Title: Manfred E. Swarsensky Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1937-1983

Creator:

• Swarsensky, Manfred, 1906-1981

Call Number: Mss 692; Tape 1170A; Tape 1253A

Quantity: 2.4 c.f. (2 record center cartons and 1 archives box) and 5 tape recordings

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers, primarily composed of addresses, sermons, and reference material, of a prominent Madison, Wisconsin rabbi, Jewish spiritual leader, scholar, and community activist. The majority of his addresses and sermons date from the 1960s and 1970s and in 1981 were compiled into a book, Intimates and Ultimates. The book manuscript is also present in the collection, as are some personal papers. The latter include biographical materials, memorial tributes, a small amount of correspondence, honorary degrees and records of Rabbi Swarsensky's two trips to Berlin during the 1970s. Rabbi Swarsensky's records of Madison Jewish community activities include dedication ceremony files, temple bulletins, and president's reports of Temple Beth El, a Reform congregation, a few materials documenting the restoration of the Gates of Heaven synagogue, cemetery records, and items from the American Jewish Tercentenary. The majority of the collection is composed of Swarsensky's reference files of clippings, near-print materials, and notes gathered for use in sermons, speeches, and writings. Four speeches are available on tape, as is a recording of a memorial service for Rabbi Swarsensky at Beth El Temple, November 22, 1981.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00692

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Manfred Erich Swarsensky was born in Marienfliess, Germany, on October 22, 1906 to a rural family whose ancestors had lived in that area of Pomerania for many generations. During his primary school years in Marienfliess Swarsensky received a thorough education in Lutheran theology. From 1925 to 1932 he attended the Hochschule fur die Wissenschaft des Judentums (Academy of Jewish Studies) in Berlin for rabbinical study, while simultaneously pursuing a Ph.D. in Semitics at the University of Wurzburg. Among his teachers was the renowned rabbi, scholar and leader, Leo Baeck, upon whose recommendation Swarsensky was appointed one of Berlin's twelve communal rabbis, a rare honor for such a young man.

Swarsensky spoke out in his sermons against the National Socialist regime from the time of its accession in 1933, but he believed that justice would eventually prevail in Germany. He witnessed first-hand the burning of his own, and other, Berlin Jewish synagogues by Nazi stormtroopers on the night of November 9-10, 1939, The day after the burning and looting of “Kristallnacht” (the so-called “night of shattered glass”), Swarsensky was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In Sachsenhausen, amid labor, humiliation and torture, Swarsensky comforted his fellow inmates. After three months, the rabbi was released from the camp, a freedom he accepted only after the second time it was offered.

Swarsensky immigrated to the United States in July 1939. In 1940, after a brief stay with his brother in Chicago, Swarsensky accepted a pulpit with the newly organized Madison Reform congregation, Temple Beth El. From small beginnings he built the Temple into a large and leading congregation whose membership includes one of the highest proportions of college professors in the country.

Rabbi Swarsensky was a widely sought-after speaker before Jewish and non-Jewish civic and religious organizations. He received many academic and humanitarian awards, and served on several key city, state, and national committees. In 1967, he received an award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews for his contribution to interfaith understanding, and for several years he chaired the influential Inter-faith Dialogue Committee of Madison Area Clergymen. He was a member of the Equal Rights Commission, Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations, and served on the boards of the United Way, Red Cross, Dane County Mental Health Association, and Madison General Hospital, whose doctor-clergy committee he headed.

In 1970, with very mixed emotions, Rabbi Swarsensky accepted an invitation to return to Berlin to observe the 25th anniversary of the reconstitution of Berlin's Jewish community. As he noted later, he could not push away a hand stretched out in reconciliation. He made a second trip to Berlin in 1979.

His Jewish affiliations included the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Madison Jewish Community Council, and the Wisconsin Society for Jewish Learning. He was the moving force behind Madison's program to settle Holocaust survivors after they left Displaced Persons Camps. In 1971 Rabbi Swarsensky was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati. In 1973 Edgewood College, Madison, awarded him an honorary doctorate of philosophy, and the University of Wisconsin presented him with an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters in 1979. His publications include books in German, numerous articles in scholarly journals and encyclopedias, as well as A History of the Madison Jewish Community - From Generation to Generation, and Intimates and Ultimates, an anthology of 20 of Swarsensky's addresses (published by Edgewood College after his death).

In 1952 Swarsensky married Ida Weiner of Chicago. They had two children, Gerald and Sharon.

Swarsensky became Rabbi Emeritus at Beth El in July 1976, After his retirement from Beth El, Swarsensky taught in the Department of Religious Studies at Edgewood College until his death on November 10, 1981, the 43rd anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Researchers should also see Rabbi Swarsensky's biography (from which much of this biography was taken) and interview abstracts available in the Guide to Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust. (See also Tape 797A.)

