Oppenheim was born on July 29, 1867, to a rabbinical family. His father,
Joachim Heinrich Oppenheim, was (from 1858) a rabbi in
Jemnice, South Moravia, and later (from 1868 to 1891) in
Toruń,
Prussia, (today in
Poland). He was also a nephew of the
Viennese Hebraist,
Isaac Hirsch Weiss, who was married to Joachim's sister. Berthold Oppenheim studied
Hebrew and
Judaism at various
institutes and
universities in
Berlin and
Wrocław. Oppenheim came to Olomouc in 1892 from
Miroslav, South Moravia, where there was a strong Jewish community and where Oppenheim was active as a rabbi in 1891/1892. In 1892, when the independent
Jewish community was established in Olomouc, Oppenheim was inaugurated as the first rabbi of the Jewish community in Olomouc. The
inauguration took place on November 1, 1892. In 1894, Oppenheim initiated the construction of the
Olomouc Synagogue, which was completed in 1897. He also gave
lectures. For example, on May 7, 1898, at the sixth monthly session of the ZION Society in the Reichert Hall in Olomouc, he gave a lecture on the topic of Humanity in the
Old Testament. In 1906 he became a founding member of the Union of Moravian-Silesian Rabbis (Svazu Moravsko-slezských rabínů), which was founded in
Přerov in 1906 and Oppenheim was elected as
vice-chairman. He also expressed his conviction that the union could work only in close contact with the representatives of the Jewish religious communities; it should serve to increase Jewish
self-esteem; to take care of
Jewish literature and
history; to
revive the Hebrew language; to establish
libraries; to organize
educational and scientific lectures; and more frequent meetings of rabbis should strengthen their mutual collegial feelings. He took part at
General Meetings of the Rabbinic Union; for example, on August 21, 1907, in
Ostrava (then Moravian Ostrava), where he dealt mainly with the question of social and pension provision of rabbis and employees of Jewish communities, and at a General Meeting held in
Brno on March 20, 1908. On May 28, 1908, he organized a conference of the Union of Moravian-Silesian Rabbis which took place at the German Casino in Olomouc. In 1918, when the rabbi of
Loštice, , moved to
Antwerp,
Belgium, Oppenheim took over this position also as rabbi of Loštice. He also served as a member of a roughly ten-member council of Jewish communities. He taught Hebrew at the German grammar school in Olomouc (where, for example, in the school year 1932/1933, there was a total of 40 Jewish pupils, 14.4% of the school's student body). He also worked in the
Chevra Kadisha and founded the Freitisch-Verein, which supported impoverished Jewish students in Olomouc schools. In the 1930s, at age 65, Oppenheim visited the
Land of Israel. Oppenheim arrived in
Palestine on the occasion of the
1st Maccabiah in March and April 1932 and described his journey in the Brno
Zionist weekly Jüdische Volksstimme: a journey via
Břeclav to Vienna and from there to
Trieste, a one-day stopover in
Athens, arriving at the
Jaffa Harbor, from where it was only a short while to
Tel Aviv. Oppenheim traveled everywhere in Palestine: "This way, I have fulfilled my desire of decades to visit the fatherland, to see biblical and historical sites." Oppenheim served as the rabbi of Olomouc practically throughout the pre-war existence of the Jewish community in Olomouc. He remained a rabbi until 1939 and was replaced in 1940 by Rabbi Ernst Reich (until 1942). == Deportation and death ==