10 Facts About Erich Brauer

Erich Brauer was a German Jewish illustrator, ethnographer, and ethnologist.

Erich Brauer was born in Berlin to Fanny and Adolf Brauer, when it was part of the German Empire under Prussian leadership.

In Germany, Brauer belonged to Jung Juda, a Jewish youth movement consisting of German Jewish youth primarily drawn from assimilated Jewish families who had taken an interest in Zionism.

Erich Brauer completed his dissertation in 1924 at the University of Leipzig on the religion of the Herero of South-West Africa.

In spite of his efforts, Erich Brauer failed to make anthropology an area of academic interest at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but was only able to garner support for his own private research.

Erich Brauer is the author of two major books, one of which treating on the Jews of Yemen, and the other on the Jews of Kurdistan, a book later translated into English and Turkish.

Erich Brauer's book [on Yemenite Jewry] is considered a literary work that is a masterpiece in its field.

Erich Brauer's pioneering status, as reflected in his research on the Jews of Yemen and the Jews of Kurdistan, are recognized as milestones in the study of these communities in Israel, where he is considered one of the forefathers of local anthropology as it developed in Mandate Palestine.

Erich Brauer suffered from a rare illness and died at the age of 46 in Petah Tikvah, and was buried in Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery in Givatayim.

At his death, Erich Brauer left behind him five original diaries, the transcripts of which were permanently deposited at the National Library of Israel by the Israel Ethnographic Society in 1975, as well as photocopies of texts and of a drawing.