Joachim Prinz

Born in a small German town in Silesia, Joachim Prinz rose to prominence in the 1920s as the rabbi of a synagogue in Berlin. After 1933, acutely aware of the dangers presented by Nazism, Prinz urged his congregants to leave Germany and did so himself in 1937, immigrating to the United States. By the 1950s, Prinz had become a major force in American Judaism, serving as president of the American Jewish Congress, among other organizations. In light of his experiences in Nazi Germany, Prinz was dedicated to the American civil rights movement, and helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington.