Güdemann, Moritz, 1835-1918

Moritz Guedemann ( February 19, 1835 - August 5, 1918 ) was born in Hildesheim, Germany to Bona (1790-?) and Josef Guedemann (1781-1847). The surname Guedemann was given to his grandfather Moses in the early nineteenth century when the Westphalian government required that all Jews take last names.

In 1854, Guedemann began attending the newly-founded Juedisch-theologisches Seminar (Jewish Theological Seminary), Breslau, while also studying philology and oriental languages at the University of Breslau. In keeping with the academic trends of the time, his doctoral dissertation was a Latin translation and annotation of a philosophic-pedagogic text in Arabic and Persian by the great medieval Persian Sufi poet, Moslih-Ed-Dini Sa'di. After his graduation, Guedemann became rabbi of Magdeburg in 1862. In 1863 he married Fanny Spiegel (d. 1894). He started as a maggid (preacher) in Vienna's Leopoldstadt synagogue in 1866, and became the rabbi in 1868. Despite his conservative and often unpopular views, such as opposition to organ music in services, when the position of chief rabbi of Vienna was created in 1891, Guedemann, along with his colleague Adolf Jellinek, was the first to hold the title.

After the death of his first wife, Guedemann married Ida Sachs, with whom he had four children (Franzi, Josef, Bona, and Leo). In 1914, after the death of his daughter Franzi, he withdrew somewhat from public life, and he died in Baden be Wien, in 1918.

Guedemann researched and wrote extensively on Jewish apologetics and on the history of Jewish education. His early ambivalent attitude to political Zionism became strong opposition with his publication of Nationaljudentum in 1897. Despite this, Theodore Herzl actively although unsuccessfully tried to win Guedemann's support for a Jewish state.

For a detailed look at his rabbinical and scholarly work, see Schorsch, Ismar, "Moritz Güdemann: Rabbi, Historian and Apologist," Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook (1966) 11(1): 42-66.

From the guide to the Moritz Guedemann Collection, undated, 1780-1967, bulk 1811-1917, (Leo Baeck Institute)