Albert H. Friedlander (1927–2004)

Albert H. Friedlander was born, with his twin Charles, to a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. When he was 11 years old, the family spent the night of the Nazi pogrom known as Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938) hiding in the home of Christian friends in the suburbs. Shortly after, they fled Germany and were on the last refugee ship allowed to land in Cuba. He and his two siblings were sent to separate foster homes in Mississippi, as their parents had to remain in Cuba. Eventually the family was reunited in the USA. Friedlander graduated from high school in Vicksburg, Miss., at age 16, and was accepted immediately by the University of Chicago. There he earned a reputation as a gifted long-distance runner. After graduating from college, he entered Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and was ordained as a rabbi in 1952. He served as a rabbi in Arkansas and Pennsylvania, and became a chaplain at Columbia University in New York City, where he earned a Ph.D. in theology. In New York, he took part in the civil rights movement. In 1961, he married Evelyn Philipp, with whom he had three children. In 1966, the family moved to London, where he became the rabbi of Wembley Liberal Synagogue, and taught at Leo Baeck College. Later he was the rabbi at the Westminster Synagogue in Knightsbridge, London. Dr. Friedlander continued to be involved in human rights causes and interfaith dialogue, both nationally and internationally. He was a sought-after visiting professor and public speaker in both the English and German-speaking worlds. He wrote several books, including Leo Baeck: Teacher of Theresienstadt (1968), and was the editor of Out of the Whirlwind: A Reader of Holocaust Literature (1968).