|
IV. Buildings Integral to the Former Life and/or Persecution of Jews in Altona.14. No. 1 Breite Straße.
The Early History of the Altona High German Jewish Community School (Hochdeutsche-Israelitische Gemeindeschule zu Altona), circa 1583-1843.
Earliest Traces. There were no Jews resident in North Germany in the Middle Ages but at the end of this period the first Jews moved from middle Germany northwards. These Ashkenazi Jews did not receive permission to settle in Hamburg. It was the Sephardi Marranos, the so- called Portuguese Jews, that were granted permission to settle although they were extremely restricted in the practice of their religion: gathering for worship, the ownership of a synagogue, even the prescribed Jewish rite of circumcision were prohibited, and they had to bury their dead at the Altona Heuberg. They had acquired this land, today's Königstraße, in 1611, from the count of the duchy of Schauenburg, and both Hamburg and Altona Jews were buried here. Prior to this date, in 1583, German Jews first settled in Altona. These were the pearl trader Samuel ben Jehuda Löb and four other Jewish families. They were granted permission to live and maintain themselves honestly in the villages of Altona and Ottensen. A further step was more than a mere granting of a right - the Schauenburg count graciously allowed them to keep a "school teacher together with wife and child." This authorization followed a request which stressed the importance of school lessons even for a small number of children, and so began the history of a Jewish school in Altona. Between 1583 and 1620 this seed of the Altona Jewish community grew from the original five families to thirty families. Religious services were held in private houses, in so-called prayer-rooms, as there was no thought of a synagogue. Religious lessons were held in these prayer-rooms. In 1630 a tiny school house is mentioned. We can assume that this was a cheder or Talmud Torah school (a full-time elementary religious school).
Cheder and Talmud Torah School.
From what the 1645 born Glückel von Hameln wrote about her cheder attendance in
Altona (in 1650) we learn that: Synagogue and School. Prior to 1672, King Christian IV of Denmark granted the Altona Jews in Altona permission to build a synagogue, one of the first community synagogues in north Germany. There are several descriptions of its beauty, size and significance preserved in old books and documents which contribute to the history of the Altona Jewish community and to the history of synagogue construction. However, there is no description of an extension to the synagogue - the school house. One of its long walls was attached to the side of the synagogue. This fact was either overlooked or not mentioned. However, the existence of this school was confirmed following the Great Fire of 1711 in Altona in which the old Jewish quarter was also destroyed. Berlage gives the exact location of the synagogue and the school: "The Fire consumed the oldest district of Altona that existed in 1600, the centre of the city, which comprised almost half the area of the city. The synagogue and school of the German Jewish community, surrounded by the homes of the community members, were situated in the heart of this area between Kirchen Gasse and Lange Gasse to the north of Breiten Gasse. This area also fell victim to the flames". The Jewish landowners are named on the list of fire regulations: " ... corner Kirchenstraße ... [no.] 138-140 Levin Bendix, Samuel Abraham and Abraham Gumpert - rear of Jewish synagogue and school. " The exact location of this area of conflagration can be established with the aid of the list and map, and Berlage explicitly draws in not only the synagogue but also the tiny school on his plan of the Fire. (see diagram 1 below:)
Diagram 1.
Between Hamburg and Altona - The Refounding of the Talmud Torah School. Between 1650 and 1812 the Jewish communities in Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek were combined as the AHW "triple community" with Altona being the seat of the chief rabbi. This unique community comprised two Portuguese Jewish or Sephardi groups and five High German Jewish or Ashkenazi groups, as shown in table 1 below:
Table 1.
Groups 2 and 4, the High German Altona Jews in Altona and in Hamburg are the principal groups featured in the Altona Jewish school history. The High German Hamburg Jews in Hamburg (Group 5) play a later role; other groups are linked to the history of the Altona Jewish school merely through individual destinies. The opening of the Talmud Torah school in Elbstraße with 60 boy pupils, on the 31st March 1805, is recorded and is a date that is significant for both the Hamburg and Altona Jewish communities. In verifying this address it emerged that there was an Elbstraße in both Hamburg and Altona, and that preparations for a school opening took place in both cities. In 1905, in his commemorative publication to the 100th anniversary of the school, the headmaster Dr Joseph Goldschmidt wrote: "It was a festive occasion in the spring of 1805 when, on the 31st March, a large group assembled to announce the opening of the Tamud Torah school for the children of the Altona Jewish community. It bore the name BET MIDRASCH LETHINOKOT SCHEL BETH RABBAN (literally: school for infants (three-year-olds) in the house of the rabbi) but was known as the Jewish Charity School Talmud Torah (Israelitische Armenschule der Talmud Tora). An official report of the Altona city administration was similar and yet differed. It was published in 1906, and reads: "On the 31st March 1805 members of the High German Jewish community in Altona formed an association with the purpose of establishing a school for Jewish boys, with lessons in religion, Hebrew, arithmetic and writing. The school was opened, with 60 boy pupils, in the same year." Which Talmud Torah school was opened on the 31st March 1805? It conspires that this official report concerned the opening of the school in Hamburg (and not in Altona), but that the school was intended for the children of the Altona Jewish community. Rabbe was one of the first to establish this without, however, analysing the circumstances that led to this error. Both Rabbe and Stein quote, as their sole source, an article from 1906 about the 100th anniversary of the Altona school that appeared in the Israelitische Familienblatt newspaper under the section "Local News": Altona (school anniversary). The Altona Jewish community school commemorates 100 years of existence". These sparse words compare unfavourably with other newspaper reports of anniversaries of other Jewish schools, and are negligable in comparison to the way the anniversary of the so-called Hamburg TTR (Talmud Tora Realschule) is featured, and with its commemorative publication. Various factors have led to the confusion as to which school is meant:
· No authentic documents exist for many of the historical occurrences of the Jewish
community in Altona.
