Cantor, who sang light into the darkness of Nazi Germany, passed away at his home on Tuesday, July 3rd.

Private Max Fuchs on left, Rabbi Sidney Lefkowitz on right. Near Aachen, Germany. Photo permission from American Jewish Committee.

On October 29, 1944, Private Max Fuchs, a cantor from the Lower East Side, Manhattan, lead the traditional Sabbath hymns for the first Jewish worship service broadcast from Nazi soil in Aachen, Germany. Fuchs was born on February 10 1922 in Rzeszow, Poland. He arrived with his family in New York at age 12. He served as an infantryman in World War II, arriving with the First Infantry Division at Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He was with the vanguard of U.S troops that liberated Aachen, the first Germany city to fall to the allies in World War II.

The Jewish service outside of Aachen was officiated by Rabbi Sidney Lefkowitz with about 60 attendees. Rabbi Lefkowitz can be heard saying, “How sweet upon the mountain are the feet of the messenger of good tidings.” The light of religious freedom has pierced through the darkness of Nazi persecution.

After the war, he served as cantor at the Bayside Jewish Center in Queens for 39 years while working as a diamond cutter in Midtown Manhattan. In December 2007, Fuchs sang as part of the re-dedication of the 19th Century Eldridge Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side. His wife Naomi Fuchs had worship there as a child.