Werner Nachmann; Jewish Leader in W. Germany

Werner Nachmann, 62, president of the Jewish Council of West Germany. Nachmann’s family had fled from Nazi Germany to France in 1938 and when Nachmann returned after the war he began working to re-establish Jewish communities in Germany. He had been president of the Jewish Council since 1965. Through his efforts, the first synagogue to be built in West Germany since the end of World War II was opened in Karlsruhe in 1971. About 525,000 Jews lived in Germany when the Nazis took power in 1933. West Germany has about 30,000 Jewish residents today. In Karlsruhe, West Germany on Thursday of a heart attack.