Daniel Abraham

Elias Auerbach

Hebrew name: Eliahu Auerbach

Elias Auerbach was the brother of Israel Auerbach (the husband of Bertha Datnowsky).

Elias Auerbach was born in 1882 in the former Prussian province of Posen (today Ryczywól in Poland) and in 1890 his family moved to Berlin, where he attended school and studied medicine (1905, with final thesis).(*)

A German physician, Elias Auerbach was also a Bible scholar and historical writer. In Germany, he was active in the Zionist movement, a member of the Jüdische Humanitätsgesellschaft, and of the Bar Kochba Athletic Association.

Elias Auerbach was a convinced Zionist. He was engaged in the "academic-Zionist group" and participated in the Zionist congresses of 1903, 1905 and 1907.(*)

Elias Auerbach emigrated to Palestine in late 1909 and he founded the first modern hospital in Haifa.

There his name was Hebraicized to "Or" (his eldest son was named Daniel Or). (*)

He claimed to have been the first German Zionist to settle in the land of Israel for reasons of personal motivation (two men had gone to Palestine because of their work in administrative posts, one for the World Zionist Organization, and the other for the Jewish Colonization Association). (Zionism in Germany 1897-1933, Stephen Poppel)

I imagine my grandmother Ronya Datnowsky visited him during her trip to Palestine in 1910.

Elias Auerbach was one of the founder of a Jewish Athletic Association in Palestine.

Elias Auerbach, Haifa, 1910

Elias Auerbach's family, Berlin?, 1910.
Lea Auerbach (Rosenberg) (Israel and Bertha's daughter) is first from the right

Jewish Hospital, Haifa 1911.

Jewish Hospital, Haifa 1911.

In 1914, he came back to Germany with his family during the war to serve as a military doctor. (*)

According to Amos Elon ("The Pity of it All"), Elias Auerbach decided to return to Germany to "do his duty" in the German army medical corps at the outbreak of WW1.

He wrote in the Jüdische Rundschau:

"We came back joyfully. It was not only our duty, it was mostly love for the country of our birth."

According to his grand-nephew Dr. Gilad Rosenberg, this quote is actually misleading, as it was a nothing else but a public pronouncement that didn't reflect his feelings. According to Auerbach's journal, he didn't enlist but was instead drafted in the German army, like all German citizens from Palestine - Christians (Templars) and Jews.

In October 1919 his wife Rachel died in Wronke (now Wronki in Poland) of the Spanish flu. In 1920 he and his two children returned to Haifa. There he founded the first Jewish hospital in 1925. (Note: this is from the University of Heidelberg site - this date doesn't match my previous information.)(*)

Between 1930 and 1933, Auerbach was again in Berlin because of an illness of his second wife. During this time he taught Bible studies at the College of Jewish Studies. (*)

Works

During his life, Auerbach published numerous books and essays on Jewish culture and history. He is known especially for his contributions to Jewish biblical scholarship. His two-volume magnum opus "Wilderness and Promised Land" appeared in 1936. (*)

From 1950 he lectured on biblical subjects and the history of Israel at various European universities.

On the occasion of his 70th birthday, a volume of essays was published in his honor by the Hevrah le-Heker ha-Mikra be-Yisrael, "Sefer Auerbach", ed. by A. Biram (1955).

In 1969, "Pionier der Verwirklichung" - the first part of his autobiography covering his life up to 1918 - was published.

Two years later, Elias Auerbach died in 1971 in Israel.

Other family connections

Elias had a sister Johanna Auerbach who married Heinrich Loewe, another prominent German Zionist.