Werner van der Zyl

Van der Zyl was born in Schwerte, Germany. A trained chazan, he received his rabbinical training at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin, where he was a pupil of Leo Baeck, qualifying in 1933. During World War II the British Government interned him at Kitchener Camp in Sandwich, Kent and then at Mooragh Internment Camp on the Isle of Man as an "enemy alien". He was released from internment in 1943 and became Minister at North Western Reform Synagogue, remaining there until 1958. he oversaw the creation of the Jewish Theological College of London (later Leo Baeck College), sponsored by the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, and the College's subsequent additional sponsorship by the Liberal Judaism Movement. He retired in 1968 to Majorca where he held the post of honorary rabbi to the Jewish community in Palma. He was a founder and President of Leo Baeck College, London; President of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (now known as the Movement for Reform Judaism); and Life Vice President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. ==Personal life==

Van der Zyl was the father of artist, poet, public speaker and voice actress Nikki van der Zyl, whose daughter-in-law Marie van der Zyl was President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 2016 to 2024. ==Death and legacy==

Van der Zyl died in Palma de Mallorca, Spain in 1984 An annual lecture is held in his memory at Leo Baeck College. In April 2013 Leo Baeck College announced the appointment of Rabbi Maurice Michaels as its first Van der Zyl Head of Vocational Studies, a post named in honour of the College's founder. His family papers are held at the University of Southampton. ==See also==