Adolf Kurrein

Portrait of Adolf Kurrein

Adolf Kurrein (January 28, 1846 – October 23, 1919) was a Czech-Austrian rabbi, Zionistic activist.

Early life[]

Kurrein lost his father when he was two and grew up with his sister Katharina and his mother, a seamstress. When he was fifteen he moved to Brno where he graduated in 1866. He then went to Vienna where he received his doctor's degree from the University of Vienna.

Career[]

He was rabbi of St. Pölten (in 1872), of Linz (from 1876 to 1882), of Bielsko-Biała (from 1882 to 1888), and in the last-named year was called in the same capacity to Teplice.

Kurrein edited the monthly "Jüdische Chronik" from 1894 to 1896 with and , and from 1897 to 1902 alone. During the last 4 years this periodical has advocated Zionism.

He was a contributor of the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Writing[]

Kurrein is a disciple of Adolf Jellinek. Besides several collections of sermons, entitled respectively "Maggid Mereshit" (1880); "Maggid le-Adam" (1882); "Patriarchenbilder: I., Abraham" (1893), he is the author of the following pamphlets:

• "Die Frau im Jüdischen Volke" (1885; 2d ed., Bilin, 1901)
• "Traum und Wahrheit", a biography of Joseph (1887)
• "Arbeit und Arbeiter" (1890)
• "Die Sociale Frage im Judentume" (1890)
• "Die Pflichten des Besitzes" (1892)
• "Der Friede" (1892)
• "Das Kaddisch" (1896)
• "Der Grabstein" (1897)
• "Judäa und Rom" (1898)
• "Bibel, Heidentum, und Heidenbekehrung" (1899; 2d. ed., 1901)
• "Brauchen die Juden Christenblut?" (1900)
• "Lichtstrahlen aus den Reden Jellinek's", prepared by him for Jellinek's 70th birthday

Family[]

He married Jessie Loewe in 1877, the daughter of Louis Loewe. Two of their five children were murdered in the concentration camp Auschwitz. His son Viktor Kurrein (1881-1974) was also a rabbi in Linz until he fled to England in 1938.

External links[]

• Dr. Peter Kraft: Geschichte der Juden in Oberösterreich ('Presentation of the history of Jews in Upper Austria')(in German)
• Kurrein Jewish Encyclopedia entry (published 1901-1906, in the Public Domain)

References[]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Kurrein, Adolf". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

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