Dreyfus, Marianne

Leo Baeck was born in Lissa (now Leszno, Poland), in 1873, the son of the rabbi Samuel Baeck. He studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary and University in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and later at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin. In 1897 he had secured his first post as rabbi in Oppeln (now Opole, Poland). In Oppeln he married Natalie Hamburger; they had a daughter, Ruth. While in Oppeln he wrote his work Das Wesen des Judentums . In 1907 he became rabbi in Düsseldorf, in 1912 in Berlin, where he worked both as rabbi and as a lecturer at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums . During the First World War, Baeck served as a chaplain (Feldrabbiner) in the German Army, serving on both the east and west fronts. In 1922 Leo Baeck also became President of the Union of German Rabbis ( Allgemeiner Deutscher Rabbinerverbands ). He was elected President of the German B'nai B'rith Order in 1924. At this time Baeck also joined the Central-Verein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens, and the Jewish Agency for Palestine. In 1933 Leo Baeck was elected president of the Reichsvertretung der deutschen Juden (later the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland ). In 1937 Leo Baeck's wife Natalie passed away.

In 1943, Leo Baeck was sent to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt (Terezin). During his time in Theresienstadt, Leo Baeck continued to teach, holding lectures in the camp. There he also began a manuscript that would later become Dieses Volk – Jüdische Existenz . After the liberation of the camp in May 1945, Leo Baeck went to England where his daughter Ruth resided. He received many citations and honors as a result of his efforts under the Nazis, and spent much of his next years travelling and lecturing, as well as writing and helping to found several organizations with the goals of assisting the remnants of European Jewry. He lectured in the United States, including holding a series of seminars at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Leo Baeck became president of the Association of Synagogues and of the Council of Jews from Germany, and was involved with the work of other organizations, including the B'nai B'rith, the World Union for Progressive Judaism, the Council of Christians and Jews, and the Leo Baeck Foundation. In 1955 the Leo Baeck Institute was founded in Jerusalem for the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry, with parallel institutes in London and New York. During the last week of his life, he completed the second part of his work Dieses Volk . Leo Baeck died in London on November 2, 1956.

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