page_title: History of the Jews in Cologne
section_title: Notable Cologne Jews in modern times
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Jews in Cologne / Post-war and present / Notable Cologne Jews in modern times
caption_attribution_description: English: Moses Hess (Zeughaus)
context_page_description: The history of the Jews in Cologne is conjectured to date back possibly as far as the late Roman Empire, and is officially documented from the period of the High Middle Ages. Over its history, the Jewish community of Cologne has suffered persecutions, many expulsions, massacres and destruction. The community numbered about 19,500 people before its dispersal, murders and destruction in the 1930s by the Nazis before and during World War II. The community has re-established itself and now numbers about 4,500 members. Because of its historical continuity, today's Jewish synagogue calls itself the "oldest Jewish congregation north of the Alps".
context_section_description: Since 1861, the following persons have headed the executive board of the Jewish community of Cologne: the physician Doctor Bendix, S.M. Frank (until 1879), Jacob de Longe, Louis Elliel (until 1919), Emil Blumenau (until 1931), the lawyer Doctor H. Frank (until 1933) and consul Albert Bendix until 1939.
  Until 1857, the community was managed by the Bonn Consistory and its rabbi. The first Cologne rabbi was 
  Israel Schwarz (1828–1875), followed by
  Abraham Frank (1839–1917) from 1875,
  Ludwig Rosenthal (1870–1938) from 1897 and from 1906 in charge only of Glockengasse Synagogue,
  Adolf Kober (1879–1958) from 1918 to 1939,
  Isidor Caro (1877–1943) from 1939 to 1942
  The synagogues of the community had the following cantors:
  Isaac Offenbach till 1850,
  Rosenberg since 1851,
  F. Blumenthal from 1876 to 1924,
  E. Kohn till 1936,
  F. Fleishmann, Max Baum and Schallamach after 1930.
  All of them contributed to the enrichment of synagogue music.
  The rectors of the community school were 
  Bernhard Coblenz from 1901 to 1926, and
  Emil Kahn from 1926 to 1938.
  Cologne Jews, involved in the larger Jewish community were 
  Salomon Oppenheim, Jr.'s sons Abraham and Simon, and
  the founders of Zionism:
  Max Bodenheimer,
  David Wolffsohn and
  Nahum Sokolow.
  The most important Jewish names in the economic life of the city during the nineteenth century were 
  the brothers Abraham Oppenheim (1804–1878) and
  Simon Oppenheim (1803–1880), active in banking and railroads;
  the brothers Jacob, Loeb and Louis Eltzbacher active in banking; and
  Adolf Silverberg and his son involved in peat-coal.
  Jews involved in politics were 
  Moses Hess (as mentioned above);
  the physician Andreas Gottschalk, founder of the Workers’ Club in Cologne; and
  Bernhard Falck, member of the National Assembly from 1919.
  Jews involved in the arts were 
  the lithographer and painter David Levi Elkan (1808–1865),
  the cantor Isaac Judah Offenbach and his son, the composer Jacques Offenbach, born in Cologne in 1819,
  the conductor Ferdinand Hiller (1811–1885), kapellmeister in Cologne from 1849 to 1884,
  the composer Friedrich Gersheim who taught at the Cologne Conservatory from 1865 to 1874.
  During the 1930s Cologne had many Jewish lawyers (125 at number) and doctors.
caption: Moses Hess, Zeughaus Köln
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