaver, he said, they had discussed Zionism and Vinaver, who had not been a Zionist, had said: My hand is stretched out towards Zionism.
M. Yefroykin, speaking in Yiddish, said that Vinaver’s death was a particularly hard blow for the Russian Jews abroad.
Other speeches were delivered by M. Golsdtein, the well known Russian Advocate, and the former Russian Senator Gourevitch.
M. Israel Levi, Chief Rabbi of France assisted in the burial service.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
