Erinnerungen eines Grossvaters II

The file is the second part of the memoirs of Rabbi Dr. Caesar Seligmann of Frankfurt/M. He continues his story with his exams in Breslau, his military service and visits to Berlin to meet Leopold Zunz and Israel Hildesheimer. He is offered the position of Rabbi in Hamburg and moves there in September 1889. In 1892 he witnesses the Cholera epidemic in Hamburg when about 500-600 people died daily. He mentions Dr. Otto Meyer and Jakob Loewenberg and their selfless heroism during the epidemic. After 12 years in Hamburg he is offered the position of Rabbi in Frankfurt/M in 1902, where he would remain until January 1939. In Frankfurt he met Bertha Pappenheim but failed to convince her to create a Jewish Women’s Organization with a religious background. He recounts the events of the Rabbinical assembly of 1906 in Berlin which urged him to revive the Liberal movement of Judaism and his fight against the “prevalent dull atmosphere in Jewish learning.“ He contributed many articles to the magazine “Liberales Judentum” and was active in founding local groups all over Germany where he gave lectures and support. He also influenced the strengthening of the liberal movement in England at a visit there.