Biographical/Historical Information
Hugo Hahn was born in Tiengen in 1893. He was educated at the Jewish-Theological Seminary in Breslau, but interrupted his studies to assist the rabbi of Offenburg in his duties. After the completion of his studies in 1921, he became the rabbi of the Jewish community in Essen, where he founded a youth center, which was also used for adult education. Hugo Hahn was active in the Verband der jüdischen Jugendverbände Deutschlands and served as its president for several years. After witnessing the destruction of the Essen synagogue during Kristallnacht in 1938, Hahn left Germany and immigrated to New York. On November 9, 1939, a year after Kristallnacht, he founded Congregation Habonim with friends and colleagues from Essen, and he became its rabbi. He was also an active writer for "Aufbau", a German-Jewish newspaper in New York. In 1965, Hahn retired, and his son-in-law, Bernhard N. Cohn, took his position. Rabbi Hugo Hahn died in 1967.
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Citation
Rabbi Hugo Hahn, Leo Baeck Institute, F 2380.