Samson Raphael Hirsch School
| Samson Raphael Hirsch School | |
|---|---|
| type of school | Secondary school for boys , lyceum |
| founding | 1853 |
| closure | Reopened in 1939, 1946–1948 |
| address |
Am Tiergarten 8 |
| place | Frankfurt am Main |
| country | Hesse |
| Country | Germany |
| Coordinates | 50 ° 6 '53 " N , 8 ° 42' 0" E |
| carrier | Israelite religious society |
| student | around 400 (1928) |
| Teachers | 22 (1928) |
| management | Markus Elias (1928–1938) |
| Website | www.ffmhist.de |
The Samson Raphael Hirsch School was a Jewish Orthodox school in Frankfurt am Main . It was a secondary school for boys and a lyceum for girls of the Israelite Religious Society . The school imparted both traditional Jewish values and a secular education to its students, making it a model for modern Orthodox Jewish schools. The educational institution existed for 86 years - it was closed in 1939 after the National Socialists' successive expulsion and disenfranchisement of its Jewish students and teachers . The school building was damaged by British and US bombings during World War II and was finally demolished in 1960 after it was reopened in the post-war years. In its place there was an extension of today's Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium . There has been a memorial plaque since 1989.
history
1853-1871
The Realschule with Lyceum of the Israelite Religious Society was inaugurated in 1853 on the southwestern edge of the Pfingstweide, a former parade ground, in Schützenstrasse in Ostend by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888), who also acted as the first headmaster. The western part of the Ostend was largely shaped by its Jewish population until the Second World War.
The school building was built on the site of a military hospital. At that time, there was no road connection between the eastern end of the Pfingstweidstraße, known as it was from 1846, and the northeastern end of the Kleine Pfingstweidstraße (today: Zobelstraße ), but a broad, tree-lined path through the Pfingstweide, the course of which is essentially today's Bernhard-Grzimek -Allee (former street name of this street section: Am Tiergarten) corresponds. The Hanau train station , which opened in 1847, could be reached after a little more than a hundred meters via Kleine Pfingstweidstraße . The steam locomotives thus also shaped the background noise in the school environment at least until 1912.
1871-1918
In 1874, the zoological garden, founded in 1858, moved from Bockenheimer Landstrasse in Frankfurt's Westend district to the Pfingstweide and became the school's immediate neighbor. Opposite the east facade of the school building, the zoo's property fence was built, while the path leading to the street was expanded.
In 1875 a horse-drawn tram line to the Hanau train station was opened, so that the school could be reached by another public transport. Taking into account the increasing number of students, the new school building could be moved into in 1881, which offered more classrooms than the previous building.
Between 1884 and 1888, the royal Kaiser-Friedrichs-Gymnasium was built on the northern front wall of the Jewish school, today's Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium, inaugurated on April 11th of the three emperor year . This school was supposed to relieve the municipal grammar school. Some of the class photos of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch school from the imperial era that have been preserved are available online via the individual records.
Between 1907 and 1910, on the site of the great Riederbruch, a former arm of the Altmain , the Ostpark with a school garden was built, from which the natural history classes at the nearby school also benefited. In 1913, as the successor to the terminal station (former Hanau station) that had been shut down and dismantled in the previous year, the new Ostbahnhof, designed as a through station, was opened on the newly created Danziger Platz, a few hundred meters away from the school.
The beginning of the First World War was enthusiastically celebrated by the students and teachers, some of the teachers and older and former students went to the front as soldiers in a patriotic mood.
1918-1933
In the Weimar Republic the number of students grew again. When the 75th anniversary of the school was celebrated in 1928, it had around 400 students and 22 teachers. For the anniversary, the school was given an independent name for the first time and was named after its founder, the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch School. Markus Elias (born July 15, 1886 in Vienna) became the new director. Several preserved photos of classes, teaching staff and the 75th school anniversary from the time of the Weimar Republic can be accessed online via the individual records.
1933-1945
The school was committed to Jewish Orthodoxy and therefore also taught ancient Hebrew , Talmud and Tnach (Holy Scriptures / Bible). This school profile remained valid until the beginning of 1933, after which the Nazis had a decisive influence. Their measures for the gradual exclusion, expulsion and persecution of the Jews had a lasting influence on the development of the school. From 1935 Ivrit , the Hebrew colloquial language, was taught in all classes . In their context, there was a stronger emphasis on contemporary studies over abstract historical knowledge. Palestine studies were also new , in addition to learning foreign languages against the background of the emigration policy for Jews initially pursued by the Nazis. Some teachers who knew the country from personal experience were able to live up to this claim. The school countered the exclusion with Jewish themes in order to mentally strengthen the students (and teachers). However, it could not be prevented that heredity and Nazi racial studies, which were now compulsory, took up a lot of space in biology lessons.
