Jewish school in Stuttgart

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The Jewish School in Stuttgart , which opened in 1934, was built on the grounds of the Stuttgart Jewish Community in the hospital district in Stuttgart-Mitte . The reasons were reprisals against Jewish students at the state schools and preparation for the forced "emigration". The school existed until 1941, when the ban on teaching Jewish students was issued.

History and reasons

Soon after the NSDAP came to power on January 30, 1933, discussions began within the Jewish community about its consequences for Jewish children in German schools. Those responsible at the time in the Jewish community in Stuttgart (today the Israelite Religious Community of Württemberg , cf. also Theodor Rothschild ), Otto Hirsch and Hermann Merzbacher among others , gave concrete thought to the establishment of a Jewish school in Stuttgart as early as November of the same year. After careful consideration and weighing up the advantages and disadvantages, they came to the conclusion that they should aim to found one. They asked the reform pedagogue Theodor Rothschild from Esslingen am Neckar to work out a pedagogical concept for it. At that time, Theodor Rothschild was the director of the Israelite orphanage “Wilhelmspflege” in Esslingen , where he had previously been a teacher.

Educational concept

In the educational concept written by Theodor Rothschild, needs in connection with the forced "emigration" of Jewish children were also taken into account. Great emphasis was placed on learning the languages ​​English and Hebrew , and training in household and manual skills should not be neglected

realization

Topping-out ceremony at the Stuttgart Jewish School in October 1934

The question of the school's permanent accommodation sparked a major discussion in the community. Ultimately, the committees decided on a new building.

The architect Oskar Bloch , who with his partner Ernst Guggenheimer , had already built a number of buildings for the community, was entrusted with the task. He designed a modern, bright building with seven classrooms and a gym that was also used as a ballroom. There was also a work room, a veranda and washrooms. The location was the " courtyard and garden square behind the municipal administration building " in Hospitalstrasse 36A, not far from the Old Synagogue . The community newspaper reported about the topping-out ceremony in October 1934: " The room foreman, who was preferably involved in the construction, gave the topping-out speech, which ended with the wish that happy young people would grow up in this building ".

Characterization of the building

The facility met - according to the community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg in 1935 - the requirements of contemporary school building, the building was designated by historian Maria Zelzer at the Stuttgart City Archives in 1964 as a " modest functional building, in a sign of need created "characterizes" in no way comparable with the representative synagogue. (...) Despite the economy of space and money had succeeded in a modern building (...) to build "

Opening of the lesson and inauguration of the building

The Jewish school in Stuttgart had already opened on April 17, 1934 in provisionally prepared premises. The keynote speaker Hermann Merzbacher emphasized on this occasion that the Jewish school was “ an expression of the Jewish community's strong will to live ”.

One year after the opening of lessons, the school building was inaugurated on April 7, 1935 with chamber music and wishes for a peaceful, blessed future.

Teaching, faculty and school development

In addition to Dr. Emil Goldschmidt, the school's first headmaster, was Lotta Stern's deputy principal. The faculty consisted of three people. In addition to the general curriculum in Württemberg, the students were taught Judaism and the languages ​​Hebrew, English and French. There were also handicraft and handicraft lessons, music and drawing. In the first year, eighty students attended a total of four classes. In the following school year 1934/35 another class and another teacher were added. In the spring of 1935 five " teachers " taught 120 pupils in six classes; in the school year 1935/36 the number of pupils grew to 201. In the following school year 1936/37 213 pupils were recorded, those of eight teachers Teachers were taught. In 1937/38 a ninth grade was added. One of the teachers in 1937 was Hedi Oppenheimer. Although the number of forced "emigrations" increased, the number of students in August 1938 was 183. They were taught by eight teachers, plus seven complementary teachers. In 1938/1939 Mrs. Wieler directed the school after Emil Goldschmidt "emigrated" to the United Kingdom . After the closure of the Jewish orphanage "Wilhelmspflege" in Esslingen on August 26, 1939, which was converted by the authorities into an epidemic or reserve hospital, Theodor Rothschild was headmaster at the Jewish school in Stuttgart for about a year from 1940. His wife Ina Rothschild also worked at the school. Both lived in Stuttgart from March 1940.

