Hirsch Jakob Zimmels

Hirsch Jakob Zimmels (29 December 1900, in Jaworów – 9 November 1974, in London) was a rabbi and historian of Judaism.

He obtained a PhD from the University of Vienna in 1926, and was ordained there the following year.[1] In 1939, he fled to London after the Nazi Anschluss.[2] He was interned by the British government in a camp in Australia between 1940 and 1942, after which he returned to London, and was appointed a lecturer in Bible, Talmud and Jewish history at Jews' College, London.[1][2] In 1961 he became director of studies at that institution, and was appointed principal in 1964, exercising that role until 1969. He wrote widely on Ashkenazi history and culture.[1][2]