The students felt the pressure that the Nazis exerted on their families and the school, their working relatives were often pushed out of their professions, the Nazis called this professional shifting. As early as 1933, the school therefore introduced vocational courses, which were continued until 1938, a training workshop and a commercial day class. These courses, which are supervised by the municipal education authorities and the Gestapo , were also able to accept Jewish students who had been excluded from teaching at the seven commercial vocational schools in Frankfurt in summer 1938. At the same time, the teaching staff found that the students were much more committed to the physical exercises in order to improve their physical endurance and resilience.
In order to escape the exclusion and disadvantage in the small-town and rural milieu, more and more Jewish students from the surrounding area moved to the big city. As a result, the school not only had to take on more pupils, it also had to set up support courses for Hebrew. For these students, the Beth Nearim dormitory was set up in the immediate vicinity, which was supported by Agudas Jisroel . As everywhere in the German Reich, the Jewish students as well as the teachers were exposed to hostility and massive discrimination on the way to school almost every day, sometimes also to physical violence. The students from the neighboring Kaiser-Friedrichs-Gymnasium (today's Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium) also made an active contribution. The Jewish teachers had their heads shaved, and many had lost massive amounts of body weight.
However, the school itself also needed support. The “Emergency Aid for the Maintenance of School Work of the Israelite Religious Society”, founded for this purpose, collected donations in order to be able to keep the school running in full. The emergency aid organization was located in the building of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch-Schule, Am Tiergarten 8.
Student numbers remained at a relatively constant level in the 1930s, although there was great fluctuation. On the one hand, the number of school leavers increased sharply due to increasing emigration; on the other hand, new students were constantly being added from the near and far surrounding areas. The so-called rural Jews saw themselves exposed to increasing hostility from the "Aryan" rural population and hoped for better protection from the much larger Jewish communities there by moving to the nearest large city. The first (organized) hostility dates back to April 1, 1933 , but did not find a great response from the population. On February 24, 1935, the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch School together with the Israelitische Volksschule organized an artistic evening in the hall. In the same year the attacks intensified considerably, with the Nuremberg Race Laws the state pressure also increased significantly.
The flight of rural Jews to the big cities can be seen in part from the results of a survey carried out by questionnaires for the higher education institutions in Frankfurt between 1935 and 1937, as shown in extracts in the graph on the right.
The faculty planned to move the entire school to London or to set up a branch school in Palestine for immigrant students. However, both projects could not be implemented. The school could be financed by the emergency donations of its community members as well as by grants from the Reich Association of Jews in Germany. Even class trips were still possible during this time, as some of the class photos that can be accessed online show in the individual records.
From October 28, 1938, Jews of Polish nationality were expelled from the German Reich within three days and deported to the Polish border by the Gestapo and the SS . Around 2,000 people were affected by this in Frankfurt am Main alone. The subsequent pogrom on November 9th and its consequences ushered in the end of school. Male Jews between the ages of 16 and 60 were interned in concentration camps; older students and teachers were withdrawn from school for weeks from November 10, and others for months. The school was temporarily closed from November 10, 1938.
The school building now also had to accommodate the Israelite elementary school, the singing hall was used by the hour for feeding children, the gym for church services after the synagogue was no longer accessible due to its destruction. Around two weeks after the pogrom, the teaching staff, reduced by two thirds, had drawn up an emergency plan for teaching around 200 students. At the same time, work for child welfare has been expanded considerably, especially for sending children abroad. The forced unification of the school administration, the Israelite Religious Society, with the Israelite Community to form the Jewish Community, ordered by the Nazi authorities, accelerated the school's dissolution process. The emigration plans of many teachers and pupils' families made it impossible to continue running the school, especially since replacements for missing teachers were out of the question.
There were only 84 students left when the Samson Raphael Hirsch School was closed and dissolved on March 30, 1939. A small proportion of these students ended up abroad as a result of the children being sent abroad; the large majority then attended either classes at the Israelite elementary school or in philanthropy . In the so-called Jewish contract, which the city concluded with the Jewish community on April 3, 1939, it says: “... and the Israelitische Realschule, Am Tiergarten 8, which will be vacated within a year to make it available for urgent urban needs. "
In 1944 the school building was damaged by bombs.
