Clara Grunwald

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Berlin memorial plaque on the house at Scharnweberstrasse 19, in Berlin-Friedrichshain

Clara Grunwald (born June 11, 1877 in Rheydt (now part of Mönchengladbach ); † April 1943 in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp ) was a German teacher and protagonist of Montessori education .

Live and act

Memorial plaque on the house, Ruheplatzstrasse 13, in Berlin-Wedding
Stolperstein , Klopstockstrasse 19, in Berlin's Hansaviertel

Clara Grunwald was the oldest of eleven children of the textile merchant Bernhard Grunwald and his wife Rosalie, née Aberle. After moving several times within the Rhineland, the family settled in Schöneberg (at that time a suburb of Berlin) in 1883. Clara Grunwald completed a high school for girls and a seminar for teachers. After graduating in 1896, she taught as a teacher at various schools in Berlin, for example as a secondary school teacher in Friedrichshain .

1913 Clara Grunwald came through the classic work of progressive education of Maria Montessori , which is now under the title of the child The discovery is known in contact with the new education . The thoughts of the Italian doctor and educator corresponded to her pedagogical understanding. However, only after the First World War was Clara Grunwald able to advocate Montessori education .

With the support of the trained Montessori teacher Elsa Ochs, she founded the Montessori Committee in 1919. Two years later, the Society of Friends and Patrons of the Montessori Method was founded in Germany . In 1925, the two organizations merged to form the German Montessori Society (DMG), which Clara Grunwald took over.

In 1921 she completed a process performed by Maria Montessori in London Montessori class, led by Elsa Ochs in 1923 the first German training course for Montessori education by Maria Montessori invited personally for lectures, sets up in her apartment in the Cuxhavener Straße 18 in Tiergarten a Montessori consultation hour, published some works on Montessori pedagogy and generally ensured intensive public relations work, especially in the form of lectures with photos about various Montessori institutions.

She played a key role in the opening of the first Montessori children's home in Lankwitz in 1919 . On her initiative, further Montessori children's houses were founded in Berlin's working-class district of Wedding in 1924 and in 1925 in the community school Scharnweberstrasse 19 in Friedrichshain.

She supported her younger sister Emmy Bergmann , who lived in Freiburg / Br. In her Montessori children's home, she looked after children of preschool age as well as children who had been postponed from attending school, and founded a DMG branch association there in 1927. In 1929, on the initiative of the two sisters, a first experimental elementary school class was taught using the Montessori method. The school trial received high praise from parents, teachers and the school administration.

At the end of 1926 there was a conflict between Clara Grunwald and Maria Montessori, which irrevocably separated the two women. Nonetheless, Clara Grunwald stood up for the new upbringing as long as possible , which began to establish itself in Germany, until the Nazis came to power put an end to this development.

Because of her Jewish origin, Clara Grunwald was dismissed from school service at the beginning of 1933 with the law to restore the civil service. She was also forbidden from any involvement in Montessori pedagogy. But Clara Grunwald did not remain idle. In the underground she organized with the Quakers , especially with her young friend Clothilde Freiin Schenk zu Schweinsberg, the departure of Jews from Germany, hidden people in distress in her apartment or with friends, obtained food cards and the like. She did not even consider leaving Germany.

In October 1941 she came to the Neuendorf im Sande Landwerk , which was run by Martin Gerson and his wife Bertel, Clara Grunwald's foster daughter. She taught the children in the hachshara facility. She circumvented the ban on writing issued by the Nazi authorities with a great deal of imagination. For example, she had the children write in the sand with sticks.

The first deportations from the farm began in 1942 . Clara Grunwald was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, which left Berlin on April 19, 1943 , together with her friend from the last few years, the photographer Charlotte Joël , in the last large group with the 37th Osttransport. It can be assumed that she was gassed immediately.

Honors

The state of Berlin has named a street in the district of Rummelsburg and the city of Mönchengladbach in the district of Rheydt after the nestor of Montessori pedagogy in Germany. Today in Neuendorf im Sande a memorial plaque commemorates the pedagogue (still attached in GDR times). Another memorial plaque is located at the Fürstenwalde / Spree train station. Some Montessori institutions bear her name. In the Wedding district, a youth facility was named after Clara Grunwald, as one of the first Montessori children's homes was in the neighborhood (Leopoldplatz). In addition, several primary schools, such as those in the Hamburg district of Allermöhe , in the Freiburg district of Rieselfeld and in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg bear her name.

