Ernst L. Ehrlich, 86; built bridges between Jews and Christians in Europe

Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich, 86, a Jewish religious philosopher who escaped the Nazis and became a European bridge builder between Christians and Jews, died Oct. 21 at his home in Riehen, Switzerland, a suburb of Basel, according to the family notice in Swiss newspapers.

The Berlin-born Ehrlich studied at the Higher Institute for Jewish Studies, Rabbi Leo Baeck’s rabbinical seminary, until the Nazis closed it in 1942.

The Nazis forced him into labor until he was able to find shelter with a Berlin couple, and he was smuggled into Switzerland the next year.

He earned a doctorate at Basel and later taught at universities in Switzerland and Germany. From 1961 to 1994, he was European director of the Independent Order of B’nai B’rith, founded in New York in 1843.

At the Second Vatican Council in 1965, he served as advisor to German Cardinal Augustin Bea in preparing “Nostra Aetate,” a key document on Roman Catholic-Jewish relations.