Berlin in Cincinnati — Scenes from the End of the ‘ Hochschule f€ur die Wissenschaft des Judentums’ BY FELIX STEILEN Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow, Germany ABSTRACT A vital centre of Jewish higher learning, the Berlin ‘Hochschule f€ur die Wissenschaft des Judentums’ (1872–1942) is part of a larger story about the persecution and subsequent flight of the intelligentsia in Europe. This article will look at the final phase of this institution of Reform Judaism through the lens of Cincinnati’s Hebrew Union College, based on hitherto unpublished sources from the American Jewish Archives. The end of the Hochschule, comprising its last years and immediate afterlife, will be rendered through notable encounters involving former professors and students. Rather than providing a concluded account of this wide and fractured subject, the aim here will be a perspectivation of individual historical experience through a series of notable scenes. These range from (I) a period of precarious blossoming to (II) mounting constraints in the 1930s, (III) dreams of escape and stability, and (IV) the question of mere survival. A short reflection on this exceptional and strangely forgotten institution stands in lieu of a conclusion. INTRODUCTION This article looks at an important centre of academic and rabbinical training in Germany in its final phase. A vital hub of Jewish higher learning, the Hochschule f€ ur die Wissenschaft des Judentums (1872–1942) is part of the history of the expul- sion of the intelligentsia in Europe. 1 Since the institution left no cohesive archive and few traces in its city of origin, the following view proceeds through the lens of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, structured around original sources from the American Jewish Archives (AJA) that are being presented here for the first time. 1 The term ‘Lehranstalt’ was imposed during 1883–1922 and reintroduced in 1933–1942 to downgrade the ‘Hochschule’. While the term itself bore no negative connotation, contemporary Berlin even had a ‘Lehranstalt’ for tie sewing. ‘Untersuchungen € uber die Lehranstalt f€ ur Krawattenn€aherei von Frau Johanna Hirsch, Berlin NO 55, Greifswalder Str. 198’, 1911–1913, Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv, 34 Provinzialschulkollegium 3741; see Christian Wiese, ‘Hochschule f€ ur die Wissenschaft des Judentums’, in Dan Diner (ed.), Enzyklop€adie j€udischer Geschichte und Kultur, vol. 3, Stuttgart–Weimar 2012, pp. 76–81; and the statistical overview: Heinz-Hermann V€olker, ‘Die Hochschule f€ ur die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin, 1900–1942’, in Hartmut Walravens (ed.), Bibliographie und Berichte. Festschrift f€ur Werner Schochow, Munich 1990, pp. 196–230. © The Author(s) (2024). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Leo Baeck Institute. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com Leo Baeck Institute Year Book Vol. 00, 1–18 https://doi.org/10.1093/leobaeck/ybae010 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/leobaeck/advance-article/doi/10.1093/leobaeck/ybae010/7738290 by UNESCO United Nations user on 22 August 2024