Erich Klibansky

Erich Klibansky (born November 28, 1900 in Frankfurt am Main ; † July 24, 1942 near Minsk ) was director and teacher of the " Jawne ", the first Jewish high school in the Rhineland in Cologne .

Life

Erich Klibansky, who originally came from a rabbi family based in Lithuania near Kowno , was born in 1900 in Frankfurt am Main. There his father ran a well-known interdenominational boys' boarding school , which his son Erich also attended. Klibansky then attended the Goethe-Gymnasium in Frankfurt and then studied history , German and Romance studies at the universities in Frankfurt am Main , Marburg and Munich . He received his doctorate in Marburg around 1925 with a thesis on "The topographical development of the Electoral Mainz offices in Hesse".

His marriage to Meta David (born on December 13, 1902 in Hamburg ) had three sons: Hans-Raphael (born April 10, 1928 in Breslau ), Alexander (born February 1, 1931 in Cologne) and Michael (born March 10, 1935 in Cologne). In the spring of 1929 the family moved to Cologne, where they moved into a spacious apartment in a house on Volksgartenstrasse .

Act

Löwenbrunnen on Erich-Klibansky-Platz in Cologne

Lion fountain, memorial plaque

In the same year, the young, meanwhile doctorate, was appointed director of the secondary school founded ten years earlier, the Jawne Realgymnasium in Cologne. Despite the hardships of the severe global economic crisis that began in 1929, Klibansky managed to ensure the survival of his school. As this private institution did not receive any state support , he collected donations for alterations and renovations, so that the school's operation was secured with the annual school fee of 400 marks.

Under Klibansky, the school enjoyed steadily growing popularity among the entire Jewish population of Cologne. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany in 1933, and with the increasing discrimination against Cologne Jews, Klibansky had no illusions about the future for his students in Germany .

Rescuing his "English classes"

After the increasing pressure on the Jews, the Klibansky family had to leave their apartment on Volksgartenstrasse at the end of 1937; they now moved into narrow rooms on Kamekestrasse. At this time, Klibansky made the plan to use the good language skills of his "English classes", which he was preparing for the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English , to emigrate to England .

With the approval of the Reich Office for Emigration , he sought and found support for his project from leading Jewish personalities in London . The Central British Council for Refugees arranged for the establishment of a boarding school for its intended students. By the outbreak of war in 1939, the headmaster was able to bring five classes with a total of 130 students to Great Britain, then the borders were closed.

assassination

Erich Klibansky and his entire family were from the station Köln-Deutz on 20 July 1942, the special train DA 219 deported . At the end of the transport to a destination unknown to them, all of them were shot at prepared pits on July 24, 1942 in a forest near Blagovshchin ( Maly Trostinez extermination camp ) near Minsk .

memory

In 1990 the city of Cologne named a newly created square at the place of his work, Erich-Klibansky-Platz , after him. For him and his family, the Cologne artist Gunter Demnig laid five stumbling blocks in front of the house on Volksgartenstrasse .

In the 2006 WDR documentary "The Forgotten Children of Cologne", the filmmaker Jürgen Nauman researched the fate of the deported 1,164 Jewish people, including 335 children and young people, on the special DA 219 train .

Since 1990 a group has been commemorating the Jawne secondary school, which Klibansky headed. The Jawne Working Group later became an association. In July 2017, a large commemorative event took place in front of Klibansky's former apartment at Volksgartenstrasse 10.

Literature / sources

Dieter Corbach: Die Jawne zu Cologne: on the history of the first Jewish high school in the Rhineland and in memory of Erich Klibansky, 1900-1942 . Scriba, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-921232-42-2 .
Kirsten Serup-Bilfeldt: Between the Cathedral and the Star of David, Jewish life in Cologne . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2001 ISBN 3-462-03508-8 .
Hans Thiel : Erich Klibansky - Germanist and Director of Jawne (1900-1942) In: Discussion Deutsch , Vol. 23, 1992, 127 ISSN 0342-1589 pp. 493–503.
Friedrich G. Paff: The Klibansky Files In: "Between Unrest and Order" a German reading book, edited by Gideon Schüler , Giessen, Focus-Verlag, 1989
The children in the school yard next door. On the history of the Jawne 1919-1942. The children from the other schoolyard. The story of the Jawne 1919-1942. Booklet accompanying the exhibition in Jawne, Cologne 2007.
Roland Kaufhold: The savior from the Volksgarten. High school director Erich Klibansky saved many of his students from annihilation. Now he was remembered. Jewish General , July 27, 2017

Web links

Literature by and about Erich Klibansky in the catalog of the German National Library

Klibansky, site in the Kindertransporte project from North Rhine-Westphalia , part of the "Kindertransporte project group" of the Jawne learning and memorial site in Cologne.

Individual evidence

↑ Erich Klibansky: The topographical development of the Electoral Mainz offices in Hesse (Marburg studies on older German history). Elwert, Marburg, 1925
↑ Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945 (Klibansky, Meta) , accessed on April 4, 2016.
^ Commemorative Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945 (Klibansky, Hans Raffael) , accessed on April 4, 2016.
↑ Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945 (Klibansky, Alexander) , accessed on April 4, 2016.
^ Commemorative Book - Victims of the Persecution of the Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945 (Klibansky, Michael) , accessed on April 4, 2016.
↑ Link to the picture documentation of the Cologne NS Documentation Center
↑ taz.de of October 31, 2006 (by Sarah Kirkegaard) - With the special train to death , accessed on March 31, 2016.
↑ The Jawne - Learning in a Historical Place. Retrieved May 23, 2017 .
↑ Roland Kaufhold: The Savior from the Volksgarten. High school director Erich Klibansky saved many of his students from annihilation. Now he was remembered. In: Jüdische Allgemeine. July 27, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017 .

personal data
SURNAME	Klibansky, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German educator of the Jewish faith
DATE OF BIRTH	November 28, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH	Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH	July 24, 1942
Place of death	Blagovshchin / Minsk

[1] Erich Klibansky: The topographical development of the Electoral Mainz offices in Hesse (Marburg studies on older German history). Elwert, Marburg, 1925

[2] Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945 (Klibansky, Meta) , accessed on April 4, 2016.

[3] Commemorative Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945 (Klibansky, Hans Raffael) , accessed on April 4, 2016.

[4] Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945 (Klibansky, Alexander) , accessed on April 4, 2016.

[5] Commemorative Book - Victims of the Persecution of the Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945 (Klibansky, Michael) , accessed on April 4, 2016.

[6] Link to the picture documentation of the Cologne NS Documentation Center

[7] taz.de of October 31, 2006 (by Sarah Kirkegaard) - With the special train to death , accessed on March 31, 2016.

[8] The Jawne - Learning in a Historical Place. Retrieved May 23, 2017 .

[9] Roland Kaufhold: The Savior from the Volksgarten. High school director Erich Klibansky saved many of his students from annihilation. Now he was remembered. In: Jüdische Allgemeine. July 27, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017 .