School life

In a "school children circle", the school offered homework help every day except Wednesdays, which was provided by a kindergarten teacher. Walter Marx remembers " generally pleasant " co-educational Saturday afternoons with dance lessons and board games: " Every Saturday afternoon there were get-togethers at which socially more mature girls tried to teach a reluctant group of clumsy boys the latest dance steps, where board games were played or where one could just sat around and chatted and where some of us quietly became aware of our sexuality. "For this purpose, the school organized group walks on Sundays, in which girls and boys also took part. These trips had to be stopped because of anti-Jewish behavior by the non-Jewish population. There were soccer games and races on the Jewish community's sports field. But this sports field was also confiscated by the Nazi authorities, so that the sports activities of the Jewish students on Sundays and - during the summer holidays also on workdays - were no longer possible. From then on, Walter Marx and his male classmates had to deal with the transport of furniture and other household goods after classes that lasted until 1 p.m. There was a lot to do because there were a lot of relocations, as Jews were no longer allowed to live in houses that - as the Nazi reading - were "German" property. For this purpose the students used " ladder or flatbed wagons ".

Schoolchildren's memories

Walter Marx

Walter Marx (born 1925) reports from 1939 how important it was for him to experience the class community in the eighth grade of the Jewish school. Before that he had visited the Jüdisches Landschulheim in Herrlingen , in March 1939 Walter Marx came to the Jewish School Stuttgart: " After I got over my jaundice attack (...) and the school in Herrlingen was about to close its doors forever, I was now enrolled in the eighth and final grade of the Jewish school in Stuttgart. My class consisted of five boys and five girls. They welcomed me in a friendly way as a newcomer, since I no longer had any protection against the threatening outside world like in Herrlingen , it was especially important to have friends who would help you cushion the painful bumps I was often exposed to. (...) Every day on the way to and from school I had to show my student ID to an inquisitive tram conductor. Without this ever changing, this led to some insulting remarks ... Like most of his classmates, Walter Marx then drove with the Bike to school. When learning English, Walter Marx was privileged compared to his classmates: During this time, in addition to the daily class lessons at school, I also took part in an intensive course in English offered by Miss Wieler, the type of strict English drummer; she happened to be the head of the Jewish school in Stuttgart at the same time. All of my classmates who took this course were adults only, including my aunt Else. Walter Marx left Germany in February 1940. With only one or two exceptions, I know nothing about the fate of my classmates from Herrlingen and Stuttgart, unless, of course, about those who had left Germany before me. I found the name of one of my Stuttgart classmates on a list of Jews from this city who had been deported and disappeared in a Nazi death camp. "

Gusti Schäfer, née Gutmann

Gusti Schäfer, née Gutmann, born in 1929, who was considered a "Jewish mixed race" according to Nazi ideology, reports on her time in the Jewish school. Then she explains how her mother took her out of this school again, enrolled in a state school and finally had her baptized: " In the meantime I had left the Jewish kindergarten and attended the Jewish school. My mother had to go to work " (...) "Except On Wednesday, we girls visited the school children circle in the afternoon, where Aunt "Mala" Bermann supervised our homework. We knew her well because she had run the kindergarten. Strange - we had to say goodbye to children again and again because they were with them Parents have moved abroad. I think that these Jewish families did not want to burden their children with the fear that was holding them in a stranglehold. Even what my mother, with a heavy heart, secretly initiated was hidden from me one day explained to me that I had to change schools, and the following week my mother took me to a German school - the hospital school - not far from removed from my previous Jewish school. This happened at the beginning of November 1938. On the night of November 9th to 10th, just a few days later, I was startled from my sleep. Screams - orders - bursting glass - what was that! My mother and I ran to the windows. What we saw was so cruel that I immediately begin to tremble, even today, when I recall this Reichspogromnacht. There were many Jewish shops in our neighborhood. All the shop windows were smashed. On that terrible night the SA people got all Jewish men out of their beds. Sometimes they barely had time to get dressed. Everyone was arrested. Behind our house, at Marienstraße 6, there was a large courtyard that connected the first houses on Rotebühlstraße. There was a Jewish restaurant there, and here too the windows opened onto our courtyard. That night I heard the woman - I mean, her name was Bloch - scream so terribly that I could never forget it. She insisted that her husband would not leave the house until he had said his prayer. In her desperation, she also succeeded in preventing the man from walking in pajamas, like most of them. He left the house in decent clothes and also wore a coat. He owed this solely to his brave wife. "(...)" The next morning, my way to school led me past the burning synagogue and past the school where I had spent so many wonderful hours ... "(...) November 13, 1938 I was baptized and was then Protestant. In my childish naivety I thought that I was now also a "GERMAN", which of course could not be the case, because my blood was "not pure". (...) Was it normal that I was not allowed to attend a secondary school or grammar school? "As Walter Marx reports Gusti Schäfer of a classmate who was murdered during the Nazi era:" Hertha J. was shot in the concentration camp when she was twelve. I do not know the fate of everyone else. "

Memories of the teacher Ilse Roberg

Teacher Ilse Roberg, née Herz, born in 1915, said about the students and the student / teacher relationship: " It happened that we also had to teach students who were completely alien, even hostile to Judaism. However, that changed With the pressure on the parents' house (...) the attitude towards school soon changed. We became the most popular companions of our students who could only find at home worrying about their daily bread and worrying about the possibility of emigration. "

