Leonore Goldschmidt

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Leonore Goldschmidt (born Zweig, born November 16, 1897 in Gosda near Calau , † March 7, 1983 in London ) was a German teacher .

biography

Berlin memorial plaque on Hohenzollerndamm 110a, in Berlin-Schmargendorf

Leonore Zweig grew up as the daughter of a steam brick owner in a village in Lusatia. In 1916 she graduated from the Grunewald-Gymnasium, today's Walther-Rathenau-Gymnasium , in Berlin-Grunewald as an extraneer (external) .

From 1916 to 1921 she studied English, history and German in Jena and Berlin . In 1921 she received her doctorate from the University of Heidelberg . In 1923 she married the lawyer Ernst Goldschmidt.

She worked as a teacher in 1922 at the Cecilien School in Berlin-Wilmersdorf and from 1925 at the Sophie-Charlotte-Gymnasium in Berlin-Charlottenburg .

On April 7, 1933, the law to restore the civil service was passed, which allowed politically unpopular civil servants, especially Jews, to be removed from the civil service. Leonore Goldschmidt received written notification of her retirement.

Foundation of a private school

With her husband she found a gap in the National Socialist school system: every Jewish teacher was allowed to teach five "non-Aryan" children. She joined forces with other Jewish teacher colleagues and was able to open a private school after several refusals from her position. On May 1, 1935, she established her own school in Berlin-Grunewald at Kronberger Strasse 24. She financed this project through an inheritance from her cousin Alexander Zweig who was murdered in 1934 .

This school was also called “oasis” by the Jewish students, as the children were not exposed to the usual marginalization and repression.

As the political situation worsened, she began to prepare the children for a life in exile. With the help of the British Embassy, ​​she found a British teacher - Philip Woolley - for native English classes. In 1936 classes could begin. Goldschmidt's former Professor Walter Hübner, who meanwhile worked for the Reich Ministry of Education, provided support for this project. The Private Jewish School Dr. Leonore Goldschmidt received the official Abitur license in 1936 and the status of an Examination Center of the University of Cambridge in 1937 . The bilingual school leaving certificate gave the students access to English-speaking universities in Europe and North America, thus making their emigration easier . In 1937 the school had 520 students and 40 teachers.

The school was spared the destruction of the November pogroms in 1938 . But it was only a matter of time before pupils and schools were targeted by the Nazis. Her husband received a warning of an imminent arrest. However, he managed to escape to England with the help of the British embassy and a valid visa. Leonore Goldschmidt herself stated at the British embassy that he wanted to sell the school to Philip Woolley for ten Reichsmarks. The official questioned the legality of this transaction, but prepared the relevant papers. These papers ensured the school's continued existence as it was now in foreign ownership.

The documentation Goldschmidt's children tells the story of the school.

emigration

Hardly any country was ready to accept Jewish refugees in 1937/38. Together with her husband, Leonore Goldschmidt tried to open a branch of the Goldschmidt School in England. She asked the British government to fund the evacuation of the children to England; However, the government said it could not see any acute danger to the lives of the children. After November 9, 1938, the children were allowed to travel to England on the Kindertransport from Bremerhaven (unaccompanied by relatives) . Leonore Goldschmidt left Germany in June 1939 and never returned there. Until May 1940 she continued her school in Folkestone, England .

From 1940 to 1968 she worked as a teacher at various private and public schools in England. After her retirement, she studied Russian and lived in London until her death in 1983.

Honors

  • The exhibition "Here is no longer staying" (quote from Nelly Sachs ) at the Museum Wilmersdorf (today: Museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf) commemorated five founders of Jewish schools in Wilmersdorf from March 19 to September 18, 1992: Leonore Goldschmidt (1897–1983) , Lotte Kaliski (1908–1995), Vera Lachmann (1904–1985), Toni Lessler (1874–1952) and Anna Pelteson (1868–1943).
  • A school in Hanover-Mühlenberg is named after Leonore Goldschmidt.

literature

  • Martin Schönfeld: Memorial plaques in West Berlin. Editor: Active Museum Fascism and Resistance in Berlin eV, 1993.
  • Holger Hübner: The city's memory. Argon Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-87024-379-1

documentary

Goldschmidt's Children - Survival in Hitler's Shadow , ARD, 2017

Web links

Commons : Leonore Goldschmidt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History of the Dr Leonore Goldschmidt School (in English) by Gertrud Thompson (née Goldschmidt)
  2. ↑ Information from the Festschriften 75 and 100 years of Walther-Rathenau-Oberschule
  3. ^ Thomas Gehringer: The Goldschmidt School in Berlin. Learning without fear. In: Der Tagesspiegel . November 3, 2013, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Claudia Schwartz: She gave Jewish children a future | NZZ . November 4, 2013, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed October 30, 2019]).
  5. ^ Website of the Leonore Goldschmidt School
  6. ^ NDR: Goldschmidt's children: Surviving in Hitler's shadow. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Goldschmidt, Leonore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tacke, Leonore
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-British educator
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Gosda
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1983
Place of death London