David Kahane (, ; 15 March 1903 – 24 September 1998) was a Polish-Jewish religious teacher, doctor of philosophy, member of the Mizrachi party in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army. He was also the Chief Rabbi of the Israeli air force, and Chief Rabbi of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

between 1965 and 1975.

Life

Kahane was born in Grzymałów,

partitioned Poland Partition may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Partition'' (1987 film), directed by Ken McMullen * ''Partition'' (2007 film), directed by Vic Sarin * '' Partition: 1947'', or ''Viceroy's House'', a 2017 film Music * Par ...

(now

Hrymailiv Hrymailiv (; ; ) is a Populated places in Ukraine#Rural settlements, rural settlement in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Hrymailiv settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: H ...

, Ukraine) into a religious family of the Rabbis. He studied in Berlin and in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

(then Breslau). In 1923–1929, following the reconstitution of

sovereign Poland Sovereign Poland (, SP), also known as United Poland (; alternatively translated to Solidarity Poland), until 2023, was a Catholic-nationalist political party in Poland led by Zbigniew Ziobro. It was founded in 2012, as the Catholic-nationalist ...

, he continued his studies at 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 ...

where he obtained the title of

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

in ''Israelitisch-Theologische Lehranstalt''. Upon his return to Poland, Kahane joined the Mizrachi party in

. He made his living as a religious teacher. Subsequently, he was appointed Rabbi of

Tykocin Tykocin (; ) is a small town in north-eastern Poland, with 2,010 inhabitants (2012), located on the Narew river, in Białystok County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is one of the oldest towns in the region, with its historic center designated a ...

, and in 1929–1939 the Rabbi in Ose Tow Synagogue of Lwów. He also served as director of scientific

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

and the conquest of Lwów, he was interned in the

Lwów Ghetto The Lwów Ghetto (; ) was a Nazi ghetto in the city of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) in the territory of Nazi-administered General Government in German-occupied Poland. The ghetto, set up in the second half of 1941, was liquidated in June 1943; all ...

and was active in the local religious department. His parents were murdered in

Bełżec extermination camp Belzec (English: or , Polish: , approximately ) was a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland. It was built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major ...

in 1941. Prior to his deportment to Janowska concentration camp in August 1942, he managed to secure a hiding place for his three-year-old daughter. Deported to Janowska concentration camp, he escaped on 23 April 1943 and went into hiding on the 'Aryan' side. Two months after the liquidation of the Lvov ghetto, in September 1943 Kahane and 15 other Jews sheltered in Metropolitan

Andrey Sheptytsky Andrey Sheptytsky, OSBM (; ; 29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Metropolitan of Galicia and Archbishop of Lviv from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure in office spanned two world wars and six political r ...

's home in Lvov. He survived

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

in the General Government

District of Galicia The District of Galicia (, , ) was a World War II administrative unit of the General Government created by Nazi Germany on 1 August 1941 after the start of Operation Barbarossa, based loosely within the borders of the ancient Principality o ...

. After the Soviet takeover, in 1944 he joined the

Polish People's Army The Polish People's Army (, ; LWP) was the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East during the latter stages of the Second World War (1943–1945), and subsequently the armed forces of the Polish communist state (1945–1989 ...

in the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

, and appointed chief Rabbi in 1945. Kahane protested against acts of antisemitism in Poland at the funeral of the victims of the

Kielce pogrom The Kielce pogrom was an outbreak of violence toward the Jewish community centre's gathering of refugees in the city of Kielce, Poland, on 4 July 1946 by Polish soldiers, police officers, and civilians Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, he became the Chief Rabbi of the Air Force. In 1967–1975 he resided in Argentina and served as Chief Rabbi of that country. He returned to Israel in 1975 and settled in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. He wrote memoirs in Hebrew including: ''Joman geto Lwow'' (1978); translated as the ''Lvov Ghetto Diary'' (1990); as well as the ''Achre(j) ha-mabul'' (1968). The Lvov Ghetto Diary is one of the few diaries to come out of the Lvov ghetto.Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature
edited by Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies University of Texas at Dallas David Patterson, David Patterson, Alan L. Berger, Sarita Cargas, page 76

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahane, David 1903 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Polish rabbis University of Vienna alumni Holocaust diarists 20th-century Polish diarists Polish Holocaust survivors Polish People's Army personnel Polish emigrants to Israel Israel Defense Forces rabbis

Life

See also

Notes and references