November pogrom

Edith Goldschmidt (born 1907), the wife of the first headmaster, reported at an elderly age about the events at the school as part of the November pogroms in 1938 : I had no class on that memorable day and waited unsuspectingly for my husband to come home for lunch should. He used to be on time, but he didn't come that day. Hour after hour passed until finally a younger colleague, Mr. David, who belonged to the Orthodox religious community, came to see me around four o'clock in the afternoon. He told me what had happened at school that morning. All teachers were taken to a concentration camp by SS troops. (...) He was only at school by chance. Didn't I hear anything about the destruction of synagogues and cemeteries? Now he wants to say goodbye to me. I pulled myself together and took over the management of the school. There were also some teachers there, but they were all ready to emigrate. I don't remember what I was doing, but I made sure the children were educated. After a fortnight my husband came back.

School closes due to forced emigration and prohibition

The pressure from National Socialist politics grew steadily. After a brief upturn, the number of students continued to decline as a result of so-called emigration. When the ban on teaching Jewish children was issued on March 31, 1941, the Jewish school had to be closed.

building

The building was damaged in World War II. After the end of the war, Ernst Guggenheimer brought the house back to " usable condition ". It was rented to the company Lutz, Knapp & Co, a wholesaler for upholstery fabrics, as a warehouse. The gymnasium was set up as a provisional prayer room for the Jewish community from 1950 to 1952 and was inaugurated on July 8, 1950; the rooms were used for administrative purposes by the Jewish community. Although the New Synagogue , which was completed according to a design by Ernst Guggenheimer , was inaugurated on May 13, 1952, services could already take place in it before the High Holidays ( Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur ) were celebrated in it in 1951. The school building was later rebuilt and integrated into the community center on Hospitalstrasse.

