Alberto Jonas
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Alberto Jonas (born February 19, 1889 in Dortmund , † August 29, 1942 in Theresienstadt ) was a German school director .
Live and act
Alberto Jonas spent childhood and youth in Wroclaw , where he studied ancient languages. After receiving his doctorate in 1915 on De ratione quae inter Josephum et litteras rabbinicas intercedit , he received a year later the qualification for teaching in higher schools in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. He then taught for several years at the Israelitisches Realgymnasium in Halberstadt and at the Higher Israelitische Schule in Leipzig . In 1922 he switched to the Talmud Tora Realschule in Hamburg , which was directed by Mary Marcus and took over as director in 1924. As director, he ran a Jewish elementary school for girls, which was supplemented by a secondary school train during his tenure, which, from 1930 onwards, enabled the state to complete the upper secondary school . Jonas planned to expand the school into an upper secondary school, but failed due to the seizure of power by the National Socialists .
During the time of National Socialism , the tasks for Jonas and the staff he led changed fundamentally. The teaching staff concentrated on preparing the students for emigration from the German Reich . They strengthened their self-confidence, taught more Iwrith and English and taught practical activities in household chores, gardening and agriculture and tailoring.
After the Reich pogrom in 1938 , many Jewish children emigrated to England and other European countries. Jonas got involved in these transports and traveled to England several times with children. After the Talmud Torah School and the Israelitische Töchterschule were merged in 1939 in the elementary and secondary school for Jews , Jonas took over the position of the school director in 1940. The Gestapo forbade him to leave the country when he took office. Although the external conditions became increasingly oppressive and the threats increased, Jonas was able to maintain a school operation appropriate to the circumstances together with the staff. He bravely opposed the National Socialists out of humane conviction.
In late autumn 1941, numerous students left the school run by Jonas on four deportation trains. The number of children taught fell in January 1942 from 350 in September 1941 to 76. In spring 1942, Gauleiter Karl Kaufmann gave the order to clear the school so that it could be used for “German-blooded” children. Children could be taught in the rooms of the Jewish orphanage for a short time until it was closed on June 30, 1942.
Alberto Jonas, who had been married to the doctor Marie-Anna Levinsohn since 1923, was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on July 19, 1942 with their 18-year-old daughter Esther . There he died after a few weeks of a serious illness. The last documents on his wife date back to 1944. The daughter Esther survived the Holocaust and is now living in New York .
memories
Two stumbling blocks in Hamburg remember Alberto Jonas . The school building of the Israelitische Töchterschule at Karolinenstrasse 35 in Hamburg-St. Pauli named after him.
literature
- Ursula Randt : Jonas, Alberto . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 1 . Christians, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7672-1364-8 , pp. 152-153 .
Web links
- Erika Hirsch: Jonas, Alberto on dasjuedischehamburg.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Jonas, Alberto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German school director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 19, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dortmund |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 29, 1942 |
| Place of death | Theresienstadt |