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.

(For a more detailed account of Leo Baeck's life, see the Papers of Leo Baeck [AR 66] .)

Leo Baeck's daughter Ruth Auguste was born on August 22, 1900. She attended the the Luisenschule in Düsseldorf and the Auguste Victoria-Schule in Charlottenburg before studying medicine at universities in Berlin and Freiburg. In 1923 she married the accountant Hermann Berlak; in 1925 they had their daughter Marianne. The Berlaks immigrated to England in 1939. Following his release from Theresienstadt, Leo Baeck went to live with them in June 1945, remaining there except for his travels abroad to lecture. When her father went abroad Ruth Berlak sometimes accompanied him. Following his death she became involved in social work, but also remained involved with the publications of works by or about her father. Ruth Berlak died in 1965.

Hermann Ludwig Berlak was born August 4, 1896 in Posen, the son of Leo Berlak and Sophie Berlak née Merzbach. He went to school at the Berger Oberrealschule there, graduating in 1914 when he served in the signal corps of the German army in World War I. In April 1918 he was wounded by grenade shrapnel. Following the war he studied economics in Berlin and Freiburg, receiving his doctorate in 1921. While at university he was also a member of the Freiburg-based Ghibellinia fraternity, part of the Kartell-Convent deutscher Studenten jüdischen Glaubens . He later became editor of the fraternity's Journal and in later years became Chairman of the Association until it was disbanded in 1939. From 1923 on Hermann Berlak worked as a public accountant, auditor and tax expert; he also joined various trade, credit and retail associations, including holding secretarial office in some of them. In 1938 Hermann Berlak's professional qualifications were revoked due to being Jewish; following the family's immigration to England in March 1939 he began to reestablish his career there. In July 1940 he was interned as an "enemy alien" in the Onchan Internment Camp on the Isle of Man. After his release from this camp he set about working towards professional certification as a chartered accountant in England. He also was a member of the Home Guard. Hermann Berlak was very active in many Jewish organizations both in Germany and later in Great Britain, including the B'nai B'rith, Association of Jewish Refugees, and ORT. Hermann Berlak died in 1953.

Marianne Cecilie Berlak was born in 1925 and spent her early years in Berlin. In 1938 she had to leave school due to being Jewish, and in January 1939 went to London on a Kindertransport. In England she attended boarding school until 1941. She then studied at the University of London, where she received a Master's of Science in Chemistry in 1948 and conducted research in organic chemistry. From 1948-1950 she accompanied her grandfather Rabbi Leo Baeck when he went to lecture at Hebrew Union College. In 1950 she married Alfred Stanley Dreyfus, a rabbi who had studied with Leo Baeck, and they immigrated to the United States. Her husband served congregations in Ohio, Indiana, Texas and New York, where the family settled in 1965. They had two sons. A. Stanley Dreyfus died in 2008.

From the guide to the Leo Baeck Family Collection, 1771-2011, bulk 1914-1956, (Leo Baeck Institute)