Since the nineteenth century, German Jewry had sustained three major rabbinical training seminaries.
Z. Frankel headed since 1854 the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau for Positive Historical Judaism (former version of the current conservative movement), which favored moderate reforms in accordance with authentic historical interpretation of the rabbinic sources. In 1872, the Liberal movement under A. Geiger established the College for Judaic Studies (Hochschule fuer Wissenschaft des Judentums) in Berlin, and in 1873, E. Hildesheimer established an Orthodox rabbinical seminary in Berlin. Under Nazi rule, these seminaries not only continued to operate but also expanded by taking in Jewish students who had left the universities. The Orthodox seminary and the academy in Breslau were shut down in late 1938, but the Liberal seminary remained active until the summer of 1942.
