Bertram Korn

Bertram Wallace Korn, Sr. (1918–1979) was an American historian and rabbi. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University and the University of Cincinnati, and received an M.H.L. degree from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati (where he was ordained a rabbi), also receiving a D.H.L. degree from the College-Institute.

In 1944, Korn enlisted in the United States Navy as a lieutenant in the Chaplain's Corps, where he was assigned to China with the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions. In 1975, he was promoted to Rear Admiral in the Chaplains Corps, U.S. Naval Reserve, the first Jewish chaplain to receive flag rank in any of the United States armed forces.

From 1949 to 1979, he served as the Senior Rabbi at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel (KI) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1957, under Rabbi Korn's leadership, KI moved from its Broad Street location to a new building at the current address on Old York Road in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

Korn wrote twelve books on American Jewish History, the most famous being American Jewry and the Civil War, in 1951. Other books by Korn include: The Jews of Mobile, Alabama, 1763-1841 (1971); Benjamin Levy: New Orleans Printer and Publisher (1961); Jews and Negro Slavery in the Old South, 1789-1865 (1961); The American Reaction to the Mortara Case: 1858-1859 (1957); and The Early Jews of New Orleans (1969). Korn was also the president of the American Historical Society.

Korn had two children, Judith Carole and Bertram Wallace, Jr.

References

• "Bertram Korn". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-04-03.