Joachim Prinz

Rabbi Joachim Prinz

Joachim Prinz (May 10, 1902 – September 30, 1988) was a German-American rabbi who was outspoken against Nazism and became a Zionist leader.[1] As a young rabbi in Berlin, he was forced to confront the rise of Nazism, and eventually emigrated to the United States in 1937. There he became vice-chairman of the World Jewish Congress, an active member of the World Zionist Organization and a participant in the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington.[2]

History

Prinz was born in the village of Bierdzany (near Oppeln), in the Prussian province of Silesia.

Prinz was born to a Jewish family. Early on, he became motivated by a charismatic rabbi and Prinz took an increasing interest in Judaism. His Jewish roots grew even stronger following his mother’s death. By 1917, he had also joined Blau Weiss (Blue White), the Zionist youth movement.

At 21, Joachim Prinz received his Ph.D. in Philosophy, and had minored in Art History, at the University of Giessen. He was ordained as a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau. He married Lucie Horovitz, the daughter of the seminary’s most prominent professor. She died in Berlin shortly after giving birth to their daughter Lucie. Prinz married Hilde Goldschmidt in 1932. They had three children, Michael (born in Berlin), Jonathan and Deborah (both born in the United States)

As his prominence grew in Germany and his fears of Hitler's reign coming to fruition, he earned the sponsorship of Rabbi Stephen Wise who was a close adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt. In 1937, Prinz immigrated into the United States. He immediately began lecturing throughout the U.S. for the United Palestine Appeal, established in the 1920s as the fund raising arm in the United States for the Jewish Agency for Israel. It was, essentially, the precursor to what became the American Jewish support base for a nation state of Israel and the United Israel Appeal.[3][4]

Joachim Prinz settled in New Jersey as the spiritual leader of Temple B'Nai Abraham in Newark.

Activism

1963 march with Prinz and Martin Luther King Jr.

Jewish Rights

Within a short period, Prinz's activism helped him rise to become one of the top leaders within the Jewish organizational structure. He held top leadership positions in the World Jewish Congress, as president of the American Jewish Congress from 1958–1966, and as Chairman of the World Conference of Jewish Organizations. Later, he was a director of the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Prinz's early involvement in the Zionist movement made him a close ally and friend of the founding leaders of the State of Israel. Prinz was essential to establishing what became the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Prinz was Chairman from 1965-1967.[5]

Broader Civil Rights

Meeting with Leaders of the March on Washington

Dr. Prinz devoted much of his life in the United States to the Civil Rights movement. He saw the plight of African American and other minority groups in the context of his own experience under Hitler.

From his early days in Newark, a city with a very large minority community, he spoke from his pulpit about the disgrace of discrimination. He joined the picket lines across America protesting racial prejudice from unequal employment to segregated schools, housing and all other areas of life.

While serving as President of the American Jewish Congress, he represented the Jewish community as an organizer of the August 28, 1963, March on Washington. He came to the podium immediately following a stirring spiritual sung by the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and just before Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Dr. Prinz's address is remembered for its contention that, based on his experience as a rabbi in Nazi Germany after the rise of Hitler, in the face of discrimination, "the most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence."[6]

Books

References and citations

  1. ↑ Glenn Fowler, Joachim Prinz, Leader in Protests For Civil-Rights Causes, Dies at 86, New York Times, October 1, 1988
  2. ↑ March on Washington photo Gallery
  3. ↑ A Clash of Heroes: Brandeis, Weizmann, and American Zionism, By Ben Halpern
  4. ↑ Roosevelt's Letter to the UPA
  5. ↑ Prinz Library
  6. ↑ Reston, James via The New York Times, "The March's First Test: In The Churches", St. Petersburg Times, August 31, 1963. Accessed January 11, 2011.
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