Helene Thau

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Building of the former "Thau School" in Limburg
Sign on the Parkallee 11–13 building

Helene Thau (born February 6, 1844 in Neuwied ; † May 10, 1934 in Limburg an der Lahn ) was a German teacher and headmistress .

biography

In 1862 Helene Thau passed her entrance exam as a teacher. The following year she became a tutor in a British officer's family. She spent several years in the service of this family in Nassau , Bahamas . “These stays abroad broadened her 'horizon'; she was not narrow-minded, but open-minded, which was reflected in her teaching style.” In 1871 she returned to Germany. She then worked as a teacher at schools in Hamm and in the Bohemian town of Eger . In 1873 Helene Thau received permission from the Kingdom of Prussia to found a girls' school in Solingen , which later became the August Dicke school . Since the city of Solingen refused to take over the sponsorship and costs for the school, Helene Thau and her colleague Friedrich Hengstenberg left it in 1881.

Thau then went to Limburg an der Lahn, where in 1884 she became the first director of the evangelical “ Höhere Töchterschule ”, which had been headed by Pastor Wilhelm Krücke (father of the later Wiesbaden mayor Georg Krücke ) since it was founded in 1874 . Over the years, the school was nicknamed Thau School or Thau Institute , which was retained until it was closed. In 1884 the school had 51 students, by 1913 the number had doubled.

In 1912 Helene Thau celebrated her 50th anniversary as a teacher. One pupil remembered the “little round lady”: “I have never met a better educator than Miss Thau in my life. [...] She did not know or make differences. ”She was also always“ balanced ”, which the student attributed to her belief. In December of that year, however, at the age of 70, she had to quit work after a fractured femur and prolonged bed rest. In 1934, her 90th birthday was celebrated in a big way: all the school girls gathered in front of her house and serenaded her , the street was flagged.

In 1939 the school was closed by the Nazi authorities, and it did not reopen after 1945.

The former school building at Parkstrasse 11-13 in Limburg is now a listed building.

literature

  • Marie Eschenbrenner: The Thau School in Limburg 1874–1939. A chronicle . Laurenburg / Lahn 1970.

Web links

Commons : Thau School  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Eschenbrenner, Thau-Schule , o. P.
  2. ↑ a b Nassauer Bote , February 6, 1934, p. 3.
  3. ↑ a b Christina Pelz / Jacqueline Schewitz: Famous and forgotten Hessians . Ed .: Equal rights department of the university town of Marburg. 2008.
  4. ↑ ... and yet it moves! 125 years of the August-Dicke-Schule grammar school 1873–1998 . Festschrift. Rauhaus and Son, 1998, p. 9 .
  5. ^ Cultural monuments in Hesse. In: denkmalpflege-hessen.de. Retrieved December 22, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Thau, Helene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German teacher and headmistress
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuwied
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1934
Place of death Limburg on the Lahn