German Rabbis in British Exile

Front matter

Astrid Zajdband German Rabbis in British Exile

Astrid Zajdband

German Rabbis in British Exile

Table of Contents

Preface —1 Figures — 4 Tables —5

Graphs —6

Abbreviations —— 6

Preface

One day several years ago, I stood in my study and my eyes fell upon a book. Grey, disheveled, torn, it spoke to me of its age and the many moves it had witnessed. On its spine of grayish-brown paper stood in faded blue letters “Das Jiidische Jahr”. I distinctly remembered inheriting this book when my grandmother had passed away around 40 years earlier and it had been with me ever since. This book however had never really caught my attention - it rather served as intellectual memory of my grandmother and with it the terrible years of Nazism she had survived. But on that day, I took notice, I opened it up and read: ‘Dr. Manfred Swarsensky’ and “published 1935 in Berlin.” These two facts started the enquiry into who the author was and how a book with distinctly Jewish contents could be published as late as 1935. Much to my surprise from this unremarkable moment in my study a story began to unfold that occupied several years of my life. Rabbi Swarsensky it soon turned out was one of many rabbis who had managed to escape, and his book was one of countless books published during the Nazi era on the practice of the Jewish faith.

‘German Rabbis in British Exile’ is about him but also about the 184 other rabbis present in Germany before the November pogrom of 1938. It focuses on those rabbis fortunate enough to rescue themselves and their families to the safety of Britain. Over 80 of their colleagues and their families were not so lucky and could not leave - their fate is also part of this story.

Rabbis were part of the intellectual elite of Germany and German Jewry. As a group representing the Jewish faith, these men stood at the intersection of Jewish culture and religion. At the same time, they represented the cultured assimilation that had been going on in Germany since Emancipation and they had internalizing the ideals of “Sittlichkeit and Bildung” through their educational achievements. This book is an attempt to delineate an heritage. It identifies what has been lost and defines what of the rich culture was transferrable and successfully transferred into exile. The book in my bookshelf was an echo from the past - a call that had to be heeded, a story that needed to be told and it has materialized in the following pages.

In this book, the German rabbinate in British exile emerges as a distinct refugee sub-group and their experiences are traced from the onset of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s to those in Britain, ending in 1956. The rabbinate rose to unprecedented prominence under the Nazi regime as it was part of the communal leadership structure within German Jewry and it maintained this role in the early years in exile. The end of the war and the vanishing of outside pressures impacted on the German rabbinate and changed it into a different, modern, Anglo-Jewish institution — with German roots and influences. With the changed demands

2 — Preface of the Anglo-Jewish population on religious expression came new demands on their rabbis. With the ageing German rabbis passing on, the German-Jewish heritage was transferred into Anglo-Jewish institutions such as newly founded synagogues and the Leo Baeck College. This was possible through the rigorous training the rabbis had received in Germany and their dramatic experiences all of which gave the impact for religious expansion in Britain. These influences turned the progressive but also the orthodox movement into powerful forces in the Anglo-Jewish landscape today.

On a human and personal level this book uncovers that the experiences of the German rabbinate, despite its prominence and elevated positions, unfolded along the same lines as that of the general refugee population fleeing Nazism — with the same drama, heartbreak and despair.

In their leadership capacity however rabbis were able to reclaim their position in the midst of the refugees, which were the remnants of their former communities now in exile. With that newly found leadership function they once again held responsibility and power. Out of this rose the attempts of transplanting and maintaining the German Jewish heritage in Britain. It was a desperate and only marginally successful undertaking and only few traces of this once proud heritage are still recognizable today. All of this had a dramatic influence on the course and the future of Anglo-Jewry.

The introductory part contains a literature review, methodology section and theoretical framework. Within these sections the aspects on which this research touches are discussed in particular the issues of Jewish identity, network theory and exile. Furthermore the theories around Jewish leadership, rabbinic authority and its role in the relationship to disaster recovery are highlighted. This part is then followed by four chapters depicting the research into the lives and experiences of the German rabbinate. The first of these chapters ‘Serving and Preaching’ narrates these experiences in Germany until the November pogrom and subsequent emigration. The chapter ‘Inbetween’ provides insight into the Anglo-Jewish context into which the refugee rabbis were going to enter and the rescue schemes which made their emigration to Britain possible. Next follows ‘Arriving and Settling’ detailing the experiences of the refugee rabbis in Britain and includes their work for the refugee agencies, the children of the Kindertransports, their own internment and deportation to the burgeoning beginnings and re-emergence of a refugee rabbinate. The last narrative chapter ‘Ending and Beginning’ starts with the end of World War II and traces the developments in the post-war years for the individual rabbis as well as the religious movements in Britain. The year 1956 marks the ending of the book and is the year when Leo Baeck passed away. The concluding chapter then ties the narrative chapters into the introductory chapter and the applied concepts and answers the question of German-Jewish rabbinic heritage in Anglo-Jewry.

