Felix Carlebach
Encyclopedia
Felix Falk Carlebach was a German-born British Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

He was an honorary citizen of the city of Lübeck and had both German and British citizenship.

Life

Carlebach descended from a well known German rabbinical family. He was the son of Simson Carlebach (1875–1942), a banker, and his wife Resi née Graupe. His grandfather Salomon Carlebach (1845–1919), who married Esther Carlebach née Adler (1853–1920), was already a Rabbi in Lübeck. His uncle Joseph Carlebach
Joseph Carlebach
Dr. Joseph Hirsch Carlebach was an Orthodox rabbi and Jewish-German scholar and natural scientist ....

 was a Rabbi in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. Carlebach's younger brother Ephraim was a Rabbi in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 (Canada). He had another brother, Salomon, and a sister, Esther.

Carlebach was a student at Katharineum
Katharineum
The Katharineum zu Lübeck is a humanistic gymnasium founded 1531 in the Hanseatic city Lübeck, Germany. In 2006 the 475th anniversary of this Latin school was celebrated with several events...

 zu Lübeck
. After he passed his A-levels in 1929 he studied theology and music in Köln
KOLN
KOLN, digital channel 10, is the CBS affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska. It operates a satellite station, KGIN, on digital channel 11 in Grand Island. KGIN repeats all KOLN programming, but airs separate commercials...

. In 1934 he became a teacher at Höhere Israelitische Schule in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 a school for Jewish students founded by his uncle Ephraim Carlebach
Ephraim Carlebach
Ephraim Carlebach , was a German-born Orthodox rabbi.Carlebach belonged to a well known German rabbi family. His father Salomon Carlebach was rabbi in Lübeck. He had seven brothers and four sisters...

 (1879–1936) in 1912. His uncle emigrated to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 in spring 1936 and died there in October 1936. Felix Carlebach stayed in Leipzig until 1939.

In 1936 he married Babette Kohn (d. 1991) who was then teaching at Höhere Israelitische Schule. The couple had three daughters, Judith, Sulamith and Naomi.

Felix Carlebach's parents, his uncle Joseph Carlebach
Joseph Carlebach
Dr. Joseph Hirsch Carlebach was an Orthodox rabbi and Jewish-German scholar and natural scientist ....

 (1883–1942) and his wife Charlotte née Preuss (b. 1900) were deported with their four youngest children to Jungfernhof concentration camp
Jungfernhof concentration camp
The Jungfernhof concentration camp was an improvised concentration camp in Latvia, at the Mazjumprava Manor, near the Šķirotava Railway Station about three or four kilometers from Riga...

, near Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

 on December 6, 1942. His father Simson Carlebach died just after the arrival. His mother, his uncle and aunt and their three daughters Ruth (b. 1926), Noemi (b.1927) und Sara (b. 1928) were executed in Bikernieki
Bikernieki
Biķernieki is a settlement in Biķernieki parish in southeastern Latvia.- External links :*...

 forest near Riga on March 26, 1942. Only Carlebach's cousin Salomon Carlebach
Shlomo Carlebach (rabbi)
Shlomo Carlebach -- not to be confused with his cousin Shlomo Carlebach, also a rabbi and a well-known Jewish composer and musician-- is a Haredi rabbi and scholar who was chosen to be the mashgiach ruchani of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin located in Brooklyn, in New York City after...

 (b. August 17, 1925) survived and became a rabbi in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

Felix Carlebach and his wife Babette escaped to Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 by support of British chief rabbi Joseph H. Hertz
Joseph H. Hertz
----Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz, CH was a Jewish Hungarian-born Rabbi and Bible scholar. He is most notable for holding the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and The Holocaust.- Early life :Hertz was born in the...

 in 1939. Calebach said: It was one of the luckiest events of my life that my wife and I survived.
He became a Rabbi because of a need he said. World War II began and all Rabbis had to join the army and overnight there were jobs. I was simply put in.

In London he worked as a Rabbi at the Palmers Green and Southgate United Synagoge from 1939 to 1947 replacing a Rabbi who had joined the army. In 1954 he passed Magister artium exam at Victoria University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

.
From 1947 until he retired in 1984 he worked as a Rabbi at the South Manchester Synagogue
South Manchester Synagogue
The name South Manchester Synagogue refers to both an Orthodox Jewish community in south Manchester, England and to the buildings that it occupies...

.

In 1985 Carlebach came back to Lübeck for the first time since 1939. Albrecht Schreiber, editor of Lübecker Nachrichten
Lübecker Nachrichten
The Lübecker Nachrichten is a regional daily newspaper in Germany, covering Schleswig-Holstein and western Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is, along with the Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag and the Kieler Nachrichten, one of the largest daily newspapers in Schleswig-Holstein.LN appears daily...

 who published about the history of Jews in Lübeck, came to see Carlebach in Manchester, having been sent by Lübeck's mayor Robert Knüppel. Carlebach described Knüppel's intention: See him in Manchester, find out if he is willing to reach out his hands, if he is willing to pass a bridge I would like to build.
Carlebach described his reaction and the consequences: Brotherhod after the cruelties of the past. It was a very difficult matter (...) I did it and got excellent relationships to the authorities of Lübeck by the mayor and our former school.

During his stay in Lübeck he visited Katharineum
Katharineum
The Katharineum zu Lübeck is a humanistic gymnasium founded 1531 in the Hanseatic city Lübeck, Germany. In 2006 the 475th anniversary of this Latin school was celebrated with several events...

, his former school and met twelve of his former classmates he hadn't seen since 1939. We hugged each other and said: "Such may never happen again."

In 1987 the city of Lübeck offered honorary citizenship to Carlebach, which he received on September 17, 1987 in the town hall of Lübeck. Carlebach became the 19th honorary citizen of the city.

At Carlebach's 90th birthday a Lübeck delegation went to see him in Manchester. Carlebach told Robert Knüppel and other members of the delegation that Lübeck was in his thoughts and memories often, although he was not able to go to his father's city because of his old age.

The South Manchester Synagogue honored Carlebach by a plaque at the entrance of the new building being unveiled by the Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

, Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...

, in April 2003. He also planted a tree in Carlebach's honour.

The Hallé Orchestra of Manchester honored Carlebach year by year by giving a symphony concert for which he choose the program.

The City of Lübeck honoured all members of the Carlebach rabbinical family by naming a new park in Hochschulstadtteil near the university
University of Lübeck
Medicine has been the focal point of learning, teaching and research at the University of Lübeck. In both 2006 and 2009, the University of Lübeck remains No. 1 in medicine among all universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland according to the...

Carlebach Park.

Sources

  • Presse- und Informationsamt der Hansestadt Lübeck (Hrsg): Festakt aus Anlass der Verleihung der Ehrenbürgerschaft der Hansestadt Lübeck an Rabbiner Felix F. Carlebach am 17. September 1987 im Bürgerschaftssaal des Lübecker Rathauses. Hansestadt Lübeck, Bürgerschaft und Senat, Lübeck 1987
  • Sabine Niemann (Ed.): Die Carlebachs, eine Rabbinerfamilie aus Deutschland, Ephraim-Carlebach-Stiftung (Hrsg). Dölling und Galitz. Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-926174-99-4
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