איגנץ הירשלר
Ignac Hirschler (1823-1891), ophthalmologist and communal leader, born in Pozsony, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Bratislava, in Slovakia). He studied medicine at the Universities of Pest and Vienna, and worked for several years at the ophthalmologic clinics of Vienna and Paris, France. In 1949 he returned to Pest. Unable to obtain the position of lecturer at the University of Pest because he was a Jew, he became ophthalmic physician in the hospital for poor children and later physician in Pest general hospital. For a while Hirschler was the only ophthalmologist in Budapest. His skillful eye surgery and studies won him the status of researcher, He introduced new methods and published studies in various European periodicals.
Hirschler was also active in Jewish public life and from 1861 to 1863 was president of the Jewish community of Pest. He took an active part in the struggle for the emancipation and Magyarization of Hungarian Jewry. A friend and adviser of the minister of public worship and education, Otvos, he was elected president of the national Jewish congress of 1868-69 which had been convened by the minister for the purpose of reorganizing Jewish communal life. He founded the "Magyar Izraelita Egylet" (Hungarian-Jewish Association) and also an association to grant scholarships to needy Jewish students. His efforts made a significant contribution to the efforts to elevate Jewish young people to the general secular educational level of the time, but by promoting the organization of the Neolog (Reform) movement throughout Hungary he caused a rift in the Jewish community. He finally retired from Jewish affairs, discouraged by the violent protests of the traditionalist camp.
From 1869 Hirschler was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1874 he became president of the Royal Hungarian Association of Physicians, and subsequently a member of the National Public Health Board. As a member of the Upper Chamber of the Hungarian Parliament after 1885, he was considered to be the representative of Hungarian Jewry in that body. He wrote a number of books on medical matters.