Hermann Schreiber (21 August 1882 in Schrimm, Prussian Posen province,

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

– 27 September 1954 in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, Allied-occupied Berlin) was a German doctor of philosophy,

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

and journalist.

Youth

Hermann Schreiber descended from a Jewish family which was settled in Schrimm in the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

(modern-day Śrem in Poland). The family was already Germanized in his times (in the second half of the 19th century the Jewish community in the

Prussian Partition The Prussian Partition ( pl, Zabór pruski), or Prussian Poland, is the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired during the Partitions of Poland, in the late 18th century by the Kingdom of Prussia. The Prussian acquis ...

of former Poland generally adopted German culture and language). Hermann’s father, Pedasur Schreiber, taught Religion in the Jewish school and was an assistant to the rabbi; whereas his mother, Balbina née Schreier, managed the household. Hermann was the youngest and the only son of their five children. After passing his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

examination in the High School in Śrem in 1901, he was studying at the

Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau The Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau (official name: ) was an institution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonah Fränckel, and opened in 1854. The seminary, at what is now an empty building plot (used as a ...

in Breslau, where he was ordained a rabbi, then at the University of Breslau, where he earned a degree of Doctor of Philosophy. In around 1910 he married Charlotte Neumann, with whom he had one son – Paul.

Activity in Germany

During the years 1912–1938, Hermann Schreiber lived in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. He wrote articles in newspapers (incl. Israelitisches Familienblatt), translated the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

from Hebrew into German, for many years was the rabbi in the synagogue in Potsdam. He was the chairman of the Jewish Liberal Youth Association, which was established in Potsdam in 1921; he was also an active member of the ''Berlin Association of Schrimmers'' (Verein der Schrimmer zu Berlin), an organisation established in 1902 by people from Schrimm who had migrated to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Emigration to Britain

When the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

took power in

Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

in 1933, Hermann Schreiber, like other Jewish Germans, was subjected to persecutions. In 1938, during

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

, he witnessed the demolition of the Potsdam synagogue. Shortly afterwards he was put in

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

. At the beginning of 1939, after his release from the camp, he managed to emigrate with his wife and son to the United Kingdom, where he lived in London. He continued his journalistic work, writing articles in English, contributed to the work of the

Beth din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

(house of judgment) of the Association of Synagogues in Great Britain. He also participated in the life of the Jewish community in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, and from 1952 on he visited

, where he took part in the celebrations of the

Rosh Hashanah Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...

(Jewish New Year). During one of those visits, he died during the celebrations, immediately after preaching a sermon in the Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue in West Berlin. Hermann Schreiber was buried at the Jewish

Weißensee Cemetery Weißensee (German: ''white lake'') may refer to: Places *Weissensee (Berlin), a district of Berlin *Weißensee, Thuringia, a town in Thuringia, Germany *Weissensee, Austria, a municipality in Carinthia, Austria *Weissensee (Carinthia), a lake in C ...

in then

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

Memories

On 6 March 1927, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Association of Schrimmers, Hermann Schreiber delivered a lecture, which was later published in print as ''Schrimmer Jugenderinnerungen'' (''Schrimm – Memories from Our Youth). The memories are a valuable source for research on the history of Jews in the

. Schreiber describes in the memories the daily life of his own family and other Jews living in Śrem, Jewish traditions, customs and festivals, but also the daily life of ethnic Poles and ethnic Germans who lived in Śrem. The memories were translated into English. In 2008 the memories were also translated into Polish and published by Krzysztof Budzyń in the journal "Śremski Notatnik Historyczny" (Śrem Historical Notebook)."Śremski Notatnik Historyczny", Issue 2/2008, pp. 37-73.

Youth

Activity in Germany

Emigration to Britain

Memories

References

Further reading