Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau

The Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau (official name: Jüdisch-Theologisches Seminar Fraenckel’sche Stiftung) was an institution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonah Fränckel, and opened in 1854. It was the first modern rabbinical seminary in Central Europe, an academic precursor to today’s Conservative movement, and a center of Wissenschaft des Judentums.^[1][2] The seminary, at what is now an empty building plot (used as a car park) in 14-18 Wlodkowica Street, was closed in 1938 by Nazi Party officials after the Kristallnacht.

Commercial Councilor ("Kommerzienrath") Jonas Fränckel, a descendant of a rabbinic family, and a very wealthy bachelor, who devoted his entire fortune to philanthropic and educational purposes, left a bequest for the establishment of a training-school for rabbis and Jewish teachers. Fränckel was president of the Breslau congregation, and an enthusiastic supporter of Abraham Geiger, who had no doubt inspired the bequest; and it was probably the founder's intention that Geiger should be the president of the institution (Abraham Geiger, "Leben in Briefen", p. 129, Berlin, 1878). The executors of the Fränckel legacy felt, however, that an institution which should be presided over by a man of Geiger's extreme views would not gain the confidence of the congregations; they therefore called Zecharias Frankel to the presidency (February 7, 1853).

Owing to some legal complications, the seminary could not be opened until August 10, 1854, although its constitution had been confirmed by royal order of August 31, 1847. Frankel selected as teachers Heinrich Graetz and Jacob Bernays, to whom Manuel Joël and Benedict Zuckermann were added as assistants, both being soon afterward promoted to the rank of regular teachers.