Walter Damus

Walter Damus (born October 6, 1901 in Samotschin , German Reich , † November 10, 1974 in Villa Ballester , Argentina ) was a German educator, opponent of National Socialism , political emigrant and active supporter of the Other Germany during its anti-fascist struggle in Latin America.

Live and act

Albrecht Waldemar Walter Damus came from a Protestant family of teachers. His father Julius (* 1856 † 1920) was a school board member and district school inspector, his mother Gertrud (née Metzenthin, * 1871 † 1946) a teacher. From 1920 to 1927 he himself studied history, German and English in Berlin, Jena, and from 1923 in Austin (Texas) and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). In 1925 he put his master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania from where he made Jena the state exam in the fall of 1926. He received his educational training in Magdeburg from 1927 to 1929. From 1930 he worked as a teacher at the of Fritz Karsen led Karl Marx School (Berlin-Neukölln) .

Walter Damus joined the SPD in 1929 and from 1932 he was a member of the education committee of the trade unions in Berlin-Neukölln. After disputes with the SA, temporary involvement in the distribution of leaflets that had become illegal (e.g. "Whoever votes Hitler, chooses war"), he was together on April 13, 1933 as "politically unreliable" on the basis of Section 4 of the new Civil Service Act Dismissed from school service along with other teachers from the Karl Marx School and was banned from working. In September 1933 he fled first to Sweden and from there a month later to London, where he worked as a teacher and translator without a work permit.

On September 1, 1933, Walter Damus married student trainee Stina Baur (* 1906 † 1987), who fled with him to Sweden on their wedding day. The couple had three children (Christoph, * 1934 † 2008, Michael, * 1936 † 1998, and Sylvester, * 1940), all of whom were born during the emigration.

From London, Walter Damus followed Fritz Karsen to Paris, where he founded an international school for children of emigrants.

→ Main article : École nouvelle de Boulogne

Presumably here in Paris he also became a member of the Association of German Teacher Emigrants . After Fritz Karsen's departure in 1936, Walter Damus ran the school, which was struggling with difficulties, for a year before he had to close the facility in 1937.

Through the mediation of a Swiss aid organization, the Damus family was able to emigrate to Argentina in 1937. Walter Damus was initially a teacher at the Pestalozzi School in Buenos Aires and then soon at an American private school.

→ Main article : Pestalozzi School, Buenos Aires

Until 1947 Damus taught German and English at this school and at the same time worked actively in the organization of the Other Germany .

→ Main article : The Other Germany (DAD)

Walter Damus had been on the board of the Other Germany since 1937. He often referred to his contributions to the DAD magazine as "Americanus". In 1943 he was a member of the executive committee of the Montevideo conference , which was held on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the National Socialist seizure of power in Germany . This “Congress of German Antifascists in South America” passed a radio message that was sent from there to the German people via stations in Moscow, New York and London. After the end of the Second World War, Damus worked in the Germany Aid Organization, initiated by Das Andere Deutschland , which, in conjunction with other aid organizations, collected donations of money and material for people in need in Germany.

A year before Alfred Dang , who left the Pestalozzi School as headmaster in 1948 and then worked in industry, Walter Damus also left the Pestalozzi School in 1947. He worked in wool exports until 1956 before returning to teaching. He taught at the private American Lincoln School in Buenos Aires until 1968. He was involved as a community council member in his place of residence and worked on the board of the Evangelical Congregation in Buenos Aires.

An unusual appreciation

Henry Tedeschi is a recognized scientist. As a graduate of the University of Chicago , he taught there, at the Medical Center of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the State University of New York in Albany. He has written numerous books and specialist articles, including a textbook on cell biology. At some point he began to be literary and published stories and poems.

Henry Tedeschi was born in Italy. Because of Mussolini's racial legislation, he was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. From there he went to Argentina, where he stayed until he was 17 and attended school there. He left Argentina to attend college at the University of Pittsburgh . Henry Tedeschi is very present on the Internet with his publications, but there are hardly any biographical data about him. What is consistently mentioned are the "several formative years" that he spent in Argentina. Walter Damus must have been a very impressive teacher for him there, because in his book Hopes and memories he dedicates the following poem to him under the title “Dedicated to the memory of Walter Damus, Teacher”.