1945-1960
In the post-war years 1946–1948, the school was put back into operation through the commitment of Rabbi Leon Thorn, even before a new Jewish community was founded . However, in view of the previous Holocaust, the previous student numbers were far from being reached again. Since then there have never been Orthodox Jews in Frankfurt am Main in the previous number. In response to the request of an expelled former Jewish student for a certificate of school attendance made by her lawyer, the State Education Office of the City of Frankfurt am Main refused in July 1955 that “all student documents of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch School had been destroyed by enemy action are. ”(signed Zeiher, City Administrator). The Nazi diction was obviously still very present in the office even ten years after the end of the war.
In 1960 the school building was demolished. The extension of the Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium has been in its place since 1963.
1989 and 2001
In 1989 a first bronze plaque was unveiled in the atrium of the Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium for the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch-School that used to stand there. This bears the inscription in capital letters
“ The Samson-Raphael-Hirsch-Schule, Realschule and Lyceum of the Israelite Religious Society stood here from 1881 to 1960. It was closed in 1939 "
Another bronze plaque was unveiled on June 6, 2001. This bears the inscription in capital letters
“ Here was the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch School, Realschule and Lyceum of the Israelite Religious Society. Opened in 1853, it had to be closed in March 1939 after the National Socialists had expelled most of the teachers and students. Its founder and first leader was Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888). The school imparted traditional Jewish values along with secular education. It was the model for modern Orthodox Jewish schools. "
The inscriptions on both plaques are historically imprecise as the school was reopened after World War II.
Directors
- Samson Raphael Hirsch (1853–1877)
- Mendel Hirsch (1877–1900)
- Gerson Lange (1901-1923)
- Elias Fink (1923–1928?)
- Markus Elias (1928–1938)
Known students
- Paul Arnsberg (1899–1978), historian, journalist, writer, publisher
- Robert Aumann (* 1930), mathematician, economist, Nobel Prize winner
- Mordechai Breuer (1918–2007), historian
- Yaakov Zur (1924–2013), historian
- Selmar Spier (1893–1962), historian, lawyer, author
Start-up
In 1944, a new Samson Raphael Hirsch School, the Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch , was established in New York City by the founder's grandson .
literature
- Festschrift for the anniversary celebration of the 50th anniversary of the educational institutions of the Israelite Religious Society in Frankfurt a. M. (Supplement to the annual report 1903). Louis Golde printing house. Frankfurt am Main 1903 digitized
- Commission for Research into the History of the Frankfurt Jews (ed.), Dietrich Andernacht, Eleonore Sterling (edit.): “Documents on the history of the Frankfurt Jews 1933–1945”. Waldemar Kramer publishing house. Frankfurt am Main 1966
- "History of the Samson Raphael Hirsch School - 1928–1939". Unpublished manuscript without indication of author. (Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main)
- Zwi Erich Kurzweil: "Farewell and a new beginning - from the life of a Jewish educator". Waldemar Kramer publishing house. Frankfurt am Main 1992. ISBN 3-7829-0424-9
- Benjamin Ortmeyer (Ed.): "Reports against forgetting and displacement of 100 surviving Jewish schoolchildren about the Nazi era in Frankfurt am Main". Publishing house Marg. Wehle. Witterschlick / Bonn 1995. pp. 28, 55, 76, 77, 112, 132, 136, ISBN 3-925267-85-9
- Rachel Heuberger, Helga Krohn: "Out of the Ghetto - Jews in Frankfurt am Main 1800–1950". Book accompanying the permanent exhibition of the Jewish Museum. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997, pp. 181f. ISBN 3-10-031407-7
- Helga Krohn: "Ostend - View into a Jewish Quarter". Societätsverlag, Frankfurt 2001. ISBN 3-7973-0742-X
- Commission for Research into the History of the Frankfurt Jews (Ed.), Hans Thiel (Ed.): “The Samson-Raphael-Hirsch School in Frankfurt am Main. Documents - Memories - Analyzes ”. Waldemar Kramer publishing house. Frankfurt am Main 2001. ISBN 3-7829-0515-6
- Benjamin Ortmeyer: "The evil role of employees of the State Education Authority FFM in the compensation proceedings for Jewish students after 1945". Faculty of Education at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main 2004.
