Rabbi Martin Riesenburger, spiritual leader of East Berlin’s 960 Jews, was yesterday awarded the gold medal of the Patriotic Order of Merit, one of East Germany’s top decorations, to mark his 65th birthday which he celebrated earlier this month.
According to Jewish circles in West Berlin, Rabbi Riesenburger was honored not so much for his work in Jewish affairs as for the loyalty he has shown to East German Communist leader Walter Ulbricht. It was pointed out here that Rabbi Riesenburger has been known to have made pro-Communist declarations ever since he was appointed Jewish, spiritual leader of East Berlin in 1953.
Most members of East Berlin’s Jewish community are in their late sixties and seventies. After their experiences in Nazi concentration camps and periods of hidden illegality, most are too tired to care about politics. Outside of East Berlin, there are only about 600 other Jews remaining in all of East Germany, including a congregation of 100 Jews in Leipzig.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
