Ignatz Bubis

Ignatz Bubis (12 January 1927 – 13 August 1999), German Jewish leader, was the influential chairman (and later president) of the Central Council of Jews in Germany (Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland) from 1992 to 1999. In this capacity he led a public campaign against German antisemitism. Bubis's high-profile both in Frankfurt and nationwide involved him in a number of public controversies.

Life Born in the formerly German city of Breslau (today Wrocław, Poland), Bubis moved with his family to Dęblin, Poland in 1935. During the Nazi occupation of Dęblin, Bubis lived in the Dęblin–Irena Ghetto before deportation to the HASAG labor camp in Częstochowa in 1944. After liberation, he moved to Dresden and later West Germany as the political situation in the Soviet zone of occupation deteriorated. He established himself in the precious metal industry, and in 1956 he moved permanently to Frankfurt am Main, where he entered the real estate business. In Frankfurt, Bubis also became active in Jewish communal politics. In 1965, he joined the executive board of the Frankfurt Jewish community and served as chairman from 1978 to 1981 and from 1983 to 1999. In 1977, he joined the executive board of the Central Council of Jews, becoming deputy chairman in 1989 and chairman in 1992, a position he held until his death. Also in that year, the weekly newspaper Die Woche (The Week) proposed that Bubis run for German president on behalf of the Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party, or FDP). Bubis did not pursue the nomination. In February 1998, after construction on the monument remained unfinished, he expressed outrage about the delay on behalf of all Germans.

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