literature

  • Edith Goldschmidt: Three Lives. Autobiography of a German Jewish woman (Steinfurter Schriften 22), Steinfurt 1992.
  • Joseph Walk with the assistance of Bracha Freundlich and others (editor), Pinkas ha-kehilot Germanyah , Jerusalem (Yad Vashem) 1972, translated into English as Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities , Germany (Vol. 2), (Württemberg, Hohenzollern, Baden) , Transcription by Max Kahn and Peter Strauss, YAD VASHEM, The Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem 1986, online translation [3]
  • Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, ISBN 3-928812-38-6 .
  • Maria Zelzer : Path and Fate of the Stuttgart Jews. A commemorative book , published by the City of Stuttgart, special volume of the publications of the Stuttgart Archives, 1964.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dr. Hermann Merzbacher: "A Jewish school in Stuttgart?", In: "Gemeinde-Zeitung for the Israelite communities in Württemberg", Volume X, Issue No. 16 of November 16, 1933, pp. 135-137.
  2. ↑ Theodor Rothschild: "The Jewish School in Stuttgart", in: "Gemeinde-Zeitung für die Israelitischen Gemeinde Württemberg", Volume X, Issue No. 20 of January 14, 1934, p. 182
  3. ^ "The Jewish school question in Stuttgart.", In: "Gemeinde-Zeitung for the Israelite communities in Württemberg", Volume X, Issue No. 21 of February 1, 1934, pp. 191 and 193
  4. ↑ "The Jewish School in Stuttgart.", In: "Gemeinde-Zeitung for the Israelite communities in Württemberg", Volume X, Issue No. 23 of March 1, 1934, pp. 209 and 211
  5. ^ "On the opening of the Jewish school in Stuttgart.", In: "Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg", XI. Volume, No. 2 from April 16, 1934, page 17
  6. ^ "On the new building of the Jewish school in Stuttgart", in: "Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg", XI. Volume, No. 11 from September 1, 1934, p. 86
  7. ^ Maria Zelzer: Way and fate of the Stuttgart Jews. A memorial book , published by the city of Stuttgart, special volume of the publications of the archive of the city of Stuttgart, 1964, p. 176
  8. ^ Maria Zelzer: Way and fate of the Stuttgart Jews. A memorial book , published by the city of Stuttgart, special volume of the publications of the archive of the city of Stuttgart, 1964, p. 176
  9. ↑ “A feast day of the isr. Community of Stuttgart, the new school is consecrated. ”, In:“ Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg ”, XII. Volume, No. 2 of April 16, 1935, p. 15f.
  10. ^ "Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg", XI. Volume, No. 15 from November 1, 1934, p. 123f.
  11. ↑ “A feast day of the isr. Community of Stuttgart, the new school is consecrated. ”, In:“ Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg ”, XII. Volume, No. 2 of April 16, 1935, p. 15f.
  12. ^ "On the new building of the Jewish school in Stuttgart", in: "Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg", XI. Volume, No. 11 from September 1, 1934, p. 86
  13. ^ Maria Zelzer: Way and fate of the Stuttgart Jews. A memorial book , published by the city of Stuttgart, special volume of the publications of the archive of the city of Stuttgart, 1964, p. 176
  14. ^ "The celebration on the occasion of the opening of the Jewish school in Stuttgart.", In: "Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg", XI. Volume, No. 3 from May 1, 1934, pp. 25 and 26
  15. ^ “The celebration on the occasion of the opening of the Jewish school in Stuttgart. Incl. Consecration from Leopold Marx. ”, In:“ Gemeinde-Zeitung for the Israelite communities of Württemberg ”, XI. Volume, No. 3 from May 1, 1934, p. 25
  16. ↑ “A feast day of the isr. Community of Stuttgart, the new school is consecrated. ”, In:“ Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg ”, XII. Volume, No. 2 of April 16, 1935, p. 15f
  17. ^ "Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg", XII. Volume, No. 1 from April 1, 1935, p. 3f.
  18. ^ Maria Zelzer: Way and fate of the Stuttgart Jews. A memorial book , published by the city of Stuttgart, special volume of the publications of the archive of the city of Stuttgart, 1964, p. 176
  19. ^ Maria Zelzer: Way and fate of the Stuttgart Jews. A memorial book , published by the city of Stuttgart, special volume of the publications of the archive of the city of Stuttgart, 1964, p. 176f
  20. ↑ “A feast day of the isr. Community of Stuttgart, the new school is consecrated. ”, In:“ Community newspaper for the Israelite communities of Württemberg ”, XII. Volume, No. 2 of April 16, 1935, p. 15f.
  21. ↑ Joseph Walk with the assistance of Bracha Freundlich and others (editor), Pinkas ha-kehilot Germanyah , Jerusalem (Yad Vashem) 1972, translated into English as Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities , Germany (Vol. 2), (Württemberg, Hohenzollern, Baden ), Transcription by Max Kahn and Peter Strauss, YAD VASHEM, The Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem 1986, online translation [1]
  22. ↑ Cf. Gusti Schäfer: Memories of my childhood days in Stuttgart, in: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.von-zeit-zu-zeit.de
  23. ↑ Joseph Walk with the assistance of Bracha Freundlich and others (editor), Pinkas ha-kehilot Germanyah , Jerusalem (Yad Vashem) 1972, translated into English as Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities , Germany (Vol. 2), (Württemberg, Hohenzollern, Baden ), Transcription by Max Kahn and Peter Strauss, YAD VASHEM, The Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem 1986, online translation [2]
  24. ↑ Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 51
  25. ↑ Edith Goldschmidt: Three lives. Autobiography of a German Jew (Steinfurter Schriften 22), Steinfurt 1992, p. 42f.
  26. ↑ See archived copy ( memento of the original from April 19, 2015 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot /zeichen-der-erinnerung.org
  27. ↑ Cf. Gusti Schäfer: Memories of my childhood days in Stuttgart, in: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.von-zeit-zu-zeit.de
  28. ↑ Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 50f.
  29. ↑ See Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 51.
  30. ↑ See Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 52.
  31. ↑ Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 52
  32. ↑ See Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 149
  33. ↑ Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 50
  34. ↑ See Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 50
  35. ↑ Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, p. 151
  36. ↑ Manuel Werner: Cannstatt - Neuffen - New York. The fate of a Jewish family in Württemberg. With the memoirs of Walter Marx. Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 2005, pp. 51–56
  37. ↑ Gusti Schäfer's mother was not considered Jewish by the prosecuting authorities, cf. Gusti Schäfer: Memories of my childhood days in Stuttgart, in: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.von-zeit-zu-zeit.de
  38. ↑ Cf. Gusti Schäfer: Memories of my childhood days in Stuttgart, in: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.von-zeit-zu-zeit.de
  39. ↑ Cf. Gusti Schäfer: Memories of my childhood days in Stuttgart, in: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.von-zeit-zu-zeit.de
  40. ^ Maria Zelzer: Way and fate of the Stuttgart Jews. A memorial book , published by the city of Stuttgart, special volume of the publications of the archive of the city of Stuttgart, 1964, p. 176
  41. ↑ Edith Goldschmidt: Three lives. Autobiography of a German Jew (Steinfurter Schriften 22), Steinfurt 1992, p. 41
  42. ↑ Text and photos of the provisional prayer hall in the gym of the former Jewish school at Hospitalstrasse 36a, inauguration on July 8, 1950, in: http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/stuttgart_synagoge_n.htm