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III. Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or Persecution of Jews in Hamburg - Rotherbaum II/Harvestehude.© Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-jüdische Gesellschaft Hamburg. 7. No. 2 and No. 6 (formerly No. 4) Bieberstraße.
Bieberstraße was constructed in 1892. The initial owner of No. 2 Bieberstraße was N.A. Pfennig. In 1922 two rabbis lived here: Dr. M. Lewin, on the groundfloor, and S.J. Rabinow, on the second floor. The head of the Talmud Tora Realschule, Dr. Joseph Carlebach, also lived on the first floor.
At the beginning of the 1920s the Yeshiva Association held numerous events here. The inauguration
ceremony of the Yeshiva was held on 15.06.1921, at No. 46 Grindelhof. The
Thora-Lehranstalt Jeschiwah (Torah Teaching Institute) began its courses with Dr. Carlebach,
Rabbi S.J. Rabinow, Rabbi Arje Leopold Lichtig and Rabbi Behr Resni(c)k Jaffe (also known as Joffe)
as teachers. The Yeshiva was organized into three departments: an upper department for
independent learners who were capable of mastering individual material without assistance, a
middle department for students and mature adolescents who were to learn difficult texts,
and a lower department for schoolboys who were to receive introduction to the Mischa(h)
and easier sections of the Talmud.
Attendance of the Yeshiva was "entirely satisfactory". The number of schoolboys rose from
37 to over 44 in 1922 to 43 in 1923. In 1923 there were 10 foreign students. In 1925, a student of the Yeshiva brought Rabbi Rabinow to the attention of the Jewish community as worthy of support. Rabinow, a "genius" of Jewish learning lived at No. 2 Bieberstraße, on the second floor, in a room that was worse than a garret. Rain entered the room and the entire room was damp and unhealthy. It was regrettable that this eminent, outstanding personality was insufficiently well known or esteemed in Hamburg which was perhaps due to his extreme modesty. In 1926 the Yeshiva expressed the wish either to rent or buy a suitable place of learning to bring together the existing separate places of learning. However, it was not until 1935/36 that the Rabbinical school acquired its own address, i.e. No. 13 Kielortallee. This possibly had to do with the fact that the attendance of the school had declined. The Ostjüdischen Verein "Adas Jeschorim" e.V. (East European Jewish Association "Adas Jeschorim") was closely associated with the Yeshiva due to the large influx of east european Jews and the personal initiative of east european rabbis, in particular Rabbi Rabinow.
The Ostjüdischen Verein "Adas Jeschorim" (East European Jewish Association "Adas Jeschorim") had a synagogue at No. 2 Bieberstraße until 1929. Then the association held services in the synagogue at No. 13 Kielortallee until 1931, and between 1935 and 1937. In the years between 1931 and 1933 the association was accommodated at No. 54 Johnsallee. In 1931 it was renamed Ostjüdische Vereinigung Groß-Hamburg (East European Jewish Union, Greater Hamburg) and formed the Gemeinde der Ostjuden (East European Jewish Community). The community and Yeshiva were affiliated to the Verband der Vereinigten Jüdischen Lernvereine (The Organisation of United Jewish Study Institutes).