Dedicated to the memory of Walter Damus, Teacher Dedicated to the memory of Walter Damus, teacher

It was long ago, before the world had been shaken at its roots. Far away three continents were exploding with the violence of total war. Arguments carried by little voices and the voices roughened by puberty. A handful, sitting around a circle, saying all that had to be said facts, ideas, arguments. Underplayed, hidden by the obvious, he orchestrated, the best among equals. The gentle lines of his kind face were marked by age and an experience we could not fathom. Born in a different continent, he had brushed North America but once, he was a stranger and he was us. lt was long ago, before the world has been shaken at its roots.

It was a long time ago before the world was shaken to its roots. Far away, three continents exploded with the violence of total war. Arguments brought forward by small voices, and the voices roughened through puberty. A handful, sitting in a circle, saying everything that had to be said facts, ideas, arguments. Restrained, protected by the obvious, he conducted, the best of equals. The gentle lines of his kind face were marked by age and experience that we could not fathom. Born in another continent, he had once scorned North America, he was a stranger, and he was one of us. It was a long time ago before the world was shaken at its roots.

Works

• Walter Damus, The American and His Literature , Magazine for French and English Teaching, Volume 9, 1930, 110-20; 198-209.
• Walter Damus, School and Church in America , Structure, Erziehungswissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, Berlin, 3rd year (1930), No. 13, pp. 367–374.
• Walter Damus, Agricultural issues at the upper level of the secondary school , structure, Erziehungswissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, Berlin, 4th century (1931), No. 9, pp. 263–268.
• Walter Damus, Social Studies in American Schools , Structure, Erziehungswissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, Berlin, 5th century (1932), No. 3, pp. 81–89.
• Walter Damus , Great Britain trip to a prima of the German high school , magazine for French and English lessons, Volume 31, 1932, 242-47.
• Walter Damus, study trips abroad , structure, educational science magazine, Berlin, 5th century (1932), no. 10, pp. 303-310.
• Walter Damus, Prosperity , Magazine for French and English Teaching, Volume 31, 1932, 55-60.
• The Review of the River Plate contains occasional articles on the Argentine wool business. He had also published articles on the wool business in Bradford (England) and Roubaix (Fr.).
• The writings of Walter Damus listed in the catalog of the German National Library are articles from The Other Germany from the 1940s, which deal with the time of National Socialism in Germany and the post-war situation.

literature

• Mathias Busch, "Citizenship in the Weimar Republic, genesis of a democratic subject didactics", Julius Klinkhardt, 2015, pages 301 - about school trips abroad with Walter Damus and their preparation.
• Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (Hrsg.): Biographical manual of German-speaking emigration after 1933. Volume 1: Politics, economy, public life. Saur, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-598-10087-6 .
• Henry Tedeschi: Hopes and memories , Place of publication not identified, AuthorHouse, 2012, ISBN 9781477202074 . The poem about Walter Damus is available on the Internet: Dedicated to the memory of Walter Damus, Teacher

Web links

• Literature by Walter Damus in the German National Library
• Henry Tedeschi - Member of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the biographical data are based on Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (Ed.): Biographisches Handbuch der Deutschensprachigen Emigration nach 1933. S. 121
2. ↑ Table talk from father with son Sylvester in Villa Ballester.
3. ↑ Neuköllner Tageblatt, April 13, 1933 (Ed.): Numerous teachers in Neukölln and Treptow are on leave.
4. ↑ Gerd Radde: 'Fritz Karsen: a Berlin school reformer from the Weimar period', p. 200
5. ↑ Hildegard Feidel-Mertz / Hermann Schnorbach : teachers in emigration. The Association of German Teacher Emigrants (1933–39) in the traditional context of the democratic teachers' movement , Beltz Verlag, Weinheim and Basel, 1981, ISBN 3-407-54114-7 , p. 228
6. ^ Website of the Lincoln School in Buenos Aires, which still exists today
7. ^ Literature by Henry Tedeschi in WorldCat
8. ^ Henry Tedeschi: Hopes and memories , p. 88