Preface — 3

Acknowlegdement

While every dissertation is the work of a lone individual, it cannot be realized without the help and support of a large number of people. You all know who you are but it is my heart’s desire to thank you again:

Thus I thank all the survivors, refugees and their children who encouraged me and opened their lives and hearts to me. Thanks to all my friends and family for loving and supporting me through this. And thanks to the one above for bringing this topic and this task into my life.

Particular thanks goes to all the honest and upstanding academics who generously shared their advice and gave much encouragement. (in alphabetical order)

Prof. Dr. Annette Boeckler, Leo Baeck College, London.

Prof. Dr. Vinita Damodaran, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.

Rabbi Prof. Dr. Jonathan Magonet, Former Principal of the Leo Baeck College, London.

Prof. Dr. Michael Meyer of Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, OH.

Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild, Landesrabbiner fiir Schleswig-Holstein.

Prof. Dr. Joachim Schlör, Director of the Parkes Institute, University of Southampton. Prof. Peter Seglow, Grandson of Rabbi Dr. Caesar Seligmann.

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3 4

Fig. 39 Fig. 40 Fig. 41

Jüdisch-Theologisches Seminar, Breslau and Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, Berlin —— 42

Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, Rabbi Dr. Malwin Warschauer,

Neue Synagoge —— 43

Field Rabbis —— 45

Rabbi Dr. Salomonski with Jewish Soldiers and Yom Kippur Service in Brussels 1915 — 47

Dr. Eschelbacher with his family 1935 and Rabbis Dr. Max Nussbaum —— 52 Rabbis Dr. Heinrich Lemle, Dr. Ernst Appel and Emil Fackenheim —— 53 Rabbi Dr. Max Dienemann and Preacher Max Abraham —— 56

Rabbi Dr. Georg Salzberger, Anti-Semitic Propaganda —— 57

Jewish Apprentices 1935 and Brochure for ‘Re-Education’ —— 62

Rabbis Dr. Ignaz Maybaum and Dr. Manfred Swarsensky —— 62

Jewish Poles in ‘No Man’s Land’ —— 66

Prisoners in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp — 68 Festhalle in Frankfurt — 71

Roll-Call at Buchenwald Concentration Camp — 73

Rabbis Dr. Caesar Seligmann and Dr. Malwin Warschauer — 78 Interior of Frankfurt Synagogue — 84

Rabbis Dr. Fritz Pinkuss and Dr. Hermann Ostfeld / Zwi Hermon —— 85 Rabbis Dr. Rudolph Brasch and Dr. Werner van der Zyl — 88 Announcement for Auction of Jewish Property and Public Auction —— 95 Advertisement for Travel via Emmerich and Passport —— 97

Rabbi Harold Reinhart with his wife and Lady Lily Helen Montagu —— 106 Sir Claude Montefiore and Rabbi Israel Mattuck —— 108

First Conference of the World Union in Berlin —— 110

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch —— 111

Chief Rabbi Joseph Hermann Hertz and Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld —— 112 Children of a Kindertransport —— 114

Sir Ernest Holderness —— 119

The Jewish Central Information Agency in Amsterdam ——120 Kitchener Camp in Richborough —— 125 Reconstruction of the Kitchener Camp —— 125

Rabbis Dr. Martin Salomonski and Dr. Berthold Oppenheim —— 129 Rabbis Dr. Markus Mordechai Bohrer and Dr. Karl Rosenthal —— 130 Rabbis Dr. Naftali Apt and Dr. Josef Carlebach —— 131

Croydon Aerodrome —— 141

Rabbi Dr. Georg Salzberger —— 151

Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck in Theresienstadt —— 157

Cover of a Leaflet for Fundraising Project and Commemorative Committee —— 161 Dr Julius Blau of Frankfurt and Heinrich Stahl of Berlin —— 163 Rabbis Dr. Sigmund Maybaum and Dr. Benno Jacob — 164 Wallingford Training Camp —— 165

