He was one of the biggest investors in Turkestan, a lawyer, and a journalist. He was the chairman of the Central Asian region of the Zionist Committee. He was born on November 27, 1881 in Odessa. His nationality is Bukharian Jew. He was a free listener (since 1902) of the Faculty of Law of the University of Bern (Switzerland). After returning to Russia, he passed the exam at the Odessa Yunkar educational institution and began his military service in the 6th Turkestan battalion in Samarkand. In 1904-1906, he published the newspaper “Samarkand” in Russian. He was accepted as a 2nd-year student at the Law Faculty of Novorossiysk University in Odessa (1907). He was elected to the Odessa Zionist Committee in September 1908 and published the newspaper “Odesskoye Slovo”. In May 1913, he graduated from the university and returned to Samarkand. He was the chairman of the Jewish Committee in the Samarkand City Duma. He was elected a member of the Samarkand City Duma (1917).

He entered the first structure of the Turkestan Autonomous Government as the only non-indigenous candidate and became the Minister of Finance. He was a member of the National Assembly (November 1917 - February 1918). Later, he transferred the post of finance minister to Islam Shoahmedov. When the autonomous government was overthrown, he was captured and shot by the Red Guards in Kokand on February 20, 1918. He was buried at the Melnikovo station of the Central Asian Railway (now Konibodom). According to Mustafa Chokai, “Hersfeld fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks in Samarkand” [1].

At the request of the Jews of Bukhara, S. Hersfeld’s body was exhumed on April 16, 1918, and his body was reburied in the Jewish cemetery in Samarkand by the Jewish community [2]. At the time of his death, S.A. Hersfeld was not yet 37 years old.

 

[1] Mustafo Choʻqay oʻgʻli. Istiqlol jallodlari. – B. 49.

[2] Герцфельд, Соломон Абрамович //Материал из Википедии – свободной энциклопедии...