Clara Weimersheimer

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Claire or Clara Weimersheimer ( born as Clara Essinger on September 6, 1883 in Ulm ; † 1963 ) was a home educator oriented towards reform education . Because of her Jewish origins, she had to leave Germany in 1936 and emigrated to Palestine .

origin

Her parents were Leopold Essinger from Oberdorf and Franziska Oppenheimer. Her oldest sister was the reform pedagogue Anna Essinger (1879 in Ulm - 1960 in Kent , United Kingdom ).

Clara married the Herrlinger district doctor Moritz Weimersheimer (–1919).

The children's home on Oberherrlinger Strasse in Herrlingen

In 1911 she had a spacious villa built according to her own designs at Oberherrlinger Strasse 92 (formerly No. 28) in Herrlingen, in which she opened a children's home for children who were not yet of school age, who were difficult to raise and who had behavioral disorders. The daughter of Luise and Erich Mendelsohn , Esther, was also in the care of Clara Weimersheimer for some time in the summer of 1925, as Luise Mendelsohn was staying in St. Moritz for a cure at that time . Erich Mendelsohn wrote a long rhymed letter to his daughter Esther from a visit there, in which he also referred to her stay in Herrlingen:

"Grab as much as possible for yourself all the sun // And summer bliss // Pick all the flowers // At the Weimersheimermümchen // Eat Morrübchen and cabbage // Be comfortable. // When little mother travels home // In autumn, you know // Then Esther, the [? ###] slim little Hummelchen / Albewind // quickly becomes a Westender child Pummelchen again. "

Another child who came into the care of Clara Weimersheim at an early age was Karen Siemsen. In 1919 she came “to the Herrlingen children's home near Ulm. Karen stayed there for five years until her mother's death in 1924. “After her training as a kindergarten teacher, she worked again with Clara Weimersheim from 1932 to 1934, where she looked after difficult young people.

Emigration to Palestine

In 1926, Clara founded the Herrlingen country school home together with her sister Anna, who had returned from the USA, and with the support of the family, especially the brother and wealthy Ulm merchant Fritz.

After Anna Essinger emigrated to England in 1933, Clara stayed in Herrlingen. The children now visited the newly founded Jewish country school home in Herrlingen . It was not until 1936 that she emigrated to Palestine with her own children Joav, Michal and Michael and the children she continued to care for. The intentions associated with this are described in detail in an article in the "Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg" from February 16, 1936, which was intended to inform primarily Jewish parents about this possibility for their children to emigrate:

“In the Herrlingen children's home near Ulm adD, the tents are torn down and people are moving to Palestine. Many parents are likely to be interested in learning that there is a possibility of having children brought up under reliable care in Erez Israel for a short or long time.
In Meged (Post Pardess Channah) there is a school farm as part of the agricultural high school run by Biram. Three days of theoretical lessons alternate with three days of practical work. Children with other faculties also have the opportunity to switch to technical and scientific professions. This high school expands and is moved to the new large building in Pardess Channah.
The previous school farm will be the home for the children of Mrs. Klär Weimersheimer from the Herrlingen Children's Home. There are two stone and three wooden houses, a garage and stables for cows. Horses, donkeys, a new stable will be built for 500 chickens. A large vegetable garden stretches out and around the elevated property, pardessim spread as far as you can see: all Jewish land, so that the children can hike and ride safely. The whole property is enclosed by a wall and when the two iron gates are closed every evening, the children will experience their ceremony in a safe feeling. with music, with reading, with the knowledge of Jewish customs. The school farm is intended to be in organic connection with the agricultural high school: the school farm should form a kind of preliminary stage for this. In the individual houses, six children are brought together in family groups under the guidance of an adult. There is no lower age limit, the smallest Herrlinger children's beds come with you. There is enough water, everyone can bathe and shower every day.
Essentially, the home should take in children from Germany and everything will be tailored to make it easier for them to settle in as much as possible. Three teachers who have a perfect command of Hebrew and English, and some Palestinian children, will encourage language acquisition. And this is taken all the more important as knowledge of Hebrew and English is a prerequisite for admission to the agricultural high school.
The cook, who is very connected to the home, will ritually run the household there. A doctor and his wife, who is a nurse, are responsible for the health care of the small kingdom. The children will have it cared for and beautiful as in Herrlingen.
The costs for the parents are set at 75 pounds per year and after a meeting with Miss Szold , who shows interest and help in this work, the amount can be paid in advance for two years in Germany and the children can receive certificates. If you want to orient yourself more or want to register your child, please contact the Herrlingen Children's Home near Ulm adD as soon as possible. A contract must be made for each child, and that takes some time.
Ms. Klär Weimersheimer and the children will take the "Tel Aviv" to Erez Israel on March 27th. "

The “Meschek Jeladim” children's village in Pardess Chana emerged from this plan , in which the married couple Hermann and Berta Hirsch and their daughter Esther also worked after they emigrated in 1939 . After Hermann Hirsch's death in January 1942, Berta and Esteher Hirsch continued their work in the “Meschek Jeladim” children's home for two years. They then turned the facility over to the Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO), which set up a home for preschoolers. Berta Hirsch was not interested in this work and founded the Neve Hayeled children's and youth home in Nahariya .

