Adolf Kurrein (January 28, 1846 – October 23, 1919) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

and

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

activist.

Early life

Adolf Kurrein was born in

Třebíč Třebíč (; ) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 35,000 inhabitants. The beginnings of the town's history are connected with the establishment of a Benedictines, Benedictine monastery, where the castle is loca ...

, now part of the Czech Republic. Losing his father, Markus Maharam Kurrein, when he was two years old, Adolf grew up with his sister Katharina and his mother Theresia (Telze) née Grünberger, a seamstress. At age 15, he moved to

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

(now in the Czech Republic), where he graduated in 1866. He then went to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, receiving his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

Career

Kurrein served as rabbi of St. Pölten (now in Austria) starting 1872, of

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

(Austria) from 1876 to 1882, and of

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; ; , ; ) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 166,765 as of December 2022, making it the List of cities and towns in Poland#Largest cities and towns by population, 22nd largest city in Poland, and an a ...

(now in Poland) from 1882 to 1888. Then, he became rabbi of

Teplice Teplice (, until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; , ''Teplitz-Schönau'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 51,000 inhabitants. It is the most populous Czech spa town, followed by Karlovy Vary. The historic city cen ...

(now in the Czech Republic). Kurrein edited the monthly ''Jüdische Chronik'' from 1894 to 1896 with Simon Stern and Ignaz Ziegler and from 1897 to 1902 alone. Under his guidance, ''Jüdische Chronik'' advocated Zionism. He authored and co-authored articles for the ''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

''.

Writings

Kurrein was a disciple of

Adolf Jellinek Adolf Jellinek ( ''Aharon Jelinek''; 26 June 1821 in Drslavice, Moravia – 28 December 1893 in Vienna) was an Austrian rabbi and scholar. After filling clerical posts in Leipzig (1845–1856), he became a preacher at the Leopoldstädter Temp ...

. Besides several collections of sermons — entitled ''Maggid Mereshit'' (1880), ''Maggid le-Adam'' (1882), and ''Patriarchenbilder: I., Abraham'' (1893) — he wrote the following pamphlets: * "Die Frau im Jüdischen Volke" (1885; 2d ed., Bilin, 1901) * "Traum und Wahrheit", a biography of Joseph (1887) * "Arbeit und Arbeiter" (1890) * "Die Sociale Frage im Judentume" (1890) * "Die Pflichten des Besitzes" (1892) * "Der Friede" (1892) * "Das Kaddisch" (1896) * "Der Grabstein" (1897) * "Judäa und Rom" (1898) * "Bibel, Heidentum, und Heidenbekehrung" (1899; 2d. ed., 1901) * "Brauchen die Juden Christenblut?" (1900) * "Lichtstrahlen aus den Reden Jellinek's", prepared by him for Jellinek's 70th birthday

Family

In 1877 Kurrein married Jessie Loewe, daughter of

Louis Loewe Louis Loewe (1809–1888; also Louis Löwe) was a Silesian linguist. He served as principal and director of Judith Theological College for twenty years; he was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, Numismatic Society and of the Asiatic Soc ...

. Two of their five children were murdered at

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. His son Viktor Kurrein (1881-1974) was also a rabbi in

until he fled to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1938.

Reference Notes

External links

“Prof. Dr. Adolf Kurrein, Rabbi”
Geni.

* ''Jewish Encyclopedia'': ttps://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9559-kurrein-adolf “Kurrein, Adolf”by Isidore Singer (1906). Now in public domain.
''Jüdische Chronik''
edited by Simon Stern, Ignaz Ziegler & Adolf Kurrein, vol. 3, 1896-97, 394 pages in German.
''Jüdische Chronik'', (B180)
a digitized periodical published by Kurrein, at the

Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurrein, Adolf 1846 births 1919 deaths Rabbis from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Czech rabbis Zionist activists People from Třebíč