Yosef Nechemiah Kornitzer

Rabbi Yosef Nechemiah Kornitzer (1880–1933) was among the last rabbis to lead the Jewish community of Kraków before the Second World War. He studied at the yeshiva of Pressburg (Bratislava) and came from a distinguished rabbinic family: his grandfather was Rabbi Shimon Sofer of Kraków, himself a son of the Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer). After serving as a communal rabbi in Wynohradiw (Vynohradiv), Czechoslovakia, he was appointed chief rabbi of Kraków in 1925, a position he held until his death in April 1933. He was also elected to the Polish Sejm as a representative of the Agudath Israel movement. His Torah novellae, responsa, and sermons were collected and published after his death. His son, Rabbi Shmuel Kornitzer, a dayan, was later murdered at Auschwitz.