Baruch Steinberg

Baruch or Boruch Steinberg (1897–1940) was a Polish rabbi and military officer. He was Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army during German invasion of Poland in 1939 and was murdered in the Katyn massacre by the Soviet Union in April 1940.

Biography
Baruch Steinberg was born on 17 December 1897 in the town of Przemyślany (now Peremyshliany, Ukraine) to a Polish Jewish family with tradition of rabbinical service (his father and grandfather were rabbis and three of his brothers would also become rabbis).

During the First World War his family moved to Vienna; there in 1916 he was elected a rabbi, passing the required examinations in the following year and returning to Przemyślany. He joined the Polish Military Organisation, providing services for Polish Jewish soldiers. In November he volunteered to join Polish forces in the Polish-Ukrainian war, he fought alongside the Polish forces in the battle of Lwów and remained on the frontlines until Polish forces took control of Przemyślany in May 1919.

In 1922 he officially joined the Polish Army (first the reserves), becoming a rabbi chaplain. His applications for full service were rejected, the reasons cited were his lack of formal education (he didn't finish secondary school) and opposition from the Orthodox Jewish faction, as Steinberg was seen as a member of a zionist camp. In 1927 Steinberg passed his matura exams and started studies at University of Lwów in oriental studies (which he would finish in 1933). In 1928 he was accepted into active service in the Polish army, with the (chaplain) rank of professional rabbi (rabin zawodowy), becoming the Chief Rabbi of the Third Corps Region of the Polish Army (in Grodno, now Hrodna, Belarus). In 1929 he was promoted to rabbi, first class (rabin pierwszej klasy - equivalent of a captain rank). A few years later he would be promoted to older rabbi, second class (starszy rabin drugiej klasy - equivalent of a major rank). In 1931 he was moved to First Corps Region in Warsaw, in 1932 he also served on the Fifth Corps Region in Kraków (Cracow). In 1933 he replaced Chaim Elizjer Frankl as the chief of Main Office of Judaism Chaplainship (''szef Głównego Urzędu Duszpasterstwa Wyznania Mojżeszowego), first on a temporary basis, from 1935 on a permanent basis. In 1936 he becomes the Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army.

Steinberg was highly respected and commended by his superiors. He was also known as a supported of Polish statesmen Józef Piłsudski and his policies, organizing on 11 November (from 1937 the official Polish Day of Independence) religious services in the intention of Poland (and after Piłsudski's death, in his intention as well). He was a supporter of active Jewish participation in Polish state.

In September 1939 he was one of the seven rabbi chaplains in the Polish Army. During the Polish September Campaign he was the Chief Chaplain for Noncatholics in the Army Kraków and chief rabbi of the Polish army. He was taken prisoner by the Soviets after the Soviet invasion of Poland in late September, becoming a prisoner of war. He was imprisoned in the camp in Starobilsk. In Starobilsk he organized services for his fellow inmates, which were also attended by non-Jewish Poles; survivors note his emphasis on unity of all Poles, regardless of religion. In Starobilsk Steingberg was arrested by NKVD together with other Polish priests and chaplains during Christmas of 1939 and transported to a prison in Moscow. He briefly returned to Starobilsk in March 1940, and then was moved to Yukhnov and later to Kozelsk camps. Steingberg was eventually murdered in the Katyn massacre, probably on 12 April 1940.

Awards
During his lifetime, Steinberg had received the Cross of Independence, Silver Cross of Merit, and the remembrance medals "For War of 1918-1921" and for "10 years of Polish independence". In 1991 he was commemorated on a plaque in a garrison Church of Saint Agnes in Kraków. In 2007, he was posthumously promoted to lieutenant colonel.