{{short description|Czech lawyer}} {{infobox person | name = Rudolf Rabl | birth_date = 23 March 1889 | birth_place = Jindřichův Hradec, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary | death_date = {{death date and age|1951|8|20|1889|3|23|df=y}} | death_place = Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom | education = {{ubl|Charles University|University of Pisa|University of Vienna}} | known_for = Legal work, role in Czechoslovak government-in-exile | relatives = | image = Rudolf Rabl (1889-1951).jpg }} '''Rudolf Rabl''' (23 March 1889 – 20 August 1951) was a Czech lawyer, writer, art collector and member of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in 1940–1945.

== Early life and education == Rabl was born into a German-speaking assimilated Jewish family in southern Bohemia.<ref>{{Cite web|title=FreeBMD Entry Info|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=EJUVUKJfn1exV0lZagp95w&scan=1|access-date=2020-10-29|website=www.freebmd.org.uk}}</ref> The Rabls had lived in the Czech lands (Bohemia) since the late 15th century.

He studied law at Charles University in Prague, the University of Pisa, and the University of Vienna.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Rábl Rudolf |url=http://is.cuni.cz/webapps/archiv/public/person/se/1412122173548535 |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=is.cuni.cz}}</ref> He received his doctorate in law from Charles University in 1913 and a second doctorate in history of art from the Vienna School of Art History in 1916.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kolumber |first=David |url=https://www.muni.cz/vyzkum/publikace/2344129 |title=Rudolf Rabl (*1889 – † 1951) |date=2023 |publisher=Vydavatelství a nakladatelství Aleš Čeněk |isbn=978-80-7380-926-3 |language=cs}}</ref>

== Legal career == Rabl became an advocate in the high court and supreme court, and was involved in a number of high profile cases within Czechoslovakia and Austria.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database -- Dr Jur Rudolf Israel Rabl|url=https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/person_view.php?PersonId=6899783|access-date=2020-10-29|website=ushmm.org}}</ref>

From 1933 he acted on behalf of political and Jewish refugees wishing to flee to Czechoslovakia and co-founded the Czech Association for the Support of German Emigrants (Sdružení k podpoře německých emigrantů) in Prague, which was active throughout Czechoslovakia and was primarily made up of activists from the Czechoslovak section of the International Red Aid (which had been dissolved in 1932).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RV8tAQAAMAAJ&q=Dr+Rudolf+Rabl|title=Philologica Pragensia|date=1975|publisher=Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

== Czechoslovak government-in-exile == Rabl became a member of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London in 1940.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iYQAQAAMAAJ&q=rabl+law|title=Sudeten Bulletin|date=1959|publisher=Sudeten German Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Library|first=Harvard Law School|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzY5AQAAIAAJ&q=rabl+law&pg=PA543|title=Annual Legal Bibliography|date=1974|publisher=Harvard Law School Library}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Jaksch|first=Wenzel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eP8fAAAAMAAJ&q=rabl+czecho|title=Europe's Road to Potsdam|date=1964|publisher=Praeger}}</ref> In this position he was able to use some influence to secure safe passage for several Jewish academics and political refugees.<ref name=":4" />

He made regular broadcasts on BBC Radio during the war in both Czech and English. Czech historian Livia Rothkirchen described Rabl as being a member of "the cream of the cultural elite" in Europe.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rothkirchen |first=Livia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hx2xBWN3hX0C&q=rudolf+rabl+holocaust&pg=PA440 |title=The Jews of Bohemia and Moravia: Facing the Holocaust |date=2006-01-01 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-0502-4}}</ref>

== Personal life == Rabl had socialist sympathies and had an extensive art collection, including artwork by his friend Oskar Kokoschka.<ref name=":3" /> His first cousin was the writer Richard Weiner.

His first wife, Jula, died on 30 August 1939. He later married an English woman and had a daughter, Elizabeth Jula Rabl (b. 1944).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rudolf Rabl b. 23 Mar 1889 d. 20 Aug 1951: Geneagraphie |url=https://www.geneagraphie.com/getperson.php?personID=I779695&tree=1 |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=www.geneagraphie.com}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://digitaltmuseum.no/0210313303834/rabl-rudolf-1889-1951 Rudolf Rabl] at digitaltmuseum.no * [https://www.muni.cz/vyzkum/publikace/2344129 Rudolf Rabl] at Masaryk University

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabl, Rudolf}} Category:1889 births Category:1951 deaths Category:People from Jindřichův Hradec Category:Czech Jews Category:People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Category:Charles University alumni Category:University of Vienna alumni Category:University of Pisa alumni Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Category:Czechoslovak lawyers Category:Czechoslovak diplomats Category:Czech art collectors Category:Czech art historians