Background
Gruzenberg, Oskar was born in 1866 in Ekaterinoslav(now Dnepropetrovsk). Son of a merchant.
Gruzenberg, Oskar was born in 1866 in Ekaterinoslav(now Dnepropetrovsk). Son of a merchant.
Educated at Kiev high school. Graduated in law from Kiev University, 1889.
Moved to Petersburg. Became an assistant legal attorney. Widely known as a defence lawyer in trials connected with pogroms, ritual accusations and Zionism, often gaining verdicts in favour of the accused. Defended Trotsky and other leaders of the Petrograd Soviet during the 1905 Revolution at their trial in 1906.
Although one of the best-known lawyers in the country, remained officially only an assistant, refusing to abandon the Jewish faith, and became a lawyer only in 1905, when religious requirements for the legal profession were dropped.