Works (selection)

  • About the method of scientific pedagogy of the doctor and psychologist Dr. Maria Montessori, in: The New Education , 1920 / H. 10, pp. 421-426
  • The Montessori method, Ed .: Paul Oestreich , In: Schöpferische Erziehungs , Berlin 1920, pp. 32–35
  • The Montessori Method, In: Journal for Christian Educational Science and School Policy , 1921 / H. 8, pp. 321-324
  • The child is the focus , Ed .: Axel Holtz, Ulm 1995
  • Montessori education in the family, children's home and school , Berlin undated

Literature (selection)

  • Manfred Berger : Clara Grunwald. Pioneer of Montessori pedagogy, Frankfurt / Main 2000 [1]
  • Manfred Berger: Clara Grunwald - A pioneer of modern experiential education? Lueneburg 1994
  • Doris von Hatzfeld: Clara Grunwald and Emmy Bergmann. Two sisters on duty (1919-1933) for Montessori education. A contribution to the history of Montessori education in Germany. Augsburg 2000
  • Diana Stiller: Clara Grunwald and Maria Montessori - The Development of Montessori Pedagogy in Berlin. Diplomica Verlag, Hamburg 2008 ISBN 978-3-8366-6522-3
  • Egon Larsen (Ed.): "And yet I like life". Clara Grunwald's letters , Mannheim 1985
  • New edition “And yet I like life.” Clara Grunwald's letters from 1941 to 1943 . Prologue Sabine Krusen. Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-95565-120-6 .
  • Manfred Berger:  GRUNWALD, Clara. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 21, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-110-3 , Sp. 573-585.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Manfred Berger: Pioneers of early childhood and after-school care: Clara Grunwald, in: Irmgard. M. Burtscher (Ed.): Handbook for educators in crèche, kindergarten, daycare and after-school care. 78, June 2014, pp. 1-20
  • Manfred Berger: Women in Social Responsibility: Clara Grunwald, in: Our Youth 2015 / H. 6, pp. 274-278

Web links

Commons : Clara Grunwald  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ Home - Women's personalities in Friedrichshain / Kreuzberg. Retrieved February 6, 2018 .
  2. ^ A b Historical development of Montessori pedagogy in Germany. Retrieved February 6, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Historical development: Montessori Landesverband Bayern eV Retrieved on February 6, 2018 (English).
  4. ↑ Clara Grunwald. Retrieved on February 6, 2018 (German).
  5. ↑ a b Gerhild Komander: Women in Berlin: Grunwald Clara . In: Gerhild Komander . ( gerhildkomander.de [accessed on February 6, 2018]).
  6. ↑ cf. Hatzfeld 2000, p. 122 ff.
  7. ↑ Clara Grunwald. Retrieved on February 6, 2018 (German).
  8. ↑ "Help me do it alone!" - Maria Montessori died 50 years ago. Retrieved on February 6, 2018 (German).
  9. ↑ Memory of Clara Grunwald - Montessori Foundation Berlin . In: Montessori Foundation Berlin . September 14, 2016 ( montessori-stiftung.de [accessed February 6, 2018]).
  10. ↑ Berliner Stadtzeitung Scheinschlag, Forgotten Biographies: Baila Gerson
  11. ↑ a b Landwerk Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung : A Fürstenwalder story
  12. ↑ Werner Kohlert, Friedrich Pfäfflin: The work of the photographer Charlotte Joël: portraits from Walter Benjamin to Karl Kraus, from Martin Buber to Marlene Dietrich. ; Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-8353-3488-5 .
  13. ↑ Neuendorf memorial plaque
  14. ^ Commemoration in Fürstenwalde / Spree
  15. ↑ Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg : Clara-Grunwald-Elementary School ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Freiburg-Rieselfeld : Clara-Grunwald-School Hamburg-Allermöhe : Clara-Grunwald-School Unterschleißheim : Montessori School Clara Grunwald @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.clara-grunwald.cidsnet.de
personal data
SURNAME Grunwald, Clara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Montessori teacher
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Rheydt
DATE OF DEATH April 1943
Place of death Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp