Roza Pomerantz-Meltzer (Polish: Róża Pomeranc-Melcer; November 5, 1880 – October 19, 1934)[1] was aPolish writer and novelist based in the city ofLviv. In1922 she became the first Jewish woman to be elected to theSejm, the Parliament ofPoland, as a member of the Committee of United National Jewish Parties.[2] A strong promoter ofZionism, she was an influential member of local Jewish women's organizations, especially theKoło Kobiet Żydowskich (Jewish Women's Circle). She contributed to a number of local and foreign journals, writing in both German and Polish, and participated in international congresses.[3][4]
Born in 1880 inTarnopol, Roza Pomerantz was brought up in a well-to-do Jewish family. In addition to her schooling, she had private lessons in music and German. After studying for three years at theLeipzig Conservatoire, she returned to Tarnopol where she supported initiatives providing assistance to Jewish orphans, especially those returning from the 1903Kishinev pogroms without their parents. In 1906, she married Izaak Melcer, a railways official.[3]
Pomerantz contributed articles to a wide variety of newspapers and journals in both Polish and German. These included theLviv Zionist papersWshód andPrzyszlośé as well asDie Welt andDas Israelische Familienblatt and the SwissJüdische Arbeiter andDr. Blochs Wochenschrift. Among her contributions were the short storiesEin Chazarenkönig,Chancia and the playMatka which was first performed in Lviv in Polish. In the 1920s, she published the short storyDer Chossen Bocher.[3] As a result, she became well known to those who read Zionist publications in German.[5] She also wrote novels featuring Galician Jews such asIm Land der Not.[6] Other works includedAn die jüdischen Frauen: Ein Appell (1898) and "Die Bedeutung der zionistischen Idee im Leber der Jüdin" inDer Zionismus und die Frauen (c.1905).[7]
She also exerted considerable influence on Zionist youth in Galicia, arranging and attending festivities and functions. She was an active member of the women's movement, helping to establish a Zionist women's association inStryi as early as 1898. In 1908, it was registered asOgnisko Kobiet Żydowskich (Jewish Women's Cercle). In 1901 in Tarnopol, she was elected chair of the district committee while in 1903, she proposed the establishment of a Galician Zionish women's association which led to the founding of theKolo Kobiet Żydowskich (KKZ) in 1908 in Lviv. After the end of theFirst World War, under the KKZ, she established a Jewish kindergarten (1918) and a girls' home (1919).[3]
In 1911, Pomerantz represented Galicia at the 10th Zionist Congress inBasel, becoming one of the pioneers of theWomen's International Zionist Organization which was established inLondon in 1920. In 1923, she participated in theFirst World Congress of Jewish Women inVienna, demanding support for Jewish emigrants toPalestine.[3][8]
Róża Pomerantz-Meltzer died on 20 October 1934, aged 55.[1]
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