Hirsch Jakob Zimmels (29 December 1900, in

Jaworów Jaworów may refer to: * Jaworów, Lower Silesian Voivodeship (south-west Poland) * Jaworów, Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland) * Jaworów, Lublin Voivodeship (east Poland) *the Polish name for the town of Yavoriv Yavoriv ( uk, Яворів, ; ...

– 9 November 1974, in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) was a

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

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. He obtained a PhD from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

in 1926, and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

there the following year.W. D. Rubinstein (Ed.) (2011). ''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History''. London: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 1055. In 1939, he fled to

after the

Nazi 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 ...

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

.Skolnik, F. & Berenbaum, M. (2007) ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (2nd edition). Macmillan Reference USA, v. 21, p. 534 He was interned by the British government in a camp in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

between 1940 and 1942, after which he returned to London, and was appointed a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

in Bible, Talmud and Jewish history at Jews' College, London. In 1961 he became director of studies at that institution, and was appointed principal in 1964, exercising that role until 1969. He wrote widely on

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

history and culture.

References

20th-century Polish rabbis English Ashkenazi Jews Jewish historians Historians of Jews and Judaism Academics of the London School of Jewish Studies 1900 births 1974 deaths University of Vienna alumni {{Jewish-hist-stub Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United Kingdom after the Anschluss