Clara Weimersheimer's brother Fritz and his wife Hanna moved to Palestine in 1938. In his memoirs, Pinchas Erlanger reports that the relatives Fritz and Hanna Essinger, born in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv , who have lived since 1938 . Herrmann, “ would have helped him to obtain an entry visa to Palestine . The Palestine Gazette reported in March 1940 of the establishment of an "Insurance and financial agency" on February 6, 1940 by Fritz Essinger from Ramat Gan and Julius Kahn from Tel Aviv. Fritz Essinger was still the owner of the building of the country school home and also supported Hugo Rosenthal's Jewish country school home. At the beginning of 1939, after the closure of the “Jewish country school home” headed by Hugo Rosenthal, he commissioned the Ulmer bank Klett in Platzgasse to sell the property. At the beginning of the 1940s the Landschulheim area was “confiscated as the property of the emigrated Jew Fritz Essinger as 'enemy property' in favor of the Reich and administered by the city of Ulm”. "One of the houses later became known as the" Rommel Villa "because the Field Marshal General lived there before his forced suicide." In memory of him and not in memory of those who had to flee from the regime he has loyally served for a long time , is the name of the street that leads past the former main building of the Landschulheim.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leopold Essinger in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  2. ↑ Ulrich Seemüller: Herrlingen in the focus of history . You can also find very nice images here. A lot more information about the children's home and lots of picture material: Haus Unterm Regenbogen e. V. (Hrsg.): Pedagogy Deportation Literature. Herrlingen 1912–1947
  3. ^ Obituary for Esther Mendelsohn
  4. ^ EMA - Erich Mendelsohn archive: The correspondence between Erich and Luise Mendelsohn 1910–1953 (transcript) . Esther's stay probably ended at the end of August / beginning of September, as a further letter from Erich Mendelsohn on August 25, 1925 suggests.
  5. ^ Wilma Aden-Grossmann: Karen Siemsen - Portrait of a Jewish social worker.
  6. ↑ Michael Weimersheimer, the man from the Negev
  7. ↑ Quoted from: On the history of Jewish institutions in Herrlingen in the 20th century. In the case of the Dr. Biram is Arthur Biram (born August 13, 1878 in Bischofswerda; † June 5, 1967 in Haifa), who emigrated from Germany to Palestine in 1913 and was director of the secondary school in Haifa.
  8. ↑ meshek Jeladim at Pardess Hanna. around 1938, DNB 1032707755 .
  9. ↑ Joseph Walk: Jewish School and Education in the Third Reich. 1991, p. 165, and Klaus Kreppel: Nahariyya and German immigration to Eretz Israel. The history of its inhabitants from 1935 to 1941. Dedicated to Nahariyya for the 75th year of its foundation. The Open Museum, Tefen Industrial Park (Israel), 2010, ISBN 978-965-7301-26-5 , p. 387.
  10. ↑ Hubert Fromm: The Coburg Jews. History and fate. Evangelisches Bildungswerk Coburg e. V. and initiative Stadtmuseum Coburg e. V., Coburg 2001, ISBN 3-9808006-0-1 , p. 246.
  11. ↑ Pinchas Erlanger: Memories. My youth in Germany and the emigration to Palestine. Laupheim Talks, 2001 , p. 1 and p. 7.
  12. ^ The Palestine Gazette, No. 995, Thursday, March 21st, 1940, p. 350.
  13. ↑ Ruth Fichtner: Place of remembrance Landschulheim Herrlingen , on Gedenkstaetten-bw.de
  14. ^ Ulrich Seemüller: The Jewish old people's home Herrlingen ; 1997, p. 65.
  15. ↑ Ulrich Seemüller: Herrlingen in the focus of history.
  16. ↑ Landschulheim Herrlingen , on leo-bw
personal data
SURNAME Weimersheimer, Clara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weimersheimer, Claire; Weimersheimer, clar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Reform pedagogue
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Ulm
DATE OF DEATH 1963