Pinchas Erlanger

Pinchas Erlanger (born August 8, 1926 in Ravensburg as Peter Erlanger , † August 29, 2007 in Schawe Zion , Israel ) was an Israeli settler and farmer of German origin who actively campaigned for German-Israeli friendship.

Life

“ Stumbling blocks ” in the school yard of the St. Konrad Education Center, Ravensburg

Peter Erlanger was born in Ravensburg as the son of the farmer Ludwig Erlanger and his wife Fanni, née Herrmann. He grew up on the Burachhof in Ravensburg, which his parents ran and which, as a "model estate", specialized in chicken breeding and fruit growing. After 1933 the Burachhof also served Jewish youth in preparation for the Youth Aliyah as Hachshara . Peter Erlanger remembers: " My sister, who was two years younger [...] and I had a normal, happy childhood on the farm. Our property was about 60 acres and was located on a hill above the Schussental, about halfway between Ravensburg and Weingarten. In the absence of children of the same age in the neighborhood, we played (and fought) in pairs. Our friends were the house and farm staff, the Jewish interns who were trained with us for one or two years, and of course all the animals the farm, from the draft horses, the cows, pigs and chickens to the farm dog, with whom we grew up together, so to speak. "Peter Erlanger attended elementary school and the Spohngymnasium in Ravensburg. His school days under National Socialism were marked by racism, exclusion and mockery: In elementary school, for example, the sentence “The Jew lies” was declined as a grammatical example, and in music lessons at grammar school he had to sing the song “When Jewish blood spurts off the knife”. Erlanger then had to leave grammar school - as one of the best in class - because of allegedly insufficient performance in drawing, singing and gymnastics. He then moved to the Jewish rural school home in Herrlingen near Ulm, headed by Hugo Rosenthal , where he lived until the home was forced to close in 1939. Pinchas Erlanger remembers: " For me, coming from an assimilated house, grew up in a Catholic area, educated in Christian schools until I was thrown out of the German grammar school in 1938, Herrlingen was the first meeting place with Zionism and Judaism. [. ..] I only got to know New Hebrew or Erez Israel in Herrlingen ". After the compulsory closure, the school home was converted into a compulsory retirement home for Jews, in which Peter Erlanger's grandfather Josef Herrmann, born on November 4, 1866, had to live from August 1, 1939 to July 9, 1942, until he first moved to Oberstotzingen and from there was deported via Stuttgart to the Theresienstadt concentration camp , where he died on September 26, 1942. Peter Erlanger and his sister were instructed from March to the end of August 1939 in the Jewish orphanage and educational institution "Wilhelmspflege" in Esslingen am Neckar .

At that time, the parents' farm in Ravensburg was also expropriated, and the family lived in a confined space on the new tenant's farm. Due to the increasing pressure from the National Socialist regime, the parents finally planned to "emigrate". After the war began in 1939, the father was threatened with concentration camp imprisonment if the family did not leave the German Reich within three weeks. All visas applied for were rejected. An uncle from Israel managed to get a visa at the last minute. The family with two children managed to officially leave for Palestine on November 26, 1939 (with the last official ship).

Once there, the family initially lived in Ramat Gan with an aunt of Peter Erlanger, who together with her husband helped them to settle in Shewe Zion near Nahariya . Erlanger's parents helped to build up the agricultural collective ( Moschaw Shitufi) founded two years earlier there . Peter Erlanger, who had meanwhile changed his first name to Pinchas, first attended school there for another year and then worked as a milker and baker from the age of 15, then in a feed mill and in chicken and cattle farming. He married at the age of 22. Over time, he also specialized in guiding German tourists through the settlement. From 1980 to 1990 he worked in the hotel in the Schawe Zion settlement, then in the plastic factory, and finally at the hospital reception.

In 1969 Erlanger returned to Germany for the first time and attended the “Israel Week” in Stuttgart. Later, as a host, he became a key figure in the long-term student exchange between Ravensburg, the neighboring town of Weingarten and Naharija, initiated by Ravensburger teachers. Due to the many new contacts in his hometown, he traveled several times to Ravensburg, where he spoke publicly about his experiences and promoted the Israeli-German friendship. In doing so, he " never believed in collective guilt, but always demanded collective remembrance ". In 2004 he planted a locust tree in front of the grammar school, which he was forced to leave, as a sign of reconciliation.

Dr.-Ludwig-and-Fanni-Erlanger-Halle

In 2003 he published his youth memories in an anthology.

In 2006, Pinchas Erlanger was the sixth recipient of the Medal of Honor of the City of Ravensburg for his services. He accepted the award personally in the presence of his wife, a grandson and a great-grandson in Ravensburg. The "Ludwig-Erlanger-Anlage" and the "Dr.-Ludwig-und-Fanni-Erlanger-Halle", the sports and festival hall of the St. Konrad Education Center, remember the parents of Pinchas Erlanger . The green area and the education center are both on the property of the Erlangers' Burachhof. Since September 13, 2006, four “ stumbling blocks ” by Cologne artist Gunter Demnig have been remembering the fate of the expelled Erlanger family on the Burachhof grounds.

Pinchas Erlanger died on the night of August 30, 2007 at the age of 81.

Publications

• Memories - my youth in Germany and the emigration to Palestine , in: Emigration, Flight, Expulsion, Exile in the 19th and 20th Century. Laupheim Talks 2001. Philo, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-8257-0334-7 , pp. 145–168. This article is available online: Pincas Erlanger: Memories. My youth in Germany and the emigration to Palestine

literature

• "We must never forget what happened" . Interview with Pinchas Erlanger. Schwäbische Zeitung, Ravensburg local section, September 12, 2006
• “Pinchas Erlanger, a man of reconciliation, becomes an honorary citizen of the city” . Schwäbische Zeitung, Ravensburg local section, September 13, 2006 (article about the award of the Medal of Honor with misleading headline)
• Escape to the home. Pinchas Erlanger - one of many ... . Video of the Israel-AG of the Welfengymnasium Ravensburg
• Manuel Werner: Jews in Nürtingen during the National Socialism . Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 1998, ISBN 3-928812-18-1 , p. 59f, p. 62f, p. 73f, p. 79, p. 83-86.

Web links

• Short article about Pinchas Erlanger at www.ravensburg.de
• Dieter Köhler: Erlanger family: inheritance and obligation

proof

1. ↑ Manuel Werner: Jews in Nürtingen in the time of National Socialism . Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 1998, p. 83.
2. ↑ Cf. Manuel Werner: Jews in Nürtingen in the time of National Socialism . Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 1998, p. 83.
3. ↑ Quoted from: Pinchas Erlanger: Memories. My youth in Germany and the emigration to Palestine , accessed on April 8, 2014
4. ↑ Quoted from: Manuel Werner: Jews in Nürtingen in the time of National Socialism . Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 1998, p. 84.
5. ↑ Manuel Werner: Jews in Nürtingen in the time of National Socialism . Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 1998, pp. 57-74.
6. ↑ Cf. Manuel Werner: Jews in Nürtingen in the time of National Socialism . Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 1998, p. 84.
7. ↑ Cf. Manuel Werner: Jews in Nürtingen in the time of National Socialism . Nürtingen / Frickenhausen 1998, p. 85.
8. ↑ Quoted from: Pinchas Erlanger: Memories. My youth in Germany and the emigration to Palestine , accessed on April 8, 2014
9. ↑ Change at the head of the Katholisches Schulwerk  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Annual Bulletin 2006 St. Konrad Education Center Ravensburg / Weingarten, page 142
11. ↑ Death report in the Schwäbische Zeitung ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 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. dated August 31, 2007