Toni Lessler

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Toni Lessler , nee Toni Heine , (born June 4, 1874 in Bückeburg , † May 5, 1952 in New York City , USA ), was a German educator , headmistress and founder.

family

Toni Heine was born to the couple Hermine and Louis Heine († 1877). Toni Heine's grandfather, Levi Heine, was a cousin of the poet Heinrich Heine . Her other grandfather, Philipp Würzburger, was the mayor of Bochum for many years . Her mother Hermine Heine, née Würzburger, founded a boarding school for girls of Jewish and Christian origin in Bückeburg after the early accidental death of her husband, a wealthy banker, and continued this after moving to Kassel ( Hesse ).

education

After elementary school in Bückeburg, Toni Heine attended a secondary school for girls in Kassel and later, together with her younger sister Clara (born February 29, 1876), she prepared at the Hedwig Knittel teachers' seminar in Breslau ( Silesia ) for their common professional goal. After passing the exam, she took over the teaching direction in the maternal girls' boarding school in Kassel. Just a few months later she began studying French in Switzerland, in Geneva and Lausanne , from which she graduated with honors. Shortly after returning to her mother in Kassel, she moved to the United Kingdom in 1894 , where she worked for almost five years at various educational institutions in London , Cambridge and Edinburgh as well as in an assistant managerial position at the renowned Gloucester House School in Kew near London. There she took her students to the preparatory matric exam at the University of Oxford .

Act

In 1902 Toni Heine settled in Berlin , where he married the factory owner Max Lessler (* approx. 1860; † December 1912 in Berlin). However, her new status as a housewife did not fill her. She therefore got involved in the social field and found herself in a teaching position again - as a voluntary German teacher for foreign students at the Royal Academic University for Performing Music . Her good foreign language skills were helpful. Her husband passed away very early. Shortly afterwards, their child also died.

From 1912 Toni Lessler set up private school circles at Uhlandstrasse 161 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf , in which she encouraged pupils with increased care needs to learn and do their homework. From 1915 onwards, she developed a private family school from these school circles, unofficially also called the “Lessler School”, which, with active resistance from private tenants, expanded into additional rooms, including a neighboring house, almost monthly. School sports had to take place in a gym fifteen minutes' walk away.

In the winter of 1917/18, around fifty children from Russian aristocratic families came to the Lessler School, including around twenty baronesses and princesses who escaped the October Revolution . Toni Lessler had to hire two more teachers to support him. For this purpose she brought her school-experienced mother Hermine and her younger sister Clara from Kassel to Berlin in 1920. The hyperinflation called the continued existence of the private school into question, with daily devalued school fees one could not do business. Parents saved this situation by making a resolution not to pay school fees in Reichsmarks but in US dollars.

Motivated by the success of this family school, Toni Lessler finally founded the Private Forest School Grunewald in 1930 at Brahmsstraße 17/19 in Berlin-Grunewald, based on the educational image of Maria Montessori , with an attached day care center for all-day care and catering from the start.

As early as 1932, the classrooms were no longer sufficient for the steadily increasing demand, so she and the whole school moved to the nearby Hagenstrasse 56 on the corner of Teplitzer Strasse, to a large villa with a garden.

Toni Lessler, who did not want to hand over her private school to an “ Aryan ” operator, feared that her educational institution would be closed at the end of 1933. From 1934 the school had to change its name to the “Private Jewish Forest School Grunewald” because Toni Lessler was of Jewish origin. The students and teachers classified as "Aryan" by the National Socialists had to leave school. In 1936 the school had to be expanded due to increasing space requirements. Classes also took place in the building at Kronberger Straße 18, which is adjacent to the school premises. Lessler received the authorization for the Abitur and the approval to expand her educational institution to include a women's school.

Before the school was closed by the Nazis in 1939, Lessler emigrated to the United States with her younger sister, Clara Heine, who had remained unmarried. She left Germany on March 1, 1939 and sailed on March 4, 1939 with the passenger steamer Queen Mary from Southampton to New York City. Immediately after emigrating, Toni Lessler wrote an autobiography. She did not get over the emigration forced by the Nazi regime and the separation from her life's work until her death.

Works

  • My life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933 ; Autobiography, available from the Leo Baeck Institute - LBI, ME 726, MM 47

Memberships

Honors

  • In the exhibition "Here is no longer staying" ( Nelly Sachs ) of the Museum Wilmersdorf (today: Museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf) from March 19 to September 18, 1992, five founders of Jewish schools in Wilmersdorf were commemorated: Leonore Goldschmidt (1897–1983) , Lotte Kaliski (1908–1995), Vera Lachmann (1904–1985), Toni Lessler (1874–1952) and Anna Pelteson (1868–1943).
  • Toni-Lessler-Strasse in Berlin-Grunewald, which leads from Hubertusbader Strasse to Wernerstrasse, has been honoring her memory since September 1, 2003.

literature

  • Kurt Landsberg (Hrsg.): Festschrift on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the private Jewish forest school Grunewald . Self-published, Berlin 1937.
  • Jörg H. Fehrs: From Heidereutergasse to Roseneck. Jewish schools in Berlin 1712–1942 . Edition Hentrich, 1993, ISBN 978-3-89468-075-6 , publisher. Arbeitsgruppe Pädagogisches Museum e. V.
  • Friedrich Wißmann, Ursula Blömer (ed.): "It has become fashionable to send children to Lessler school". Documents on Toni Lessler's private forest school in Berlin Grunewald . BIS Verlag of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8142-2047-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Toni Lessler: My life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933 . Pp. 1-2
  2. ↑ Clara Heine: Affidavit on the living conditions of Toni Lessler, née Heine, before and especially after emigration to the USA, notarized on July 28, 1956, p. 1; Center for Jewish History, cjh.org
  3. ^ Toni Lessler: My life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933 . P. 3
  4. ↑ Clara Heine: Affidavit on the living conditions of Toni Lessler, née Heine, before and especially after emigration to the USA, notarized on July 28, 1956, p. 1; Center for Jewish History, cjh.org
  5. ^ Toni Lessler: My life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933 . P. 3/4
  6. ↑ Address by Kurt Landsberg on August 29, 1937. In: Kurt Landsberg (Hrsg.): Festschrift for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the private Jewish forest school in Grunewald . Berlin 1937, p. 110
  7. ^ Toni Lessler: My life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933 . Pp. 4-11
  8. ↑ Grunewaldrampe on: berlin-judentum.de
  9. ^ Toni Lessler: My life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933 . P. 13
  10. ^ Toni-Lessler-Strasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
  11. ↑ Clara Heine: Affidavit on the living conditions of Toni Lessler, née Heine, before and especially after emigration to the USA, notarized on July 28, 1956, p. 2; Center for Jewish History, cjh.org
  12. ^ Toni Lessler: My life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933 . P. 15/16
  13. ^ Toni-Lessler-Straße, Berlin on: berlin.de; Retrieved July 20, 2015
  14. ^ Toni-Lessler-Straße instead of Seebergsteig . In: Berliner Zeitung , September 2, 2003
personal data
SURNAME Lessler, Toni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heine, Toni (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German educator, headmistress and founder
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Buckeburg
DATE OF DEATH May 5th 1952
Place of death New York City , USA