Michael Rachmuth
(1865 Siret - 1943 Auschwitz)
In 1852, the rabbi, translator and linguist Michael Sachs (1808-1864) published his "Betraege zur Sprach- und Altertumsforschung". The book was printed in Berlin, where he was working as a rabbi at the time, having previously spent several years in Prague. Sachs dedicated this copy to "His dear brother-in-law Dr. J. Ploo". Joachim Ploo (1805-1878) was a doctor in Prague and the husband of Michael Sachs' sister Johanna/Jeanette (1817-1873). Ploo obviously intended to become a rabbi before training as a doctor.
It has not yet been possible to clarify how the book came to the next known owner, Micha(e)l Rachmuth, years later. There are very distant family ties between Ploo and Rachmuth, but the path of transmission appears to have been different. Rachmuth was born in Siret/Sereth in Bukovina in 1865. In 1890, he enrolled at Berlin University and attended lectures in philosophy and oriental studies. According to his own account, he acquired the prerequisites to begin his studies through private study preparations. Two years later, he moved to Prague, where he attended the state high school (Staatsgymnasium, Kleinseite) and graduated with his Matura. he returned to Berlin in 1894 to resume his studies. At the same time, he was enrolled as a student at the Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, where he was ordained as a rabbi. Rachmuth was awarded his degree with the work "Maimonides‘ Commentar zum Tractat Joma. Zum ersten Male im arabischen Urtexte herausgegeben mit verbesserter hebräischer Übersetzung und Anmerkungen" at the University of Tübingen - the first reviewer was the orientalist Christian Friedrich Seybold. Rachmuth's first rabbinical posts were in Rosenberg/Rožmberk nad Vltavou, in Schüttenhofen/Sušice and in Waidhofen an der Thaya, and from 1915 to 1934 he was rabbi in Neuhaus/Jindřichův Hradec. From there, he also looked after the communities in Telč and Kardasch Retschitz/Kardašová Řečice for a time. After retiring in 1934, he moved to Prague with his wife Netti Rachmuth, née Diamant, and their children Gertrud and Emil. In addition to his work as a rabbi, Rachmuth was the author of treatises on Jewish history and literature as well as the economic and social history of Jews in Bohemia and co-author of Czechoslovakian textbooks. Rachmuth presumably took the book, which he had stamped with his name, with him to Theresienstadt when he and his wife were sent to the camp in June 1942. From there, both were deported to Auschwitz in December 1943 and murdered. Their daughter Gertrud, her husband Otto Hojtasch and their child Petr Hojtasch were first deported to Theresienstadt and later to an unknown destination. Their son Emil lived to see the liberation of Auschwitz. We were able to hand over the book to his descendants in April 2025.
Selected literature and sources:
- Hugo Gold, Die Juden und Judengemeinden Böhmens in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, Brünn 1934, p. 451
- Doctoral file: University Archive Tübingen, UAT 131/46a; UAT 131 46b 17 (incl. curriculum vitae); UAT 132 61 - 1896 24
- Engagement: https://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/cm/periodical/pageview/3035952?query=%22michael%20rachmut%22
- Short biography (Czech): https: //hradeczije.cz/duchovni-spravci-iv-nezapomenutelne-osobnosti-jindrichova-hradce/
- As a school leaver at the Prague Lesser Town Secondary School, leaving in 1893 after 6 years: https: //hradeczije.cz/duchovni-spravci-iv-nezapomenutelne-osobnosti-jindrichova-hradce/
- Proof of doctorate: https://hradeczije.cz/duchovni-spravci-iv-nezapomenutelne-osobnosti-jindrichova-hradce/
- A letter from Rachmuth to Ignaz Goldziher, in which he asked Goldziher for further information on the subject, has been preserved from his research on the treatise "Die Juden in Nordafrika bis zur Invasion der Araber"; Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Goldziher Bequest, M. Rachmuth's Letter to Ignaz Goldziher, Berlin 1899. 04. 21 - 1 fol. (1 p.), http://real-ms.mtak.hu/id/eprint/10694
- See also Sabine Schmidtke: Martin Schreiner between Islamic Studies and "Wissenschaft des Judentums". Reconstruction His Scholarly Biography", Tübingen 2024, p. 86 (digitally available).
- According to an anonymous list of Prague residents, Rachmuth lived at Manesgasse 64 in Prague together with his son Emil Rachmuth (Yad Vashem Archives, O.7.cz-91), presumably this was the last address before his deportation
- Treatment in the eye clinic in Theresienstadt with Dr. W. Pollak: https: //collections.jewishmuseum.cz/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/137089
- https://www.holocaust.cz/databaze-obeti/obet/116446-michal-rachmuth/
- https://www.pamatnik-terezin.cz/prisoner/te-rachmuth-michal
- https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/de/document/5110063
About Joachim Ploo:
Obituary in "Die Neuzeit" from 08.03.1878: https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=neu&datum=18780308&seite=3&zoom=33&query=%22joachim%2Bploo%22&ref=anno-search
Obituary in the "Prager Abendblatt" of 23.02.1878: https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=pab&datum=18780223&seite=3&zoom=33
Link to the restituted copy in the Looted Cultural Assets database: https://db.lootedculturalassets.de/index.php/Detail/objects/259991
(Text: Ph. Zschommler)
