Rebirth in Oppeln–Opole
Monday, 17 November 2008
Leo Baeck College has been involved in efforts to mark the legacy of Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck in the town where he once worked.
As a consequence of its history and name, the College has a duty to preserve and continue the religious legacy of German Jewry. The destruction of this splendid heritage was not only a tragedy for the Jewish people, but a cultural loss for Europe. The College was therefore delighted to participate in a project to make this inheritance meaningful to the present inhabitants of the lands in which it was born.
The town of Oppeln in Silesia was before the times of Hitler the home of a Jewish community. From 1897 to 1907 Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck was rabbi of the community. Following World War II Oppeln was incorporated into Poland and reverted to its original Slavic name of Opole. The original Jewish community had been destroyed in the Shoah.
Leo Baeck College has a further personal connection with Oppeln/Opole. The family of its Vice-Principal Rabbi Dr, Michael Shire were members of the Jewish community there.
Opole has a Society for Alternative Education led by an outstanding personality: Beata Maliszkiewicz. The Society among other cultural and educational activities runs a high school.
Beata Maliszkiewicz, a Catholic, having found out that Leo Baeck once lived in the street where her school was located, decided to arrange a festival to bring this “Rabbi from Opole” to the attention of the present population of the town. The festival organised by staff and students of the school in the spring of 2007 included a theatrical performance and a street exhibition of information about Leo Baeck. The festival had a marked impact on the community. Significant in that the work of a rabbi was given such prominence in a Polish town, the festival also respected the German tradition of Leo Baeck. The work of the festival continues and was recently taken to Italy.
Beata Maliszkiewicz turned for help to institutions bearing the name of Leo Baeck asking for material. Fortunately Leo Baeck College could help and made an effort to support her work. In addition to the connection of the Vice-Principal with Opole, the College could offer the assistance of Ludwik Finkelstein, Research Fellow in Jewish History and Thought, who works on the history of Jews in Polish lands and speaks fluent Polish. We could supply photographic material from the library and help in producing exhibition material in Polish.
All in the College concerned with this project feel a great sense of joy that the influence of the man whose name we proudly bear has again been felt in the land in which he once worked. Our work on Polish history has also been inspired by the fact that the new Poland, having regained its freedom after years of oppression by Nazis and Communists has people in it who are returning to the broad religious tolerance of the years of early greatness of the country that once had a Jewish Golden Age.
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