
The Last Generation of the German Rabbinate
German Refugee Rabbis in the United States, 1933-2010
Cornelia Wilhelm(Author)
Indiana University Press
Published on 8. October 2024
Book
Hardback
322 pages
978-0-253-07018-0 (ISBN)
Description
After the Nazi seizure of power on January 30, 1933, over 250 German rabbis, rabbinical scholars, and students for the rabbinate fled to the United States. The Last Generation of the German Rabbinate follows their lives and careers over decades in America.
Although culturally uprooted, the group's professional lives and intellectual leadership, particularly those of the younger members of this group, left a considerable mark intellectually, socially, and theologically on American Judaism and on American Jewish congregational and organizational life in the postwar world.
Meticulously researched and representing the only systematic analysis of prosopographical data in a digital humanities database, The Last Generation of the German Rabbinate reveals the trials of those who had lost so much and celebrates the legacy they made for themselves in America.
Although culturally uprooted, the group's professional lives and intellectual leadership, particularly those of the younger members of this group, left a considerable mark intellectually, socially, and theologically on American Judaism and on American Jewish congregational and organizational life in the postwar world.
Meticulously researched and representing the only systematic analysis of prosopographical data in a digital humanities database, The Last Generation of the German Rabbinate reveals the trials of those who had lost so much and celebrates the legacy they made for themselves in America.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Bloomington, IN
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
13 b&w photos
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
499 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-253-07018-0 (9780253070180)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Cornelia Wilhelm
The Last Generation of the German Rabbinate
German Refugee Rabbis in the United States, 1933-2010
E-Book
10/2024
Indiana University Press
€43.99
Available for download
Person
Cornelia Wilhelm is Professor of modern history at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Munich. Her work focuses on comparative and transnational aspects of (Jewish) history and on race, ethnicity, migration, and religion. She is author of Pioneers of a New Jewish Identity: The Independent Orders of B'nai B'rith and True Sisters and, in German, Bewegung oder Verein? Nationalsozialistische Volkstumspolitik in den USA (Movement or association: Nazi "Volkstumspolitik [racialized ethnic politics]" in the United States). Currently she works on a digital research portal highlighting the cultural transfers related to the emigration of the German rabbinate after 1933.
Content
Introduction: Understanding "The Last Generation of the German Rabbinate"
1. German Jewry under Nazism: Changes and Challenges for the Rabbinical Profession
2. Rescue and Flight: Scholars and Students-And a Visa That Saved Lives
3. Flight and Rescue: Rabbis-And a Visa That Saved Lives
4. The Refugees' First Years in the United States: Employment, Settlement, Congregations, and the Encounter with American Society and American Judaism
5. Careers Lost and Found: Paths of Professional Success and Failure and the Making of "the Last Generation of the German Rabbinate"
6. Refugee Returns: Transatlantic Encounters and the Legacy of the "Last Generation of the German Rabbinate"
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
1. German Jewry under Nazism: Changes and Challenges for the Rabbinical Profession
2. Rescue and Flight: Scholars and Students-And a Visa That Saved Lives
3. Flight and Rescue: Rabbis-And a Visa That Saved Lives
4. The Refugees' First Years in the United States: Employment, Settlement, Congregations, and the Encounter with American Society and American Judaism
5. Careers Lost and Found: Paths of Professional Success and Failure and the Making of "the Last Generation of the German Rabbinate"
6. Refugee Returns: Transatlantic Encounters and the Legacy of the "Last Generation of the German Rabbinate"
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography