Jakob Freimann

Rabbi Freimann around 1930

Jakob Freimann (also Jaakov Freymann; born October 1, 1866 in Kraków , Austrian Empire ; died December 23, 1937 in Špindlerův Mlýn , Czechoslovakia ) was a rabbi in Moravia and Germany .

Life and family

Born in Cracow as the son of Rabbi Abraham Chaim Freimann and Sophie geb. Latner, he received his religious instruction first from his father and later from his uncle, Rabbi Israel Meir Freimann in Ostrowo . There he also attended the Catholic high school. He then graduated from the rabbinical seminary in Berlin and in 1886 received his semicha . Freimann also studied philosophy and oriental studies and in 1890 he received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Tübingen .

In 1891 Freimann married his cousin Regina; they had six children: Sofie, Ella, Valerie, Ernst, Gertruda and Alfred. His cousin and brother-in-law (brother of Regina), Aron Freimann , was an important bibliographer, historian and librarian.

Freimann died of a stroke in Spindleruv Mlyn in 1937 , where he and his family celebrated the wedding anniversary of their eldest daughter Sofie. He was then buried in Holešov near Rabbi Shah , probably to prevent his grave from being desecrated by the Nazis .

Work areas

After completing his doctorate, Freimann worked as a rabbi in Moravia, first for three years in Dolní Kounice and then for twenty years in Holešov . He was also the inspector of the Jewish schools in Northern Moravia and chairman of the Rabbinical Association of Moravia and Silesia. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War , Freimann went to Germany and became chief rabbi of the Jewish community in Posen and from 1929 chief rabbi and chairman of the rabbinical court in Berlin . He also became a teacher at the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary.

Fonts

In addition to his work on medieval Jewish literature and theological texts, Freimann published studies on the history of the Jews in Bonn , Holešov, Posen, Prostějov , Přerov and Xanten . He also wrote numerous biographical articles for the Jewish Lexicon , Germania Judaica and Encyklopaedia Judaica . He was also on the editorial staff of Hugo Gold with whom he worked on the publication of the book The Jews and Jewish Congregations of Moravia Past and Present and the Journal for the History of the Jews in Czechoslovakia .

literature

• Festschrift Dr. Jakob Freimann on his 70th birthday . Berlin 1937.
• JANSEN, Katrin Nele (ed.): Biographical manual of the rabbis . Part 2, The Rabbis in the German Empire 1871–1945 . Volume 1, Munich 2009.
• KLENOVSKÝ, Jaroslav: Židovské památky Holešova . 3. vydání. Holešov 2010.
• MACHALA, Jan: Nová synagoga v Holešově: památky jejího vzniku, slávy a zániku. In: Střípky z historie Holešovska II .: sborník Vlastivědného kroužku Holešov 2011–2012 , Holešov 2014.
• MUSZYŃSKI, Lech: Poznańscy rabini. In: Jerzy Woronczak (ed.): Żydowskie gminy wyznaniowe. Studia z dziejów kultury żydowskiej w Polsce , vol. 1, Wroclaw 1995.
• SALOMONSKI, Martin (ed.): Jakob Freimann in memory . Berlin 1938.
• WITTENBERG, Jonathan: My Dear Ones: One Family and the Final Solution . London 2016.