Born on 14th November 1876 in Krakow, Chaim Hilfstein, son of Jakub and Zofia, née Rosner, was a social and political activist, a Zionist and a consultant in internal medicine who worked at the St.Lazarus hospital in Krakow.He graduated from St.Ann’s gymnasium in Krakow in 1897, followed by Medicine at the Jagiellonian University. Hilfstein obtained his PhD title in 1904. A member of the National Jewish Council for Western Galicia in November 1918. In 1897, Hilfstein co-founded the ”Przed-świt-Haszahar” Jewish Youth Association which was the first Zionist organisation in Krakow. Throughout the interwar period, together with Ozjasz Thon, Hilfstein was one of the leaders of the Zionist Organisation of the Lesser Poland and Silesia region. He was a delegate at Zionist congresses in Karlsbad (1921), Vienna (1925)…