personal data
Bamberger Moses Löb, Dr.
Parents: Seckel and Nannette Bamberger
Siblings: Kehla, Seligmann Bär, Yiras m. Adler, Simcha Simon, Adelaide m. Jutkowski, Sarah m. Neuwirth
Spouse: Jaqueline (Zerline) nee Falk
Children: Adelaide, Benjamin, Sara, Seckel, Salomon, Simson
Promenadestraße 5c (today 17)
1939 emigrated to England
biography
Moses Löb Bamberger was born in Bad Kissingen on December 3, 1902 as a son of Rabbi Seckel Bamberger and his wife Nannette. After attending Kissingen Realschule between 1912 and 1918, he passed his high school graduation (Abitur) at the Kreis-Oberrealschule in Würzburg at the end of April in 1921. He then studied at Würzburg University (1921), Berlin University (1921-1924) Berlin Rabbi Seminar, and Gießen University (1924-1925) where he received his doctorate as a student of Rudolf Strothmann. He got his diploma there on August 10, 1928. In spring 1928, he moved back to Bad Kissingen to live with his parents there.
In 1929, he got his first appointment as the successor of the highly revered Dr. Jonas Bondi as the District Rabbi and headmaster in Mainz, which he held till 1938. He married Jaqueline (Zerline) Falk, a rabbi's daughter born in Frankfurt/Main in 1901, with whom he had six children.
When Moses Löb and his brother Simon went to Bad Kissingen in November 1938 to visit their father’s grave on the fourth anniversary of his death, they were arrested together with their sister Kehla during the Pogrom Night. In the afternoon of November 10, the two rabbis and other Jews of Bad Kissingen were chained together like felons and driven through the town from the prison of the district court to the Jewish cemetery. The sons of the former rabbi of Bad Kissingen asked the policemen to spare them this dishonoring and humiliation and promised them not to try to escape. However, the policemen didn’t respond to that. When they had arrived at the cemetery, they and the other Jewish captives had to dig up the earth in a place the policemen indicated to them. Bad Kissingen police believed to have found out that “some time ago, diverse pieces of incriminating material” had been buried in the Jewish cemetery. Instead of the “incriminating material” they had expected the police only found some no longer usable books and Thora Scrolls that had been interred in a grave of their own according to Jewish custom. After the digging had finished, the Jewish captives were once again chained hand to hand and guided back to the prison of the district court in a degrading fashion. Moses Löb and Simon Bamberger were even cynically forced to pay the tourist tax of 10 Reichsmark for their stay in Bad Kissingen. Then the two brothers were deported into Dachau Concentration Camp but were later released.
In 1939, Moses Löb made up his mind to emigrate to England, he probably planned to emigrate from there to the USA, because on a passenger list of the SS Lagonia, which left Liverpool for New York on August 12, 1939, he was already registered with his wife and children. However, their names were crossed out in the list and marked that they had not made the journey. For what reason they did not board the ship is not known. Moses Löb was interned as an "enemy alien" after the war began and was released in November 1940. He later found employment as a rabbi in Nottingham. In 1944 he founded the Jewish Boarding School/ Yeshiva in Gateshead, whose principal he became. He died there in August 1960.
References
The information is taken from: Hans-Jürgen Beck, Kissingen war unsere Heimat, 2017 edition, p. 432ff
Biographische Datenbank Jüdisches Bad Kissingen
Schülerakte Jack-Steinberger-Gymnasium
Datenbank Genicom, Einträge Moses Löb und Zerline Bamberger
Datenbank Jüdischer Lehrer, BLLV, Bamberger, Moses Löb
Datenbank Myheritage, Davis-Website
Photo credits
beide Fotos © Dr. Shaul Yutav, Tel Aviv
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