The death took place here to-day of Privy Law Councillor Dr. Berthold Timendorfer, who until 1924, when he withdrew from most of his public activities on attaining the age of 70, was one of the chief figures in German Jewry. He held numerous offices in the Jewish organisations and institutions of Germany, but his principal work was in the German B’nai B’rith, of which he was Grand President for 26 years, until his retirement in 1924, when he was appointed Honorary Grand President. His successor in the Grand Presidency is Rabbi Dr. Leo Basck, the President of the German Federation of Rabbis, and one of the leaders of the German Branch of the Jewish Agency.
Dr. Timendorfer, who was born in 1853, in Upper Silesia, came to Berlin when he was 29 years of age, and set up in legal practice. He soon distinguished himself in the work of the B’nai B’rith, which he considered one of the most important consolidating movements in Jewry. During his Presidency the B’nai B’rith in Germany grew from 33 Lodges with 3,300 members in 1898, to 97 Lodges with 40,000 members in 1923.
He joined the Board of the Berlin Jewish Community in 1905. Three years later he became a Vice-President of the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden, retaining the position till 1921. He was also for a time chairman of the German branch of the Alliance Israelite Universelle. In 1917 he became President of the Central Welfare Office of the German Jews, and among the other institutions for which he worked was the Academy for the Study of Judaism, of whose Board he was a member for many years.
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.
