Leo Baerwald was born in Saaz, Austria-Hungary (now Žatec, Czech Republic) on October 23, 1883. The son of Aron Baerwald, the rabbi of Saaz, and Fanny Lazarus, he was descended from a family of rabbis and well-known Jewish scholars including Moritz Lazarus and Heymann Steinthal. Baerwald studied at the Jüdisch-theologisches Seminar in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). After serving in World War I as a military chaplain ( Feldrabbiner ), he became a rabbi for the Jewish community in Munich. He kept this position until his departure from Germany. From 1933 on Baerwald struggled against the Nazi regime. He was refused a travel permit to leave the country for health reasons. It was in 1940 that he was finally able to leave Germany for England, where he waited for a visa to the United States.
After arriving in the United States, Baerwald settled in New York City, where he became the rabbi of the Congregation Beth Hillel in Washington Heights. This congregation was made up of Jewish refugees from Munich and Nuremberg. He retired from this position in 1955. After his retirement he continued to support the congregation as well as becoming involved in the work of the Leo Baeck Institute and the American Federation of Jews from Central Europe. Leo Baerwald died in New York in 1970 at the age of 86.
From the guide to the Leo Baerwald Collection, 1798-1971, bulk 1922-1960, (Leo Baeck Institute)
