FRIEDMANN Origin of surname

Desider Friedmann (1880-1944), Zionist, born in Boskovice (now in the Czech Republic). He became an active Zionist while still in his teens. He moved to Vienna, Austria, and when that community became the first in the Central Europe with a Zionist majority, he was elected its vice-president - and later president. In 1934, he was appointed to the Austrian Council of State. Friedmann fought for Jewish rights and expanded the community's educational, cultural and social programs. Shortly after the 1938 Anschluss he was arrested by the Nazis and sent to various concentration camps. In 1944, he and his wife were sent from Theresienstadt Nazi concentration camp to their deaths in Auschwitz.

Israel Ruzhin Friedmann (1797-1850) Hasidic Rabbi.

He was a great grandson of Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezhirech and showed outstanding qualities from childhood. At the age of 13 he married and settled in Botosani, Romania. Three years later his brother died and he became a hasidic leader. He moved to Ruzhin, Poland, where he achieved the reputation of a great holy man and attracted thousands of followers. Israel lived a life of great luxury and surrounded himself with splendor, such as his carriage with silver handles drawn by four horses. In 1838 he was accused of complicity in the death of two Jews accused of being informers and was imprisoned for two years. On his release he moved to Kishinev, then to Jassy and other places before finally settling in Sadagora, Bukovina. There he reestablished his court in all its glory. His six sons all founded hasidic dynasties.

Mor (Moritz) Friedmann (1826-1891), cantor, born in Hraboc, near Presov in north east Slovakia (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied Talmud at Papa and Pressburg (now Bratislava, in Slovakia). He held a post as teacher at Brezova while continuing to study both religious and secular subjects.

As a child he was a noted boy soprano, and already by the age of twelve he supported himself by leading prayers at the synagogue. In Budapest, Hungary, cantor David Broder accepted him as a member of his choir. Later he went to Oedenburg (now Sopron, in Hungary) where he was appointed assistant cantor and Hebrew teacher, and at the age of 22 he became the official cantor at Sopron. Then he went on to study at the conservatory of Vienna, Austria. In 1856 he was appointed chief cantor in Budapest, where he conducted services in the Sulzer style, with a large choir and set psalms and prayers to music for solo and choir. His collection of Jewish synagogue songs "Izraelita vallasos enekek" (1875), was used in synagogues of most Hungarian communities. From 1883 to 1897 he edited the magazine "Ungarische Israelitische Kultusbeamtenzeitung" in which he published articles on cantorial music.

Friedmann served as vice president of the Jewish Teachers Association. He was awarded a Golden Cross for his cultural activities and achievements. Mor Friedmann died in Budapest.

Abraham Friedmann (? -1879), chief rabbi of Transylvania, Romania (then part of Austro-Hungary). Among the first rabbis there to introduce the preaching of sermons in the synagogue, he encountered strong opposition from Orthodox rabbis for his initiative.

In 1845 Friedmann preached in Hungarian in the synagogue in Simand (province of Arad) on the occasion of the birthday of the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I. The address, entitled "Egyhazi beszed", was published the same year. Previously Friedmann published a pamphlet, also in Hungarian, in defense of Jewish rights entitled "Az izraelita nemzetnek vedelmere" (1844). In 1845 the council of electors of the Jews of Transylvania, convened by the Catholic bishop of Alba-Julia (Gyulafehervar), elected him Chief Rabbi of the Grand Principality of Transylvania. He subsequently settled in the capital, Alba-Julia.

During his period of office he also acted as representative of Transylvanian Jewry in negotiations with the government, and as such he became involved in a number of bitter disputes. In 1872 his Orthodox opponents obtained his removal from office. He was the last chief rabbi to hold office for the whole of Transylvania. One of his main opponents was Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein (1814-1891).

Egon Friedell (born Egon Friedmann) (1878-1938), playwright, essayist, cultural historian, sometime actor, born in Vienna, Austria (then part of Austria-Hungary). He studied in Vienna and in Heidelberg, Germany. Being a witty critic and a versatile bohemian, he frequented the Cafe Central in Vienna with his friends, Peter Altenberg, Franz T. Csokor and Alfred Polgar. His Jesusproblem was published in 1921. His major work the Kulturgeschichte der Neuzeit (“Cultural History of the Modern Age”, 1927-1932 - three volumes) covers history ranging from the Reformation to World War I. Friedell sometimes acted in his own plays, among them Die Judastragoedie (1929), performed in Max Reinhardt’s theater. The Kulturgeschichte des Altertums (“Cultural History of Antiquity”) was published in the years 1936-1949.

He was urged by some of his friends to leave Nazi-ruled Austria, but was reluctant to leave his life’s work behind. Two days after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany (March 1938), when some SS squads came up the stairs to his apartment, he leaped to his death from his window.

His letters were published in 1959.

Beate Fredanov (born Friedmann) (1913-1997), actress and acting teacher, born in Chernivtsi (Czernowitz), Ukraine (then part of Austria-Hungary). She graduated from the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art of Vienna in 1933. After her return to Romania, she started her acting career in 1934 with a role in Grand Hotel by Vicky Baum. She then was a member of the Bulandra theater company in Bucharest, until 1940, when following the implementation of the anti-Semitic policy of the Romanian government, she was banned from Romanian theater houses. During the Holocaust years she acted at the Baraseum Jewish Theater.

After WW2 she returned to the stage and appeared in numerous roles at the Comedy Theater, the Bucharest Municipal Theater and Maria Filotti Theater. After 1948 she became a teacher at the Institute of Theater and Cinematography in Bucharest. During the 1980s she immigrated to Germany and continued to teach, this time in German. Beate Fredanov died in Duesseldorf, Germany, in 1997. The Polish-born Israeli actress Lea Koenig was one of her students.