Placard Szymon Rudstein - lawyer
Born 1876 in Warsaw, died 1942 in the Treblinka extermination camp. Awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta on May 2, 1922. Bronze 17.5x25.3cm, signed C.M (Czeslaw Makowski) 1913.
Rundstein Szymon (24.11.1876 Warsaw - 08.1942 Treblinka II) - lawyer, expert and negotiator of international treaties, law lecturer.
Rundstein came from a polonized Jewish family. His father, Markus, was a juror of the Warsaw Municipal Board. Shimon Rundstein was initially educated at home, and later attended a Russian gymnasium. In 1894-1898, he studied at the Faculty of Law at the Imperial University of Warsaw. He completed his studies with highest honors. He continued his studies at the University of Heidelberg, and after receiving his doctorate he worked as a researcher at the Department of Civil Law at the University of Berlin. Rundstein worked there until 1906, publishing further works that brought him great fame, such as his pioneering work on cartel issues An Outline of Cartel Legislation (Recht der Kartelle).
In 1906, despite his many successes, he decided to return to Warsaw. He received an appointment as a sworn attorney and opened a law firm specializing in civil and commercial law. During this time he became interested in Zionist ideology, but after a few years he joined assimilationist circles. He worked as a legal advisor to banks and insurance companies. During World War I, he served as clerk of the General Court. He became involved in the independence movement and in October 1917 began working in the Political Department of the Provisional Council of State. From 1918 to 1926 he held the post of head of the Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During this time he took part in Poland's negotiations with other countries, including participation in the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and in determining the content of the Riga Treaty. Even after 1926, he cooperated with the Foreign Ministry as a "contractual juris consultus" and often accompanied the Foreign Minister on his missions. For his merits, he was honored as one of the first Polish lawyers to be awarded in 1921. Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Rundstein also lectured at seminars for trainee attorneys. He published numerous scientific works. In 1913, together with Karol Lutostanski, Stanislaw Posner and Zygmunt Nagorski, he founded the journal "Themis Polska," of which he was editor-in-chief in 1913-15. He also collaborated with "Gazeta Sądowa Warszawska," "Palestra," "Przegląd Prawa Handlowego," and "Orzecznictwo Sądów Polskich." He was a long-time vice-president of the Warsaw Law Society, a member of the Warsaw Scientific Society and a member of the board of the Polish Branch of the International Law Society. In 1927 he was elected professor of international law at the Free Polish University and headed the Department of International Law there (until 1927). In 1928, he also taught at the Academy of International Law in The Hague.
The outbreak of World War II interrupted his active life. Rundstein rejected offers to leave and take up lectures at British and Swiss universities and decided to remain in Warsaw. His apartment at 6 Tłomackie Street was demolished during the siege of the capital in September 1939. The Rundstein family was taken care of by the long-time chairman of the Polish Attorney General's Office, the blind Dr. Stanislaw Bukowiecki. However, they were forced to move to the ghetto, from where they were deported to the Treblinka II extermination camp in August 1942.
