Grubel, Fred

Fred Grubel was born as Fritz Grübel in Leipzig in 1908. There he attended school and university, gaining a Doctorate in Law in 1930. He worked in law offices until he was prohibited to do so in 1933 because he was Jewish; he then took a position as leader of the Leipzig Jewish community. Grubel married Lisa née Cohen. In 1938, Grubel applied for immigration visas for him and his family to move to the United States. Whilst waiting for these applications to be processed, he was arrested and interned for five weeks in Buchenwald Concentration Camp. He immigrated with his wife and infant son to England in 1939, before making his way to the United States in 1940. He worked in the Jewish community and became executive director of the Leo Baeck Institute in 1970, where he remained working until 1997. Grubel died in New York in 1998.

From the guide to the Fred Grubel Collection, 1883-1999, bulk 1920-1997, (Leo Baeck Institute)

The Jung-Juedische Club was a social club for young men between 18 and 24. It was founded on May 23rd, 1928, in Leipzig, and its bylaws were passed by the members on June 30th, 1928. While the bylaws stated that no more than 40 young men could be full members, the club never even reached that number. According to a survey from 1929, the club then had 24 members. The attendance lists in this collection indicate that the club had about 20 members on average. The club resided in rooms rented from the Zionistische Vereinigung (the Zionist Association), Leipzig.

The club's purpose was to further intellectual education of its members through exchanges of ideas and lectures with a particular focus on Jewish interests. Contrary to the contemporary mens sana in corpore sano paradigm of the German Youth Movement in the first third of the 20th century, the club put emphasis solely on intellectual – not physical – education.

Its programmatic tendency rested mainly on three pillars: literature, debating-culture and politics. The club organized its programs in workshops and the participation in at least one workshop per semester was obligatory. In the club's reader circle, interested persons discussed the works of Heinrich Heine, Erich Maria Remarque and others. The debating club was organized in the manner of English Public Schools and Oxbridge Universities and the young men discussed issues such as female empowerment, Jewish assimilation or the death penalty. In its political workshops, the club's members informed each other about the current developments in different countries, e.g. the U.S.A., Great Britain or Russia.

The Jung-Juedische Club was affiliated to the Zionistische Vereinigung Leipzig (the Zionist Association Leipzig). It was generally well connected within the Jewish community of Leipzig and held close contact to organizations such as the Kadimah and the Zionistische Studentengruppe (the Zionist Student Organization). In 1929, the club joined the Juedische Jugendring Leipzig . This organization was founded in 1928 as a subsection of the Reichsausschuss der juedischen Jugendverbaende (Association of Jewish Youth Organizations), founded in Berlin in 1924. Within the Juedische Jugendring, whose goal was balancing the various directions Jewish juveniles were headed, the Jung-Juedische Club was in charge of organizing the Jugendring's public lectures. Fritz Gruebel (Fred Grubel), one of the founding members of the club became its representative in the Jugendring. As a member of the Jugendring, Gruebel focused strongly on creating a Haus der juedischen Jugend (House of Jewish Youth). The Jung-Juedische Club thus became one of the founding organizations of a club called Das Haus der juedischen Jugend, whose purpose was the funding of the house.

Although it was affiliated to the Zionistische Vereinigung, the Jung-Juedische Club stressed its political and ideological heterogeneity and autonomy up until the 1930s. In summer 1930, the club decided to accept Zionism as its main orientation, probably to win new members. One member, i.e. Fritz Gruebel, left the club due to this change. Although it is certain that the club still existed in 1932, since it is mentioned in the Juedisches Jahrbuch fuer Sachsen 1931-1932, its further development up until the prohibition of Jewish youth organizations in 1939 is uncertain.

From the guide to the Jung-Juedischer Club Collection, 1928-1930, (Leo Baeck Institute)

Documents of Jewish life in Leipzig reach back to the 14th century, although a sizable Jewish community did not evolve before the mid 19th century. In 1925, 12,500 Jews lived in Leipzig, making it one of the biggest Jewish communities in Germany. During Kristallnacht in 1938, many synagogues, including the one on Gottschedstrasse (consecrated in 1855), were destroyed and consequently, Leipzig Jews were deported to concentration camps. In April 1945, when Leipzig was liberated, there were only 15 Jews living in Leipzig. 200 Jews came back from Theresienstadt and founded a new Jewish community, but by the end of the German Democratic Republic in 1989, this community only numbered about 30 members.

Fred Grubel was born in Leipzig in 1908. He studied law in Freiburg and Leipzig and completed his dissertation in 1930. After 1933, he was director of the Jewish community in Leipzig. In 1938, he immigrated with his family to England, and then on to the United States. In 1968, Fred Grubel became Executive Director of the Leo Baeck Institute. During his tenure at the LBI, he collected documents pertaining to his former hometown of Leipzig, thus laying the groundwork for the present archival collection.

From the guide to the Leipzig Jewish Community Collection, 1422-1997, bulk 1925-1968, (Leo Baeck Institute)