Michael Wurmbrand, for many years editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency service in a number of European capitals, died at his home here today. He was 68 years old.
Born in Sadagura, Bukovina, he took an interest in journalistic work long before the outbreak of World War I. Prior to joining the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, he was editor of a German-language newspaper in Czernowitz, capital of Bukovina, where he also joined the Zionist Labor movement.
In 1924, he assumed editorship of the J.T.A. service in Berlin, acting at the same time as J.T.A. correspondent in Germany. He remained at this post until the Nazis came to power in 1933. He then moved to Prague where he established a J.T.A. office and edited its daily news bulletin. When the Nazis occupied Prague, he moved to Paris where he continued his J.T.A. service until the fall of Paris in 1939. Several months later he came with his family to the United States.
In New York, Mr. Wurmbrand worked on the staff of the Aufbau German-Jewish weekly publication. He is survived by his wife, Fanny, who was the administrator of the J.T.A. offices in Berlin. Prague and Paris, and by a daughter living in England. Funeral service will take place tomorrow morning from the Riverside Memorial Chapel. He will be buried at the New World Club cemetery.
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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.