Although the change of rector from Prof. Dr. Werner Arnold to Dr. Andreas Brämer already took place last year, it is remarkable that it was also reported on two pages in the magazine Jüdisches Leben in Bayern in April, which has now been published online.
The magazine, which Benno Reicher has been journalistically responsible for since 2012, is published three times a year: for the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah in September, Hanukkah in December and Passover in April. It can certainly be seen as the successor to the Bayerische Israelitische Gemeindezeitung.
This in turn was first published in Munich on February 27, 1925 as a newsletter of the Jewish Community of Munich and the Association of Bavarian Jewish Communities, with a circulation of 4,500 copies.
Under the editors Ludwig Feuchtwanger and Eugen Schmidt, the liberal paper developed into a nationally respected voice of Jewish life. It combined articles on tradition and religious customs with articles on culture, society and current affairs. It was supplemented by reports from the synagogue communities, official notices, family news and advertisements.
In December 1937, the Nazi regime banned the newspaper.
Today, Jüdisches Leben in Bayern continues this tradition: The free, advertising-free association magazine of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Bavaria is aimed at members of the Jewish communities in Bavaria - and at an interested public far beyond.
Thankfully, the Goethe University in Frankfurt has archived all issues of the Bayerische Israelitische Gemeindezeitung. These include the penultimate issue from July 1, 1937, which describes a day in Israel: "Vom Leben der Arbeit in Eretz Israel". Click here for the complete issue (pdf)
A certain Dr. Willy Cohn from Breslau writes about a day in Kibbutz Giv'at Brenner, named after Josef Chaim Brenner, who was murdered by Arab civilians during the riots in Jaffa in 1921. Cohn, who alongside Klemperer is considered the most important chronicler of Nazi crimes, was deported with his family and murdered in Lithuania in 1941.
