Rabbi Dr Arthur Löwenstamm | |
---|---|
Personal | |
Born | Arthur Löwenstamm 20 December 1882 |
Died | 22 April 1965 (aged 82)
Manchester, England |
Religion | Judaism |
Nationality | German until 1939; British |
Spouse | Gertrud Modlinger |
Children | Erika Reid and Gerda Weleminsky |
Parent(s) | Natan Löwenstamm and Johanna Zweig |
Denomination | Reform Judaism |
Occupation | Theologian, writer and rabbi |
Position | Rabbi |
Synagogue | Spandau Synagogue |
Began | 1917 |
Ended | 1938 |
Other | Rabbi, Jewish community in Pless, Upper Silesia, 1911–17 |
Buried | Hoop Lane Jewish Cemetery in Golders Green, London |
Residence | Pless and Spandau, Germany; Richmond, Surrey; Manchester |
Semikhah | Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau, 1910 |
Arthur Löwenstamm (also spelt Loewenstamm) (20 December 1882– 22 April 1965) was a Jewish theologian, writer and rabbi in Berlin and in London, where he came in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany.
He was the last rabbi of the Jewish community of Spandau, Germany, which comprised 600 members in 1933. [1]
Arthur Löwenstamm was born on 20 December 1882 in Ratibor, Upper Silesia, [2] German Empire, which is now Racibórz in southern Poland. His parents were Natan Löwenstamm (1856–1937), a shopkeeper, and his wife Johanna Zweig (1851–1936). [3] He was the eldest in the family and had a brother, Kurt (1883–1965, whose son Heinz A. Lowenstam became a noted paleoecologist and great-granddaughter Lisa Goldstein also became a rabbi), a sister, Gertrud, and another brother, Ernest (1887–1888).
Löwenstamm attended the Royal Gymnasium in Beuthen (now Bytom), Upper Silesia, from 1893 to 1902. [4] He studied philosophy at the University of Wrocław and completed his university studies, obtaining a doctorate, in Erlangen, Bavaria in 1905. [4] He studied theology and trained for the rabbinate at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau [5] (now Wrocław in western Poland).
After passing his rabbinical examinations in 1910, [3] Löwenstamm served as rabbi (from 1911 to 1917) with the Jewish community in Pless (now Pszczyna) in Upper Silesia. [3] On 6 December 1916 he was appointed as Spandau Synagogue's first permanent rabbi. Löwenstamm took up his duties on 1 April 1917 and continued until the autumn of 1938. In this role he also gave religious instruction at Spandau's Kant- Gymnasium. He was a member of the Union of Liberal Rabbis in Germany.
On 9 November 1938 ( Kristallnacht) the synagogue, on Lindenufer in Spandau's Old Town, was set on fire. [6] [nb 1] Löwenstamm was tortured, imprisoned and deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, [7] from which he was eventually released. After his release from Sachsenhausen, he and his wife found refuge in the United Kingdom in February 1939 [8] [9] but he was interned for several weeks as an " enemy alien". [10]
After the Second World War, Löwenstamm gave private lessons to several students, including Jakob Josef Petuchowski [11] and Hugo Gryn. [12] From May 1945, he was Research Director at the Society for Jewish Studies [2] and a member of the Association of Rabbis from Germany to London.
In Breslau in 1911, he married Gertrud Modlinger (born 14 February 1887 in Gleiwitz, died 3 January 1952 in Richmond, Surrey), [2] [3] the daughter of Markus Modlinger and his wife Recha (née Freund). They had two daughters, Erika who moved to London in 1936 and Gerda who emigrated to Britain in 1938. [3] [10] Their grandchildren and great-grandchildren live in the United Kingdom and in Israel.
He died ar Morris Feinmann House, Manchester [1] on 22 April 1965 and was buried at Hoop Lane Jewish Cemetery in Golders Green, London. His archives were donated to the Leo Baeck Institute New York [10] [13] and to the Wiener Library in London.
At the initiative of the Spandau Borough Council, a memorial tablet was unveiled in 1988 on the site of the former synagogue. [14][ better source needed] A memorial plaque was placed on the pavement in front of Löwenstamm's former home at Feldstraße 11, in Spandau, on 9 November 2005. [15]
On 15 August 2002 a street in Spandau was named Löwenstammstraße ("Löwenstamm Street"). [16]
Löwenstamm was a Biblical scholar, specialising in Samaritan and Karaite literature. [12] He wrote commentaries on Dutch philosopher and jurist Hugo Grotius and the German philosopher Hermann Lotze:
He also co-wrote a history commemorating 50 years of B'nai B'rith in Germany: [18]
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