Kurt Metzger Collection

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0434

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This collection includes typed sermons from 1935 and their photocopies, as well as the text of Rabbi Metzger's first sermon delivered in Nuremberg, in 1931, housed in folder 1. Jewish community periodicals: the 1939 December issue of the Neues Jüdisches Gemeinblatt published in New York, with the lead article "Channukkah" written by Rabbi Metzger, and an issue of the Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt für das Gebiet der Rheinpfalz that Rabbi Metzger edited, dated September 1, 1938, are in folder 6. Folders 2 to 4 hold probably trial or proof prints of several issues of the latter title in addition to two issues of Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt für den Rabbinatsbezirk Landau-Pfalz and the Rabbinatsbezirk Landau/Pfalz, dating from 1936 through 1938. Rabbi Metzger served as editor of all three newspapers. The proof prints of the aforementioned, digitized no. 6 of the Rabbinatsbezirk Landau/Pfalzinsert title text from March 1936 are also included. The proofs do not have page numbers, and only the covers are dated, hence pages may have been erroneously grouped together. Miscellaneous pages are in folder 5.

Patrons will find interesting the two biographies, one by Malcolm H. Stern and the other a printout from jewishgen.org, and a review of the Landau Jewish Community's history, printed from geni.com enclosed together with Dr. Epstein's letter of donation enclosed in folder 7.

Dates

Creation: 1931 - 2015
Creation: Majority of material found within 1931 - 1939

Creator

Metzger, Kurt L., 1909-1992. (Person)

Language of Materials

The materials in this collection are in English and German.

Access

The collection is open for research.

Biographical/Historical Note

This collection was donated by Joseph Epstein of Monroe New York, where Rabbi Kurt Metzger retired at the end of a long, diverse, and fruitful career. It began in Germany and continued in the US; as in his short biography (also included in the collection) Malcolm H. Stern noted, Rabbi Metzger "was one of Hitler's last gifts to the American rabbinate." Born on December 10, 1909 in Nuremberg, Rabbi Kurtz studied at the universities of Würtzburg, Erlangen, and Breslau, where he also attended the Rabbinical Seminary. For several months in 1938, he was incarcerated in Buchenwald. While he was denied the completion of a university degree in Nazi Germany, he was ordained as rabbi at the Breslau Seminary in 1939. Between 1935 and 1938, he served as the Landau-Pfalz District Rabbi: this collection holds the text of some of his sermons held during this period. The newsletter of the Landau-Pfalz district from March 1936, available from JDoC, was edited by him. In the Price Library of Judaica Anniversary Periodical Collection, three more issues of this periodical are available.

In 1940, Rabbi Metzger managed to immigrate to the USA. He served as rabbi in Glen Falls, New York, Bredford Pennsylvania, and Olean New York, in addition to Monroe, New York. The Hebrew Union College awarded him the title Doctor of Hebrew Letters. He also worked as a chaplain in a hospital and a prison, and was elected to the boards of various religious organizations, as well as the Rotary International.

From the 1960s, he began to travel to Germany. He gave talks in various German cities. In his hometown, his wife Lore gave talks in school and rabbi Metzger visited churches and congregations. On the 30th anniversary of the destruction Landau's synagogue, he inaugurated the memorial erected where the synagogue once stood. In Landau, he also participated in the restoration and opening of the Frank-Loeb House, once owned by Anne Frank's family, today home of the University of Landau-Koblenz's Frank-Loeb Institute focusing on research in political science.

In 1988, Rabbi Metzger retired from his rabbinical position in Monroe and was elected Rabbi Emeritus. He passed away on March 13, 1992, and three days later, he was buried in the plot of his wife's family in the Landau cemetery.

Extent

0.2 Linear Feet (1 Box)

Additional Description

Abstract

Copies of sermons and Jewish community periodicals written or edited by German-American Rabbi Kurt Metzger (1909-1992) in the 1930s.

Location

University of Florida Smathers Library Building

Acquisition Information

This collection was donated by Dr. Joseph Epstein of Monroe New York.

Related Material

Rabbinatsbezirk Landau/Pfalz Rundschreiben - Price Library of Judaica Anniversary Periodicals Collection

Rabbinatbezirk Landau/Pfalz March 1936; Adar 5696 Runschreiben Nr. 6 - JDoC

Additional materials relating to Rabbi Metzger's life and works are available from the Leo Baeck Institute in New York.