Dr. Julius L. Seligsohn, president of the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden and one of the outstanding Jewish leaders in Germany, has died in a Nazi concentration camp, according to advices reaching the Joint Distribution Committee here today. He was imprisoned in the fall of 1940 for having proclaimed a fast day for the Jews of Germany on the occasion of the expulsion of all Jews from Baden and the Palatinate at that time. He was about 55 years old.
A lawyer of international reputation, Dr. Seligsohn served as a volunteer both in the Hilfsverein and in the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland, of which he was the vice-president. He was well-known in all Jewish welfare circles both abroad and in the United States. His last visit to this country was in 1938, when he came to confer with officials of the J.D.C. concerning the possibility of speedier evacuation of Jews from Europe.
“Dr. Seligsohn follows to martyrdom the late Dr. Otto Hirsch, President of the Reichsvereinigung, who likewise died in a Nazi concentration camp a few months ago. When the history of these tragic times is written, these men will rank high among those who, by their way of life, defied and thus defeated the enemies of civilization,” a statement by the Joint Distribution Committee declared. Dr. Seligsohn was a veteran of the first World War.
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