- Selmar Spier: Before 1914. Memories of Frankfurt, written in Israel . Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1961.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Samson Raphael Hirsch on: hagalil.de
- ↑ Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch ( 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. at: juefo.com
- ↑ Photo: New building of the Samson Raphael Hirsch School, from 1881 - undated photo on: ffmhist.de
- ↑ City of Frankfurt am Main: Chronicle of the Ostend at: frankfurt.de, accessed on Feb. 24, 2020
- ↑ Photo: Class of the Lyceum with two teachers, around 1906 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Photo: Secondary school class with teacher, 1906 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ^ Photo: Secondary school class with teacher, 1907 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Photo: Markus Elias, last director (1928–1938) of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch School in Frankfurt am Main on: ffmhist.de
- ↑ Photo: class photo with teacher in the school yard, around 1919 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Photo: Class photo with teacher Moses Kaufmann in the school yard, around 1920 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Photo: Teacher Moses Stern, around 1920 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Photo: class photo with teachers in the classroom, 1925 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ^ Photo: Teaching staff with assistants in the school yard, around 1926 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Photo: Postcard on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch school with inscription in Hebrew and German, 1928 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Photo: class photo in the schoolyard, around 1930 on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Meier student. In: “The Samson Raphael Hirsch School in Frankfurt am Main. Documents - Memories - Analyzes ”. P. 105
- ^ Commission for the research into the history of the Frankfurt Jews (ed.), Dietrich Andernacht, Eleonore Sterling (arrangement): "Documents on the history of the Frankfurt Jews 1933–1945". Waldemar Kramer publishing house. Frankfurt am Main 1966. pp. 116, 213, 241, 323f., 318, 464, 471f.
- ↑ Apprenticeship workshop and “occupational shifting ” on: ffmhist.de
- ↑ Rachel Heuberger, Helga Krohn: “Out of the Ghetto - Jews in Frankfurt am Main 1800–1950”, p. 181f.
- ↑ Meier student. In: “The Samson Raphael Hirsch School in Frankfurt am Main. Documents - Memories - Analyzes ”. P. 106
- ↑ Photo: Joint dinner in the Beth Nearim dormitory for students from outside the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch-Schule, on the right the director of the dormitory, Josef Meyer - photo from around 1936 on: ffmhist.de
- ↑ "Reports against forgetting and displacement of 100 surviving Jewish schoolchildren about the Nazi era in Frankfurt am Main". Publishing house Marg. Wehle. Witterschlick / Bonn 1995. pp. 28, 55, 76, 77, 112, 132, 136
- ↑ Facsimile: Acknowledgment of the “Nothilfe zur preservation des Schulwerk der Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft” for a generous donation, 1938 on: ffmhist.de
- ↑ Meier student. In: “The Samson Raphael Hirsch School in Frankfurt am Main. Documents - Memories - Analyzes ”. P. 111
- ↑ Photo: Artistic evening of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch-Schule and the Israelitische Volksschule Frankfurt am Main in the Saalbau on February 24, 1935 at: before-the-holocaust.net
- ^ Refuge in Frankfurt for Jews from the country on: ffmhist.de
- ↑ Photo: Students of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch school on an excursion with their teacher Weger “Wecker” on: before-the-holocaust.net
- ↑ Photo: Students of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch School on a trip to the Taunus in 1937 on: ffmhist.de
- ↑ Meier student. In: “The Samson Raphael Hirsch School in Frankfurt am Main. Documents - Memories - Analyzes ”. P. 115
- ↑ Meier student. In: “The Samson Raphael Hirsch School in Frankfurt am Main. Documents - Memories - Analyzes ”. P. 116
- ↑ Samson Raphael Hirsch School - School of the Israelite Religious Society on: ffmhist.de
- ^ Institute for City History Frankfurt, main file 8340/2
- ^ From: "Documents on the History of the Frankfurt Jews 1933–1945", pp. 258ff.
- ^ AG against anti-Semitism / Holbeinschule (ed.): Documents of the “second debt”, Frankfurt / Main 1994, p. 528
- ↑ Benjamin Ortmeyer: "The evil role of employees of the FFM State Education Authority in the compensation proceedings for Jewish students after 1945" ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. to: uni-frankfurt.de (PDF file; 143 KB)
- ↑ Memorial plaque for the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch school from 1989 ( memento of the original of July 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: stadtgeschichte-ffm.de
- ↑ Memorial plaque for the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch School from 2001 ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: stadtgeschichte-ffm.de
- ↑ Samson-Raphael-Hirsch-Schule memorial plaque ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: stadtgeschichte-ffm.de
- ↑ 'Former pupil of the Samson-Raphael-Hirsch-Schule received the Nobel Prize' In: VEH Information for Members, No. 100 December 2005, p. 7 ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link became automatic used and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: vehev.de
- ↑ Selmar Spier: Before 1914. Memories of Frankfurt, written in Israel . Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1961.