The papers of Manfred Swarsensky illustrate his ministry to the Madison Jewish community and his congregation at Beth El Temple, as well as his humanistic leadership role within the Madison community at large. The collection has been arranged in four series: Personal Papers, Sermons and Addresses, Temple and Jewish Community Materials, and Reference Files.

Rabbi Swarsensky's PERSONAL PAPERS contain biographical materials and newsclippings, memorial tributes and materials from his 1981 memorial services, and an incomplete file of correspondence, in English, German, and Czechoslovakian. The biographical materials include a transcription of a tape-recorded interview, in which Swarsensky discusses his youth in Germany, concentration camp experiences, and Jewish immigration and life in the United States. General correspondence is quite scattered, but includes congratulatory letters received at the time of the dedication of Temple Beth El and some of the many condolence letters received by the Swarsensky family. Letters in German and Czechoslovakian include a memoir of Swarsensky's boat trip to the United States in 1939 and his experiences on Ellis Island, and correspondence relating to the family of Ilse Baum Mack regarding events during World War II. Other personal papers include programs, letters, and newsclippings concerning Rabbi Swarsensky's honorary degrees from Edgewood College and the University of Wisconsin, and programs, newsclippings, notes, and letters about his 1970 and 1979 trips to Berlin. On tape is a memorial service for Rabbi Swarsensky at Beth El Temple, November 22, 1981.

His SERMONS AND ADDRESSES have been arranged alphabetically by title, with separate folders of untitled sermons, addresses on the Holocaust, published speeches, and Thanksgiving sermons. Many of the sermons were originally delivered at Beth El Temple while Swarsensky was rabbi. Also present in this series is the manuscript of Intimates and Ultimates, with related materials.

TEMPLE AND JEWISH COMMUNITY MATERIALS form an incomplete file and illustrate only a portion of Rabbi Swarsensky's activities. Materials pertain to Temple Beth El, Madison, and concern the dedication ceremonies, church bulletins, president's reports, and miscellany. For the Gates of Heaven Synagogue, Madison, there are folders of materials concerning its National Landmark status, and a grant application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Jewish community materials include Madison Jewish cemetery lot assignments and a 1967 memo of the Jewish Burial Committee (Chevra Kadisha), and a small file concerning the American Jewish Tercentenary, 1954.

The majority of the collection consists of REFERENCE FILES, which include clippings, articles, near-print materials, and Rabbi Swarsensky's notes on Jewish holidays, services, teachings, contemporary Jewish thought and philosophy, Christianity, personal and spiritual development, and current issues of political and cultural interest. These materials were collected for personal reference and use in writing sermons, speeches, and addresses. They have been retained in approximately their original order, with many of the Rabbi's folder titles retained as well. Thus, the first portion of the files remains in alphabetical order, while the latter portion retains an arrangement by month of the year. Within the month-by-month files are materials probably collected for seasonal or holiday sermons and speeches.

Acquisition Information

Portions separated from the Lloyd Barbee collection, several accession numbers; and from the records of the Madison Jewish Community Council. Other portions presented by Rabbi Manfred E. Swarsensky, Madison, Wisconsin, 1982-1986. Accession Number: M80-183, 224, M81-636, M82-082, -116, M86-267, M89-236

Processing Information

Processed by Elsa Althen and Joanne Hohler, 1984; reprocessed with additions by William Beaudreau and Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, 1986. Other additions processed by Cindy Knight, 1992.

