Abraham Jacob Mark
Abraham Jakob Mark ( Hebrew אברהם יעקב מארק, Avraham Yaakov Mark ; born March 9, 1884 in Ustetschko , Austria-Hungary , today Ukraine ; † July 9, 1941 in Chernivtsi ) was Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Bukovina from 1926 to 1941 .
Life
Abraham Jakob Mark was born in 1884 in the small Galician town of Uścieczko (or Usteciko; today Ustetschko) in eastern Austria-Hungary. He was tutored by Rabbi M. Pohorile in Uscieczko and received his ordination from Rabbi Benjamin Weiss from Chernivtsi at the age of 20 . He studied at the University of Vienna , where he became a doctor of philosophy in 1915 , and at the same time completed a rabbinical seminar in Vienna. From 1915 to 1918 he was rabbi in Linz , and during the First World War he also looked after refugee camps with Jews from Galicia and Bukovina. From 1918 to 1926 he was a rabbi in Biała and at the same time a religious teacher there. In 1926 he was elected chief rabbi of the Jewish community in Czernowitz, where he also organized seminars for Jewish teachers from all over Romania. He was an active Zionist and belonged to the highest bodies of the Mizrachi movement in Chernivtsi.
After the military occupation of Bukovina by the Germans and the Romanians allied with them during the Second World War , Mark was arrested by four SS units and two armed soldiers in his house on July 7, 1941, according to his wife , and they then took him with them to the Chernivtsi Synagogue , where they asked him where the valuables were kept. After he refused to answer them, they took him to the Hotel Schwarzer Adler , where they locked him and other prisoners in the cellar. When the synagogue was set on fire the following day, they are said to have brought Mark from the basement to the roof to show him “his burning synagogue”. On July 9th, the last chief rabbi of Chernivtsi, Mark, was taken from the hotel cellar to the Prut River, along with other prisoners , where they were shot by the Germans.
He was married to Perla Mark, who testified in the Jerusalem District Court on May 26, 1961 at the trial of Adolf Eichmann and stated her knowledge of the circumstances of her husband's death.
literature
- L. Slutzky: Mark, Abraham Jakob. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 6, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7 , p. 94.
Web links
- Town with a Jewish Past: Perla Mark's Testimony at the Eichmann Trial Perla Mark's testimony at the Eichmann Trial
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mark, Abraham Jacob |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mark, Avraham Yaakov |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Bukovina (1926–1941) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 9, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Uscieczko , Austria-Hungary |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 9, 1941 |
| Place of death | Chernivtsi |