Paul Leo: Pastor with Jewish Roots in Flight from Nazism

Although baptized as a child and serving faithfully as a pastor and theologian in the German Evangelische Kirche, Paul Leo was persecuted, removed from his church position, and imprisoned by the Nazi regime due to his Jewish ancestry. Leo was a descendent of Moses Mendelssohn, the famous Jewish philosopher, and Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the composer and pianist. The book carefully documents how the Nazis took severe measures against Leo, a Christian minister, because of his Jewish lineage. This eventuated in his incarceration in Buchenwald concentration camp before he was able to flee Germany as an exile to the United States. His escape from Germany was mediated through a refugee camp in the Netherlands and emigration to the US through the sponsorship of his colleague and friend Otto Piper, on the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary. The story of Paul Leo in America includes his teaching at Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, pastorates in southern Texas, and professorship at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. This book highlights the teaching and scholarly publications by Leo and his marriage to the accomplished artist Eva (Dittrich) Leo.

Craig L. Nessan is William D. Streng Professor for the Education and Renewal of the Church and professor of contextual theology and ethics at Wartburg Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Wilhelm Loehe and North America (2020).


Carsten Linden studied history and theology in Osnabrück, Germany, and Bradford, United Kingdom. He is a historian living in Lemförde, Germany, and the author of a dissertation on the Confessing Church under National Socialism in Germany.