Mss 692	Series: Personal Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	Biographical Materials
Box   1 Folder   2	Memorial Tributes and Materials from Memorial Service, 1981
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   3	General, including congratulatory letters on the dedication of Temple Beth El and condolence letters, 1937-1950, 1960-1903
Box   1 Folder   4	German and Czechoslovakian letters, 1939-1941
Box   1 Folder   5	Honorary Degree from Edgewood College, 1973
Box   1 Folder   6	Honorary Degree from the University of Wisconsin, 1979
Box   1 Folder   7	Miscellany
Box   1 Folder   8	Study of the “Chapters of the Fathers” (Pirkei Avot), 1961-1964
Box   1 Folder   9	Trip to Berlin, 1970-1971
Box   1 Folder   10	Trip to Berlin, 1979
	Series: Sermons and Addresses	⇧
	Titles
Box   1 Folder   11	A-J, ca. 1959-1981
Box   1 Folder   12	L-T, ca. 1959-1961
Box   1 Folder   13	U-Y, ca. 1959-1981
Box   1 Folder   14	Untitled, ca. 1959-1901
Box   1 Folder   15	Addresses on the Holocaust, 1980
Box   1 Folder   16-17	Intimates and Ultimates - Manuscript and Related Materials, 1980-1981
Box   1 Folder   18	Published Speeches, 1970, 1979
Box   1 Folder   19	Thanksgiving Sermons and Church Bulletins, 1951-1971
Tape 1253A	Tape recorded speeches
No.   1	Intermarriage-Truth or Consequences, 1972
No.   2	Peace at Last?, 1973
No.   3	Should Jews Study the New Testament?, 1972
No.   4	Too Many Conversations?, undated
Mss 692	Series: Temple and Jewish Community Materials	⇧
	Temple Beth El
Box   1 Folder   20	Dedication Ceremonies, Temple Beth El and Others, 1949-1950, 1964-1965
Box   1 Folder   21	Miscellany, including bulletins, 1949-1951, 1977-1978
Box   1 Folder   22	President's Reports, 1948-1951, 1956-1957
	Gates of Heaven Synagogue
Box   1 Folder   23	National Landmark Materials
Box   1 Folder   24	HUD Application Materials
	Jewish Community
Box   1 Folder   25	Madison Jewish Cemetery Lot Assignments and Jewish Burial Committee (Chevra Kadisha) Memo, 1967
Box   1 Folder   26	American Jewish Tercentenary, 1954
	Series: Reference Files	⇧
Box   1 Folder   27-29	Anti-Semitism
Box   2 Folder   1	Begin, Menachem
Box   2 Folder   2	“Being at Your Best”
Box   2 Folder   3	“Books or People - The Thrust of Jewish Scholarship”
Box   2 Folder   4	Chamisho Osor (Hamishah Asar Bi-Shevat) Holiday
Box   2 Folder   5	Children's Service
Box   2 Folder   6	Contemporary Jewish Thinkers
Box   2 Folder   7	Family Services
Box   2 Folder   8	“For We Were...”
Box   2 Folder   9	The Future of American Jews
Box   2 Folder   10	“How Secure Is Man?”
Box   2 Folder   11	“How Secure Is Modern Man?”
Box   2 Folder   12	The Influence of America on the Jews
Box   2 Folder   13	The Influence of Christianity on Judaism
Box   2 Folder   14	“Inner” Survival
Box   2 Folder   15	Interfaith Activities
Box   2 Folder   16	Jesuits and Jews
Box   2 Folder   17	The Jew and His Environment
Box   2 Folder   18	The Jewish Mind
Box   2 Folder   19	The Jewish Mission
Box   2 Folder   20	Judaism Teaches
Box   2 Folder   21	The Judaization of Christianity
Box   2 Folder   22	Kahane, Rabbi Meir
Box   2 Folder   23	Language Desexing
Box   2 Folder   24	“Living in Fear” (Anti-Semitism)
Box   2 Folder   25	“Lost Hatred”
Box   2 Folder   26	Miscellaneous
Box   2 Folder   27	Missionaries in Israel
Box   2 Folder   28	Moral and Spiritual Education
Box   2 Folder   29	Nazis in America
Box   2 Folder   30	Newspaper Clippings
Box   2 Folder   31	Oil
Box   2 Folder   32	Palestine Liberation Organization
Box   2 Folder   33	Proselytizing
Box   2 Folder   34	Redgrave, Vanessa and Playing For Time
Box   2 Folder   35	Religious Anti-Semitism
Box   2 Folder   36	Religious Fundamentalism and the New Right
Box   2 Folder   37	Religious Trends
Box   2 Folder   38	The Sabbath
Box   2 Folder   39	Sadat, Anwar and Menachem Begin
Box   2 Folder   40	Salvation
Box   2 Folder   41	Sidra
Box   2 Folder   42	“The Spirit of Time”
Box   2 Folder   43	Success
Box   2 Folder   44	Summer Services
Box   2 Folder   45	Survival
Box   2 Folder   46	Teaching About Religion
Box   2 Folder   47	Temple Annual Meeting, 1969
Box   2 Folder   48	Terrorism
Box   2 Folder   49	“There Is Mystery in the World”
Box   2 Folder   50	Time
Box   2 Folder   51	“To Be a Jew Is to Overcome Despair”
Box   2 Folder   52	Truth
Box   2 Folder   53	Varieties of Jewish Experiences
Box   2 Folder   54	Visits
Box   3 Folder   1	Waukesha, Wisconsin, Temple Emanu-El
Box   3 Folder   2	“What is Right in the World - You Can't Go Home Again”
Box   3 Folder   3	“When Children Ask”
Box   3 Folder   4	“When Children Seem Immoral”
Box   3 Folder   5	“Whither Religion in America”
Box   3 Folder   6	“Who Is the Normal Human Being?”
Box   3 Folder   7	“Who Never Ate His Bread” (Pesach)
Box   3 Folder   8	“Who Speaks for Judaism?”
Box   3 Folder   9	“Whom Do I Blame for My Troubles?”
Box   3 Folder   10	“Why Jews Don't Read the Bible”
Box   3 Folder   11	WISM “Thought for the Day”
Box   3 Folder   12	Withdrawal
Box   3 Folder   13	Women's Liberation
Box   3 Folder   14	“Your Pastor Speaks”
Box   3 Folder   15	January
Box   3 Folder   16	February
Box   3 Folder   17	March
Box   3 Folder   18	April
Box   3 Folder   19	May
Box   3 Folder   20	June
Box   3 Folder   21	November
Box   3 Folder   22	December