‘Alien Tribunal’ Record for Rabbi Dr. Georg Salzberger —— 166

Tables — 5

Fig. 42 Daily Work at the Kitchener Camp —— 170

Fig. 43 Learning at the Kitchener Camp ——171

Fig. 44 Happily Reunited Couples and Families ——171

Fig. 45 The Kitchener Camp Orchestra —— 172

Fig. 46 The Evacuation of Dunkirk ——173

Fig. 47 Huyton and Onchan Internment Camps —— 177

Fig. 48 Cover of ‘The Onchan Pioneer’ ——181

Fig. 49 HMS ‘Dunera’ Photograph and a Refugee Perspective —— 187

Fig. 50 Hay Camp and Tatura Camp in Australia —— 188

Fig. 51 Painted Postcard from Internment —— 188

Fig. 52 Rabbi Dr. Seligsohn with Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck —— 194

Fig. 53 Belsize Square Synagogue —— 195

Fig. 54 Advertisement for Dr. Winter’s Home —— 207

Fig. 55 Rabbis Dr. Erich Bienheim —— 208

Fig. 56 Allied Troops celebrating the Jewish New Year in London —— 211 Fig. 57 Rabbi at a Mass Grave in Bergen Belsen and First Prayer Service —— 220 Fig. 58 Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck in London in 1946 —— 224

Fig. 59 Opening of the Restored Westend Synagogue in Frankfurt —— 226 Fig. 60 Leo Baeck Leo Baeck with his students —— 231

Fig. 61 Offenbach Archival Depot 1946 —— 235

Fig. 62 Rabbis Jakob Petuchowski, Hugo Gryn, Lionel Blue and Michael Leigh —— 237 Fig. 63 Leo Baeck speaking in Luxemburg in 1955 —— 248

Fig. 64 Rabbis Dr. Jakob Kokotek and Dr. Leo Baeck —— 251

Fig. 65 Rabbis Dr. Georg Salzberger and Dr. Max Eschelbacher —— 252

Tables

Table 1 Rabbinic Membership —— 46

Table 2 Charitable Work —— 49

Table 3 Deportation of Rabbis —— 75

Table 4 Application for Transit Visas —— 118

Table 5 Rabbis in Germany —— 123

Table 6 Rescue by CRREC/Al —— 123

Table 7 Rabbinic Maintenance —— 143

Table 8 Aged Rabbis Fully and Partly Maintained —— 144 Table 9 Full Maintenance by the Fund —— 145

Table 10 Single Rabbis and Teachers —— 146

Table 11 Documented Communities — 160

Table 12 Professions of Internees —— 179

Table 13 Interned Rabbis — 179

Table 14 Progressive Synagogues in Britain in 1933 —— 202 Table 15 Synagogues in Britain by 1945 —— 202

Table16 Presenters at the Society for Jewish Study 1948-1952 — 233 Table 17 New Post-War Congregations —— 242

6 — Graphs

Table 18 Table 19 Table 20 Table 21

Pulpits of Refugee Rabbis and their Succession —— 244 New Congregations without Refugee Rabbinate —— 245 Older Generation of Rabbis - Non-Orthodox —— 246

Younger Generation of Rabbis - Non-Orthodox —— 247

Graphs

Graph 1 Power Distribution among the Ketarim —— 31 Graph 2 Cycle of Communal Reaction — 34 Graph 3 Jewish Migration Pattern —— 83 Abbreviations

Al Agudath Israel

AJRI AJR Information

CBF The Central British Fund for German Jewry CRREC Chief Rabbis Religious Emergency Fund

DM Der Morgen

EAO Emigration Advisory Office of the Agudath Israel FIG Frankfurter Israelitisches Gemeindeblatt

HL Hartley Library, University of Southampton

IF Israelitisches Familienblatt

IWM Imperial War Museum

Jclo Jewish Central Information Office, Amsterdam (Wiener Library, London) Jc The Jewish Chronicle

JG Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt, Berlin

JR Jüdische Rundschau

JRU Jewish Religious Union

JTA Jewish Telegraphic Agency

KCR Kitchener Camp Review

KZ Concentration Camp

LBIYB Leo Baeck Institute Year Book

LBI Archives of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York LG London Gazette

LJM Liberal Jewish Monthly

Us Liberal Jewish Synagogue

LM Liberal Movement

LMA London Metropolitan Archives

NAL National Archives London

OP Onchan Pioneer

RCM Refugee Children’s Movement

Abbreviations — 7

RM Reform Movement

SR The Synagogue Review Tc The Camp

WCGC West Central Girl’s Club WL Wiener Library

WLS West London Synagogue