Baruch Auerbach

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Berlin memorial plaque on the house at Schönhauser Allee 162, in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
Information board at the house at Schönhauser Allee 162, in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg

Baruch Auerbach (born August 14, 1793 in Inowraclaw in West Prussia , † January 22, 1864 in Berlin ) was a German-Jewish educator . He was best known for his Auerbach institutes for orphans .

Life

Baruch Auerbach grew up in poor circumstances as the son of a rabbi . He received his first lessons from his father, later at a Torah school in Lissa . In 1817 he followed his older brother, the later in Leipzig acting religious teacher Isaac Lewin Auerbach (1791-1853), to Berlin, where he attended the University of Berlin continued his studies.

From 1817 he was a teacher and educator at the Nauenschen Stift , a private boarding school, and later headed this institution until 1837. In 1825 he joined the Society of Friends . From 1826, Baruch Auerbach also worked as a teacher at the boys' school of the Berlin Jewish Community in Rosenstrasse, near the Old Synagogue , which was newly founded as a successor to the Jewish Free School , and from 1829 he also ran this school. In this function, however, he was not undisputed. His critics justified the poor performance of the students with his lower education compared to his predecessor Leopold Zunz , but others saw the causes in the insufficient staffing and financial resources of the school. Baruch Auerbach was also less interested in running the school than in his other tasks. Despite these disputes, he ran the boys' school until 1851.

As early as 1833 Auerbach had founded an orphanage for boys in the same house on Rosenstrasse , which later moved to Oranienburger Strasse . In 1844 he set up the first orphanage for girls at the Rosenstrasse site. These orphanages were exemplary for the German-speaking countries at the time. He headed both institutions until his death.

Baruch Auerbach died in Berlin in 1864 at the age of 70. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery at Schönhauser Allee , where later his wife Emma, ​​nee. Keller (1816–1878) was to find her final resting place. The couple's grave has been preserved.

Continuation of the Auerbach orphanage

In 1887, the orphanages for boys and girls were merged to form the Baruch Auerbach orphan education institutions for Jewish boys and girls . For this purpose , a new building was built in Schönhauser Allee , opposite the Jewish cemetery, which was inaugurated in 1897. The architects Höniger and Sedelmeier had designed an ensemble of brick buildings in the neo-Gothic style and directed the construction work. For the pupils there was the boys 'and girls' houses, which were connected by the gym and other common rooms. A statue of Emperor Friedrich III adorned the forecourt . More than 80 orphans could be accommodated in the new building; the house in Rosenstrasse was retained as a secondary location. In 1923 the Liberal Synagogue North, newly founded by Hermann Falkenberg , also took its seat in the building.

In 1942 the last 89 teachers and pupils were deported to the Riga ghetto . The buildings of the orphanage were destroyed in 1945 by the effects of the war and demolished in 1950. A remnant of the wall was preserved. The property was later built over with a residential complex. An information board reminds of the history of the property and the willful destruction of a "memorial" that has been installed in the meantime.

literature

Web links

Commons : Baruch Auerbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 350.
  2. ↑ Cf. Nicola Galliner et al. a .: Guide through Jewish Berlin ; Photo of the ruin on p. 195.
  3. ↑ See memorial in the museum ( Memento from June 12, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Auerbach, Baruch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish-German teacher and educator
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Inowraclaw
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1864
Place of death Berlin