Kobler, Franz

Franz Kobler was born in Mladá Boleslav in Bohemia, in the then Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Czech Republic) on December 18, 1882. He was the son of Josef Kobler, a Jewish farmer and businessman, and Katherina Baer.

After completing his studies at the local Gymnasium, Kobler went to study philosophy, history, and law at universities in Prague, Berlin, and Vienna. Among his philosophy teachers in Prague was Thomas Masaryk. He met his wife, Dora Feigenbaum, while studying in Berlin. In 1906 he received his doctorate in law in Vienna, and in 1914 he opened his own legal practice, taking both criminal and civil cases. In 1909 the Koblers had a son, Richard.

Kobler had been interested in Zionism even at a young age, having read Herzl's Judenstaat while still in secondary school. As a student in Prague he belonged to the student group Bar Kochba, where Martin Buber gave lectures during the early years of the twentieth century. This group included such future Zionist leaders as Max Brod, Hugo Bergmann, Hans Kohn, Felix and Robert Weltsch, and Leo Herrmann, among others. In 1901 he gave a talk on Jewish folk education at a conference for Zionist youth called by Chaim Weizmann. Franz Kobler was also a member of several Zionist organizations during the interwar period, including the Zionistischen Landeskomittee für Österreich, the Herzl Club, and the B'nai B'rith lodge Die Wahrheit . Newspaper articles written by him also focused on Zionist themes in papers such as Die Stimme .

In addition to his legal work, Franz Kobler was also a prolific writer. His interest in pacifism led to participation in an anthology, Gewalt und Gewaltlosigkeit, which was published in 1928 and contained contributions by many notable pacifists. He also worked on a dramatization of Plato's Symposium ( Das Gastmahl ), in collaboration with Ernst Müller, published in 1932. Kobler then became interested in looking at history through the medium of correspondence. His work Juden und Judentum in deutschen Briefen aus drei Jahrhunderten appeared in 1935, followed three years later by Jüdische Geschichte in Briefen aus Ost und West .

In March 1938, following the Anschluss of Austria by Nazi Germany, Franz Kobler and his son were arrested. Franz Kobler was released three months later. Along with his wife, Kobler fled to Zürich before emigrating to London. They remained there until 1947, when Franz and Dora Kobler joined their son in San Francisco.

It was during Franz Kobler's stay in England that he began his research into the British movement for the restoration of Israel to the Jews. The result of this research was his book The Vision Was There, published in 1956. Kobler also began work on Letters of Jews Through the Ages, a two-volume work that considered Jewish history by examining letters from Biblical times through the eighteenth century. After arriving in San Francisco, Kobler began work on Her Children Call Her Blessed .

After the death of Dora Kobler in 1960, Franz Kobler moved to Berkeley, California. It was there that he worked on Napoleon and the Jews . He remained in Berkeley until his own death in 1965.

From the guide to the Franz Kobler Collection, 1906-1971, bulk 1933-1965, (Leo Baeck Institute)