Born 1873. Rabbi, philosopher, and Jewish public leader
Ordained as a rabbi by the Hochschule fuer die Wissensschaft des Judentums (College for Judaic Studies) in Berlin, where he also earned a Ph.D. In 1912, he began to serve as a rabbi in Berlin and lecturer at the Hochschule. By the 1920s, Baeck was recognised as a leading figure in German-Jewish public life, serving as chairman of the General Association of German Rabbis and Grandmaster of the B'nai B'rith Lodge in Germany. Because of his personal charisma and the sympathy he commanded among all streams of Germany Jewry, Baeck was asked to serve as the president of the National Representation of German Jews (Reichsvertretung) upon its establishment in 1933, making him the leader of German Jewry. Baeck held this position until the Representation was dissolved in early 1939 and headed its successor organisation, the Reich Association of Jews in Germany, until this entity was liquidated in 1943. Baeck refused to emigrate from Germany although he had several opportunities to do so. In 1943, Baeck was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where he served on the Aeltestenrat der Juden (Jewish Council of Elders). After the liberation in 1945, he moved to London and chaired the Council of Jews from Germany until his death in 1956.
