Rabbi Iwan Gruen was born in Berlin, Germany, on October 4, 1900, to Clara and Sally Grun. He was a graduate of the College for Jewish Studies. In 1923, he received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Humboldt University of Berlin, where he also studied history and Semitic languages under Dr. Leo Baeck. On March 6, 1925, he was ordained as a rabbi at Hochschüle fur die Wissenschaft des Judentums. He served a small congregation in Frankfurt-Am-Oder near Berlin from 1925 to 1927. Rabbi Gruen became Chief Rabbi of the Free City of Danzig on January 1, 1928. During this time he was president of the Danzig Bnai Brith, a representative of Danzig minority groups before the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and was a member of the governing body of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Before his departure to the United States, Rabbi Gruen attempted to negotiate with the Gestapo for the departure of as many Jews as possible from the city. In April, 1939, Rabbi Gruen left Danzig and sailed to New York City with his wife Gertrude D. Zimmt Gruen and his daughter Hanna. Shortly after his arrival to the United States, he became rabbi of Congregation Mount Sinai in Wausau, Wisconsin. On October 25, 1945, he assumed the pulpit of Temple Israel in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and remained there for 35 years. During his time in New Castle, Rabbi Gruen was president of the Nathan J. Love Bnai Brith Lodge; served on the board of the Lawrence County Chapter of the American Cancer Society and the Lawrence County Society for Crippled Children and Adults; and was a member of the speakers bureau of the Anti-Defamation League. Also, he was active in interfaith work and an advisor to the Jewish Affairs and Education Department, a government branch of the Federal German Republic. In 1962 he was awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He gave his last sermon on Friday, February 27, 1981, before his death on March 4.
From the description of Rabbi Iwan Gruen papers, 1925-1981 [manuscript] (Historical Society of W Pennsylvania). WorldCat record id: 770715442