Up until the end of the 19th century, while the majority of Jewish girls attended the Israelitische Töchterschule at No. 35 Carolinenstraße, prosperous Jewish families sent their daughters to non-Jewish private secondary schools. This was the reason why the then Chief Rabbi Marcus A. Hirsch founded the orthodox Jewish girls' private secondary school Israelitishe Höhere Töchterschule (Israelite Girls' Secondary School) in October 1893. The school was accommodated at No. 4 Bieberstraße. It taught the curriculum of the state girls' secondary schools and in 1912 was recognized as a Lyzeum (grammar school) and became called Israelitische Höhere Mädchenschule (Lyzeum). As with No. 2 Bieberstraße the owner of No. 4 Bieberstraße was N.A. Pfennig. In 1921 the school owned its own premises. The girls came from families in which the fathers were businessmen in the import and export trade, doctors and lawyers. This gave the school its special character. In addition, the teachers regarded this school as their vocation. The staff formed a closely-knit society in which each supported the other and looked upon themselves as a large family. Due to the school intake and commitment of the women teachers, the Education Authority, in its regular inspections, noted with approval the standard of education achieved. From the beginning of the 1890s, the Jewish Lernverein "Mekor Chajim" (Study Society "Source of Life") was also accommodated at No. 4 Bieberstraße. The purpose of the society, which was founded in 1862, was to give young people the opportunity to independently become familiar with the Torah. In 1912 the girls' school was forced to inform the Lernverein (study society) that the intake of girl pupils had steadily grown, necessitating more space. In 1914 the society was able to move into a house in the garden of No. 46 Grindelhof, which could accommodate 100 students. In 1939, the society was forced to dissolve.
For a short time a synagogue with places for 250 individuals, known as "Synagoge vor dem
Dammtor" (Synagogue outside the Dammtor), was established at No. 4 Bieberstraße.
The architect was Ernst Friedheim, and the synagogue was dedicated on 3.09.1899.
In 1906, the Israelitische Höhere Töchterschule that occupied the first floor of the
building additionally occupied the groundfloor. Here were the classrooms for the younger girls. There
were additional classrooms on the first floor and the headmistress's office. There were further
classrooms and a map room on the second floor. The school janitor had his flat in the basement. In 1914 the following women, among others, were members of the board of the society: Flora Flörsheim (chairman), Anna Heilbut, Joh. Cohn and Else Joel.
Being a private school it was self financing. Funds were acquired through school fees and private contributions. During the First World War the school got into financial difficulties and applied for a grant of money from the board of the Jewish community. A meeting of the committee of representatives in 1914 established that it was very difficult for the daughters of community members to acquire suitable work without a higher school qualification. Jewish women were unable to acquire a place at a teacher training college without having graduated from a grammar school. The fact that 70% of girls leaving school took up a career demonstrated to the community that it should lend assistance.
In 1987, Frau P., in Tel Aviv, gave the following account of teachers and pupils of the school
at No. 4 Bieberstraße:
Rebecka Cohn was known for her irrepressible humour and was amused by her self-given nickname
of "the lesser Cohn", which referred to her unusually small stature. She was also deported. Due to her good knowledge of Hebrew she was engaged by the Jewish community to organize all Hebrew language courses. She had an emigration permit to the USA. In the American embassy she was approached by a Jewish father, with wife and small children, who had been dismissed from his job and turned out of their flat who asked her for her position on the waiting list. She willingly agreed thinking she could continue her work. She was deported shortly thereafter.
Alice Löwy taught the first year pupils. She was able to emigrate in time.
The school was distinguished by two exceptional qualities: tolerance and the promotion of art and literature. The only conditions of employment of teachers in the school was the obligation not to use public transport on the Sabbath and to eat kosher outside the home. The promotion of art and literature reflected the interests of the teachers. The parents and pupils shared this interest. Discipline at the school was "considerably" worse than at state schools. Particularly at the beginning of lessons, teachers had to settle the pupils down due to their "Jewish" temperament, and from having been spoilt by their well-to-do families. After completion of the tenth class those pupils who wished to continue their education transferred to the Emilie Wüstenfeld School. Bertha Dittmer, headmistress of the Emilie Wüstenfeld School, was a friend of Fanny Philipp. Dr. Walter Vontin, a Heinrich Heine researcher, and who was sympathetic to Jews, also