Rabbi Stephen Fuchs lays a wreath honoring German anti-Nazi resistance martyrs

Rabbi Stephen Fuchs of West Hartford, president of the World Union of Progressive Judaism, paid an official visit to Germany last month where he met with Stephan J. Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, as well as several senior government officials and state premiers,. Attending an official military memorial ceremony in honor of the anti-Nazi German resistance martyrs, he spoke in German: “Standing at this place, speaking for the first time on German soil as president of the WUPJ fills my heart to overflowing,” he said. “My father, Leo Fuchs, of blessed memory, was arrested on Kristallnacht, but he was fortunate, after only a short time in a concentration camp, to be redeemed by relatives in the United States, to where he emigrated immediately upon his release from Dachau, married an American woman, and raised a family. He never spoke German at home.” Rabbi Fuchs remained in Germany to officiate at Rosh Hashana services in Cologne, and at Yom Kippur services in Hannover. He also paid a private visit to Leipzig, where his family originates.