Ignaz Ziegler Collection

Folder 1 contains Ignaz Ziegler's autobiographical text "Der Roman meines Lebens" (typescript with handwritten notes, additions, and corrections, 24+2 pp.).

Ziegler describes his Jewish orthodox upbringing in Alsókubin (Unterkubin), Svatý Mikuláš, Ružomberok and Trenčín, the conflict between the orthodox and liberal Jewish communities, his own turn to liberal Judaism, and his life in Budapest and Breslau and his studies at the rabbinical seminaries (among his teachers were in Budapest Wilhelm Bacher, Moses Loeb Bloch, and David Kaufmann, in Breslau Abraham Rosin and Heinrich Graetz).

Ziegler was appointed rabbi at the Jewish community of Karlsbad, a position he held for fifty years. He describes his work for the Jewish community including his efforts to build a Jewish hospital (founded in 1909) and a Jewish home for the elderly. He also tells about his publications (e.g. "Volksschriften ueber die juedische Religion"), lectures, and intellectual experiences with other scholars.

This memoir is partly based on an autobiographical sketch from "Ein Volksbuch ueber die Propheten Israels", published in 1938.

Folder 2 includes correspondence of Ziegler, and two typescripts of Friedrich Thieberger about Ziegler, "Zum Andenken an Br. Ignaz Ziegler" (4 pp.), an obituary, and "Aus Ignaz Zieglers selbstbiographischen Aufzeichnungen. Vorbemerkung" (17 pp.), an introduction to Ziegler's "Der Roman meines Lebens", in which Thieberger describes his own encounters with Ziegler and his sermons.

Folder 3 contains various photographs of Ignaz Ziegler himself as well as his teacher David Kaufmann, and others.