worked at the school. This made for a smooth transfer of pupils to the school. Those pupils who transferred to the Helene Lange-School did not experience any disadvantage. Frau P. has retained contact with her former pupils, especially those from the 3rd Class she being the class teacher and for whom, as a young teacher, she was especially fond. She remains friends with, among others, Hanna Glücksmann, a former pupil in her sixth class. Frau Glücksmann is active politically in the Independent Liberal Party. She is secretary of the Israelitish-Deutschen Gesellschaft (Israeli-German Society) and founder and chairman of the "Verein ehemaliger Hambürger, Lübecker und Bremen (Society of former citizens of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen) in Israel. When in Hamburg, in 1926, the former Lyzeen (grammar schools) obtained the title "Mädchen Realschule" the Israelitische Höhere Töchterschule obtained this title and immediately became the Israelitische Mädchen-Realschule and the girl pupils received the remark: "zugleich Zeugnis der Reife für Obersekunda" (certificate also permitting access to the seventh year of secondary school) on their school leaving certificate. As a result of the economic crisis in the early 1920s, which hit the middle class particularly hard, the school was no longer able to cover its costs from school fees alone. In 1926 the school approached the Jewish community for a grant of money. The community demanded a discussion regarding a possible merger with the community school Carolinenstraße Girl's School. The community wished to insure that the amalgamated school be orthodox and that the teachers ascribed, both publically and privately, to Jewish law and ritual. The school committee was of the opinion that such a commitment was insufficient. Rather should a position be created that would be entitled to determine what was to be regarded as orthodox. The committee proposed that the chief rabbi of the Synagogeverband (Synagogue Association) be this authority. The community also demanded that an agreement be reached regarding children admitted to the amalgamated school whose mothers did not conduct their lives according to Jewish law and ritual. These children were also to attend Religious Education classes. The school committee rejected this proposal. Thereby, the community declared the discussions as having broken down and stressed that the constitution of the Jewish community regarded these children as community members so that in a conflict between the community's constitution and Jewish law and ritual, the constitution had precedence. The liberal majority on the commitee of representatives, supported by several orthodox votes, declined the grant to the school. The committee made its report to the board on 15.11.1928 stating that it was impossible, in a period of economic crisis and in the face of numerous pressing tasks, to give financal support to a school catering for a particular social class. Parents who desired such a school must themselves make the self-sacrifice of financing the school. The meeting of the school committee on 18.12.1928 was forced to resolve to dissolve the school at the end of the 1828/29 school year. A few days prior to this parents from the Girls' School Carolinenstraße requested that the children who wished to transfer do so immediately so that when feasible the pupils could retain their former classes and teachers. The Bieberstraße school closed in 1931. 190 girl pupils were attending the school at its closure. At its closure the school committee consisted of seven members under the chairmanship of Chief Rabbi Dr. Samuel Spitzer. In addition to Fanny Philipp, 13 teachers remained, among them Dr. Lederer, Dr. Fiebig, K. Rothschild, grammar school teacher, H. Schloß, E. Daßler and N. Eldod.
Later, the following teachers were deported:
From the 1920s onward the Synagogeverband held religious instruction at No. 4 Bieberstraße. One of its two schools was situated here. From 1910 to 1923 the Judische Bibliothek und Lesehalle (Jewish Library and Reading Room) was also situated at No. 4 Bieberstraße. Then it was situated at No. 2 Bieberstraße, and finally at No. 6 Beneckestraße. In 1935 the privately owned No. 2 Bieberstraße was compulsorily auctioned and came into the ownership of the Waren-Kredit-Gesselschaft des Hamburger Einzelhandels. In 1935 the Hamurger Sparcasse von 1827 owned No. 4 Bieberstraße. The occupant was S.-A. Motorstandarte 12 (a motorized unit of the Storm Troopers). Between 1939 and 1942 the property was owned by the Hansestadt Hamburg. It was occupied by the History Department and the Department of History and Culture of the Near East of the Hansischen University. No. 4 Bieberstraße was destroyed by a bomb in 1943.
Today, the former No. 4 has been rebuilt and is numbered No.6 (there is no longer a No. 4), and together with No. 2 comprises the Amalie-Dietrich-Haus, student home. It is named after Amalie Dietrich née Nelle (1823 - 1891), biologist, who had worked in the Hamburg Botanical Museum.
German text: Dipl.-Pol. Wilhelm Mosel, Deutsch-Jüdische Gesellschaft, Hamburg.
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