Jerzy Kanal, a 71-year-old businessman, has been chosen chairman of the Jewish community of Berlin, Germany’s largest. He was elected by the five-member communal managing board to succeed Heinz Galinski, who died last month after heart surgery.
Galinski was also leader of the entire German Jewish community. Galinski’s successor as chairman of the Zentralrat, the Central Council of German Jews, is scheduled to be selected by the council on Sept. 20.
The candidates are Ignaz Bubis, a Frankfurt real estate dealer, and Robert Guttman, a Munich businessman.
Kanal served for 23 years on the Berlin community’s board and was its vice chairman for the past three years.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
