The Leo Trepp Foundation is named after the rabbi and scholar Leo Trepp. After receiving his doctorate and training at the seminary in Berlin, Leo Trepp (4 Mar 1913 – 2 Sep 2010) served as state rabbi in Oldenburg until the shortly after the pogrom of November 1938, when the National Socialists deported him to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After his release, he escaped to the United States. However, he began regularly visiting Germany again soon after the war. He started teaching and writing in his old homeland and reached out to representatives of other religions. Trepp maintained the firm conviction that the perpetrators’ offspring did not bear any guilt, but also that there was no future for Germany unless the Nazi era was remembered.
To counteract new hatred against Jews, he placed a conscious emphasis on education. He taught at universities and schools, gave talks, and wrote books for German readers. Although he considered antisemitism to be an irrational state of mind that Jews were incapable of influencing, he believed it was possible and necessary to counter prejudices in well-meaning but ignorant people by imparting concrete knowledge. As a proud and religious Jew, it was important to him for non-Jewish Germans to encounter Jews not only as victims, but as representatives of the oldest of the three monotheistic religions, possessing an ethical code that remains deeply relevant, especially now.
Following Leo Trepp’s example, the foundation has devoted itself to imparting knowledge. It deliberately targets young people, especially schoolchildren, who barely learn anything about Jewish religion, culture, and ethics in school. The foundation works in tandem with other institutions to design programs in which schoolchildren can actively learn about Judaism and cultivate knowledge for themselves in both practical and theoretical terms. These efforts are alongside continuing training for teachers. For the Leo Trepp Foundation, Jewish Places offers prospects for mutually complementary and fruitful cooperation.
The Leo Trepp Foundation
Point of contact:
Gunda Trepp
Am Kupfergraben 4
10117 Berlin
E-Mail: gunda.trepp@leotrepp.org
Website: www.leotrepp.org