Abraham-Geiger-Kolleg

Geschichte

Abraham Geiger Kolleg is a rabbinic seminary at the University of Potsdam in Potsdam, Germany.HistoryAbraham Geiger Kolleg was founded 1999 as the only seminary in Germany since the Holocaust, when the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin was shut down by the Gestapo. The college is named after Abraham Geiger (1810- 1874), a German Reform oriented rabbi and scholar, and is managed by the Rabbis Walter Jacob and Walter Homolka. In 2009, the college ordained Juval Porat as a cantor; he is the first person to be trained as a cantor in Germany since the Holocaust. In November 2010, the college ordained Alina Treiger, who is the first female rabbi to be ordained in Germany since World War II. Her ordination was held at Berlin's Pestalozzi Synagogue, and attended by Christian Wulff, then president of Germany, and Jewish leaders from around the world. In 2011 the college ordained Antje Deusel, who is the first German-born woman to be ordained as a rabbi in Germany since the Nazi era.