Leo Baeck (+ 02.11.1956)

A fighter from a rabbinical dynasty: On the 50th anniversary of the death of Leo Baeck

Leo Baeck himself provided the inscription to his tomb: "From a Dynasty of Rabbis." Leo Baeck - who died 50 years ago at the age of 83 in London - above all saw himself as a rabbi, as a religious teacher of Judaism.

In addition to his theological service, what made him one of the great personalities among German Jews was also his readiness to selflessly serve others.

Born in 1873 in the then-Prussian province of Posen, Baeck received his passion for learning and theological research from his father Samuel, a rabbi and historian. After studying at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau (now Wroclaw), Baeck from 1912 on was closely connected to the Jewish community of Berlin as a rabbi and theologian.

By that time, he was already internationally recognized through his 1905 masterwork „The Essence of Judaism - a critical comparison of Christianity and Judaism.“

One of the best-known statements by Baeck came in 1939: "The thousand-year history of German Jewry is at an end."

With this he opened the first session of the Imperial Union of German Jews, which at the meantime had passed under Nazi control. It had emanated from the earlier Imperial Jewish Agency, the head of which Baeck was elected in 1933.

Thus with the rise of Nazism began the most difficult and the saddest years of the life for a patriot like Baeck, who during the First World War had served in the field as a rabbi and saw in the philosophy of Kant the embodiment of the Prusso-German enlightenment.

Deciding against all avenues of escape, he instead tried as far as was possible in his formal capacity of cooperation with the Nazi regime to defend Germany Jewry and help the persecuted.

He was often interrogated and taken into "protective custody," until the Nazis incarcerated him in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942. Even as a 70-year-old doing hard labour, he found the energy to offer spiritual guidance to his fellow detainees.

After his liberation from the camp by the Red Army, he was reunited in 1945 with his escaped family members.

Baeck remained active and involved until his death, calling into existence the "Society for Jewish Study" and later leading the "Council of Jews from Germany." The latter organization, representing the interests of German Jewish emigres, provided the impetus for the foundation of the International Leo Baeck Institute for Research of late Jewish history in Germany.

With the Leo Baeck Prize, the Central Committee of Jews in Germany annually recognises those who have contributed to the Jewish community in Germany in an extraordinary manner.