Leo Trepp

Leo Trepp ( born March 4, 1913 in Mainz, † September 2, 2010 in San Francisco ) was a German -born rabbi and professor of theology.

Life

The parents of Leo Trepp Trepp were Maier (1873-1945) from Fulda and Selma Ziporah Hirschberg (1879-1948) from Oberlauringen. The brother of Leo Trepp Trepp is Gustav.

Leo Trepp put 1931 his Abitur at the Gymnasium at the Electoral Palace from, a friend he was during his school days with the later painter Peter Paul Etz. Trepp then studied philosophy and philology at the University of Frankfurt and the University of Berlin. He received his doctorate in 1935 with a thesis on " Taine, Montaigne, Richeome. Your views on religion and the church. A contribution to the French customer beings " Dr. phil. at the University of Würzburg. Concomitant rabbinical training at the College of Jewish Studies in Berlin in 1936 to his ordination as a rabbi.

He entered on August 1, 1936 - first as a representative of the Prussian State Association of Jewish communities - the post of rabbi in Oldenburg. On November 22, 1936, he was unanimously elected by the Jewish state council in Oldenburg rabbi. He had until shortly after the November pogroms in 1938, until mid- December 1938 held this office. In this short tenure, he was able to achieve with the support of the government of the country Oldenburg nor that Jewish schoolchildren in a school until the end of April 1940 could be taught together.

He married on April 26, 1938 Miriam de Haas ( 1916-1999 ), the daughter of his predecessor in office, Chief Rabbi Philip de Haas ( 1884-1935 ). From this marriage a daughter emerged.

Together with his male parishioners Trepp was initially ( until November 11, 1938 10 ) taken in Oldenburg in so-called protective custody. He was then in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp deported ( 11 to 26 November 1938). He was discharged as a result of opposition by the then British Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz from the concentration camp and emigrated on December 18, 1938 to England. From there, he later emigrated to the United States, studied at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, and served as rabbi in various communities. In 1951 he was appointed to the Napa College in California whose humanities faculty he served as Professor of Philosophy and Humanities until his retirement in 1983.

In 1971 he lectured at the University of Hamburg on Jewish theology and at the University of Oldenburg on the basics of Judaism.

Since 1983 he has taught almost every year as a professor of Judaic studies in the Department of Theology at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz; Since 1988 he was honorary professor there.

Since 1986 he was an honorary member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Leo Trepp was the last surviving rabbi who had officiated in the Nazi era.

Leo Trepp died on September 2, 2010 in San Francisco.

Honors

Bibliography (selection)

  • The country community of Jews in Oldenburg. Nucleus of Jewish life (1827-1938) and mirror Jewish fate. Oldenburg 1965
  • The Oldenburg Jewry. Image and model of Jewish being and becoming in Germany. Oldenburg 1973
  • Judaism. History and vibrant present. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1969.
  • The Jewish worship - form and development. Stuttgart (2nd edition ) 2004 ( 1st edition 1992).
  • Nigune Magenza. Jewish liturgical chants from Mainz. (including notes and 2 audio CDs), Mainz 2004.
  • The Jews - people, history, religion. 12th edition, Wiesbaden 2006.
  • Love is the perfection of life. To celebrate the 200th birthday of Samson Raphael Hirsch, founder of the New Orthodoxy, in the period from 12 June 2008 No. 25/ 2008, page 90
  • Leo Trepp in Oldenburg: The 95 -year-old talks about his life in Oldenburg in the Nazi era. NWZ- TV, July 31, 2008
  • " Your God is my God ": Ways to Judaism and the Jewish community. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005.
Semikhah The Heritage Foundation Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Integrated Authority File
507942
de