FEDER, RICHARD

FEDER, RICHARD (1875–1970), Czech rabbi; from 1953 chief rabbi of Moravia residing in Brno, and from 1961 also   chief rabbi of Bohemia. After graduating at the Vienna rabbinical seminary, he officiated in Kojetin and other communities, where the preaching was conducted in Czech (Louny, Roudnice nad Labem, and Kolin). During the war he was sent to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt where he was active as a rabbi. A prolific writer, Feder wrote popular works on Jewish lore and conducted research on the history of the communities of Roudnice nad Labem and Kolin. His main works are Židovská tragedie ("Jewish Tragedy," 1947), one of the first books published on the Holocaust; Židovské besídky ("Jewish Tales"; several volumes) for children; Hebrejská učebnice (1923), a textbook of Hebrew, also in German; Židé a kreštáné ("Jews and Christians," 1919); Židovství a židé ("Jews and Judaism," 1955); and Sinai (1955), a textbook of Jewish religious instruction. In 1965 the state conferred on Feder a medal in recognition of his part in reconstruction and his "uncompromising stand in the fight against fascism and for peace." -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Věstnik židovských náboženskýchobci v československu, 27, no. 8 (1965), 1–2; 27, no. 11 (1965), 2–3; A. Charim, Die toten Gemeinden (1966), 29–36; R. Iltis, in: Židovská ročenka (1965/66), 78; R. Feder, ibid., 31–38; (1960/61), 28–37.