Kober, Adolf

Rabbi, historian

Born: 03.09.1879 in Beuthen (Upper Silesia)

Died: 30.12.1958 in New York

Kober studied history, philosophy and oriental languages at the University of Breslau. He received his doctorate in 1903 with a thesis on Jewish history in Cologne during the Middle Ages. At the same time, he attended the Jewish theological seminary Fraenckel'scher Stiftung in Breslau. He passed the rabbinical examination there in 1907.

From 1906-08, Kober worked as an assistant rabbi and religious teacher in the Jewish community of Cologne. In 1908, he took up the position of city and district rabbi in Wiesbaden. In 1914 he became chairman of the B'nai B'rith lodge. At the end of the First World War in 1918, he left Wiesbaden and took up the post of community rabbi in Cologne. In 1928, he founded the Jewish Teaching House.

He was a member of numerous denominational and scientific associations. He was also a delegate of the Prussian State Association of Jewish Communities from 1925 to 1939. Kober was one of the initiators of the presentation of Jewish history within the Cologne "Millennium Exhibition of the Rhineland" in 1925. In 1928, he became director of the historical section of the Jewish section of the international exhibition "Pressa" in Cologne. Kober was also a lecturer at the adult education center and a lecturer in Jewish history at the University of Cologne.

After being mistreated during the pogrom night of 1938, he emigrated to the USA with his family in 1939. He was granted American citizenship in 1945. In New York, Kober co-founded the immigrant community Kehillath Yavneh and, in 1943, the Leo Baeck Lodge of the B'nai B'rith. He was also chairman of the Blue Card charity organization and a member of the New York Board of Rabbis. He was also a member of historical professional associations.

In the 1930s, he published the "Zeitschrift für die Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland" with others. Probably his most important work was published in exile: the history of the Jews in Cologne from its beginnings to the present day. Kober was also a contributor to numerous handbooks and encyclopedias such as the "Jewish Lexicon", the "Encyclopaedia Judaica", the "Germania Judaica" and the "Universal Jewish Encyclopedia".