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Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck (May 23, 1873 - November 2, 1956) was one of the outstanding German-Jewish scholars of the 20th century and a leader of Progressive Judaism.
Baeck was born in Lezno, Poland and begin his eduction near Warsaw in Breslau, Germany at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary in 1894. He also studied philosophy in Berlin with Wilhelm Dilthey. He served as a rabbi in Oppeln, Düsseldorf, Berlin and also taught at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums. During World War I, he was an army chaplain. In 1933, after the Nazis seized power, Baeck worked to defend the Jewish community as president of the Reichvertretung. In 1943, he was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp where he was named honorary president of the Ältestenrat, Council of Elders. After the war, Baeck moved to London and eventually became Chairman of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
In 1955, the Leo Baeck Institute for the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry was established and he was the first international president of the institute.
External links
Institutions named in honor of Leo Baeck
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