Jan Mühlstein (born 3 July 1949) is a journalist, German Jewish activist and the former chair of the

Union of Progressive Jews in Germany The Union progressiver Juden in Deutschland (UPJ; "Union of Progressive Jews in Germany") is a "Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts", a publicly chartered association, founded in 1997 as the congregational arm of Liberal (also Progressive or Re ...

Life

Jan Mühlstein was born on 3 July 1949 in Most,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. He grew up in a German-speaking Jewish family, which traditionally practised Liberal Judaism. In 1967, he began studying physics at the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in Prague. After the defeat of the reformation movement known as the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

, in which Mühlstein participated actively, he emigrated to West Germany in 1969. From 1970 onwards, he studied physics at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

and completed a Ph.D. in theoretical quantum optics in 1977. During the next four years, he worked in the leadership of project energy research of the nuclear energy research facility in

Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', , , Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. As a border region between the competin ...

. Since 1982, Mühlstein has been working as a business journalist in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and is deputy chief editor of a journal covering the economics of the energy market. Between 1977 and 1978, Mühlstein was a board member of the West German section of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. He is a co-founder of the Liberal Jewish Community Munich "Beth Shalom", whose chair he was until 2005. He was again elected as chair of Beth Shalom in May 2011. From 1999 until 2011, he was the chair of the

. Mühlstein is particularly committed to promote religious plurality in

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. Mühlstein is married to Dr. Verena Mühlstein (born 1953), author of a biography about

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, ...

's wife, Helene Bresslau, who is also active at Beth Shalom. One of his three daughters works as a rabbi at the West London Synagogue of British Jews.

External links

Publications of Jan Mühlstein
in Greenpilot-Database of the Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin
Report about congregation ''Beth Shalom''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhlstein, Jan 1949 births Living people People from Most (city) German Reform Jews Jewish German politicians Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany