Hilary Landsberg

Hilary (Hilel) Landsberg (1834 in Warsaw, Poland – 11 January 1898 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki) – cloth manufacturer in Tomaszów Mazowiecki.

Family

Born in Warsaw in a Jewish family of Sephardi origin, descended from Salomon Calahorra, the royal physician of two kings of Poland: Sigismund II Augustus and Stephen Báthory. Hilel was son of Mendel Lewkowicz Landsberg, a tradesman in Warsaw, and Lea née Lewek. He was a founder of the Tomaszow branch of the Landsbergs. His younger brethren Abram Lajb vel Alexander Landsberg (1859–1928) and Leopold vel Liber Landsberg (1861–1935) were owners of manufactures in Tomaszów Mazowiecki and Łódź, respectively.

Hilary Landsberg married Hana Mendelsburg (1838–1904) and had two sons Alexander (Abram Lajb) (1858–1924) and Felix (Fishel) (1868–1923), as well as 6 daughters.

Industrial activity

In 1857, he created a small cloth-manufacture in Tomaszów Mazowiecki with 10 hand-looms. Step by step he modernized means of production. In 1881-1883 he built a new, large cloth-factory in the town (Gustowna street 46), introducing the steam propulsion. In 1894 he built the finish-work factory and the storehouse of wool. In 1896, he electrified his factory. He employed more than 300 workers in H. Landsberg’s factory.

See also

• Leopold Landsberg
• Marceli Landsberg

Bibliography

• Kazimierz Badziak, Awans przemysłowy Tomaszowa Maz. do II wojny światowej i jego najważniejsi twórcy, in: Wiesława Bogurat (ed.), „220 lat Tomaszowa Mazowieckiego”. Materiały sesji naukowej 16 września 2008 r., Tomaszów Mazowiecki 2008, pp. 24–25;
• Joanna Podolska, Spacerownik. Śladami Żydów ziemi łódzkiej, ISBN 978-83-268-0036-8, Agora SA, Łódź 2010, p. 138.
• Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak, Słownik biograficzny Żydów tomaszowskich [The Biographical Dictionary of the Jews from Tomaszów Mazowiecki], Łódź - Tomaszów Mazowiecki 2010: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, pp. 150–151.