Table 2.
These circumstances have given rise to confusion. Despite this, yet another document
must be mentioned which has caused confusion and which is quoted by Goldschmidt in
his commemorative publication. This booklet, DARKEJ NOAM (gentle way), is
predominantly written in Hebrew, and is similar to the organization of the
German language "statute books" of the former Jewish schools. It refers to three Jewish
dates: Goldschmidt was of the opinion that this publication was a second, revised edition but there is no suggestion of this either in the actual text or the postscript. The only date, referred to on page 3, is the first day of the month (Tishri) TKS"H (10th September 1804) on which the first meeting was held at which the resolution was passed to found a Talmud Torah school and to run it in accordance with religious and moral guidelines. From the various disputed dates the date 1806 (Table 2. No. 2) is particularly conspicuous as it exactly corresponds to the 100th anniversary of the Altona school in Altona; and perhaps the error in the Altona records' book is to be traced to Goldschmidt's publication.
However, two things are certain: The Welfare of Orphans and the Talmud Torah School. The Altona school was regularly listed in the Altona directory from 1807 onward, but was generally not named Talmud Torah. It was officially entered as Charity School (Armenschule) or Free School for the Poor (Freischule der Armen). Initially the Altona school in Breitestraße had the same chances of development as its one year older sister school in Hamburg but an historical event was to significantly affect the Altona Jewish community and its school. Napoleon's troops occupied Hamburg in 1806 and the city was annexed to France. The separatist desires of the Hamburg Jewish community were unexpectedly realized. Suddenly the Hamburg Jews had a constitutional "lead" over the Altona Jews: on the one hand, complete political and civil equality, which was, however, generally rescinded following Napoleon's withdrawal, and, on the other hand, the religious independence from Altona, which was never reversed. This placed the Altona Jewish community in a disastrous financial situation: prosperous Jews, who included former members of the Altona Jewish community, lived in the Free and Hansa City of Hamburg; poor Jews, who included the descendants of east European refugees from the Cossack revolt against the Poles between 1648 and 1651 with its bloody pogroms against the Jews, lived in Altona. The charity coffers of the Altona Jewish community were depleted due to this unforeseen loss of contributors. This new situation also affected the orphans who were pupils of the Altona Talmud Torah Charity School (Altonaer Talmud Tora-Armenschule), in Hamburg.
It is necessary to understand that the entire Jewish school system evolved, in
accordance with a Talmud commentary, with the obligation to provide education for
orphans. Over the centuries, within the AHW triple community, as in every Jewish
community, the orphan problem became an acute school problem. The situation created
by the disbandment of the triple community is highlighted in the following document
(excerpts; translated from Hebrew):
A. The old regulations that relate to orphans are no longer valid and instead, from now
on, all orphans, who are children of the Atona Jewish community and children of the
Talmud Torah school, have legitimate claim to the revenue of the society for the care
of orphans; they, on their part, will do all relating to that which is dictated in the
matter of Kaddish (liturgical prayer in Aramaic recited daily in public prayer during the
year after, and on the anniversary of, a death), the recital of the verse at a death and
at their Bar Mitzvah, and to pray for the sick ... and these orphans shall be 5 to 15
year-old children. And these regulations shall take effect from the beginning of the coming year; the year "LISCHMOR" [1815] ["to take care of" and do all that you wish to teach]; in accordance with the computation of the letters of the year." This document contains not only the organizational and new financial regulations but also religious, charitable and, through the repeated references to the Talmud Torah school, school aspects, which were in many respects interconnected. The orphans were classified in two groups: pupils of the [Altona] Talmud Torah school and of "the community". The latter were the children of the (now former) Altona community in Hamburg, who were no longer members of any school system and who could no longer remain in private houses in Hamburg. This explains the primary concern for the physical welfare of the orphans, expressed by "but clothing takes priority". Not only community representatives but also school representatives were to spare neither trouble nor prestige to acquire the necessary funds. The orphans not only had rights but also duties, particularly religious ones (see A. above). From this ensued guidelines for a school curriculum for orphans that principally comprised religious subjects. However, as there was no separate school for orphans in the Jewish community these religious demands on the schooling of orphans had a significant influence on the common school curriculum, as for example concerning religious festivals and bereavements which demanded the recital from memory of prayers and benedictions. These had to be recited fluently and faultlessly, "as nimble as water", by the children comprising a MINYAN, a group of at least ten males over thirteen years of age. The performance of these obligatory duties led to the early and mechanical learning to read of difficult Hebrew sections of text - for all school pupils. The reciprocal relationship between the education of orphans and school contributed towards the name Talmud Torah school being maintained over a period of time despite the official description of Charity School (Armenschule), as can be seen in one of the few, small, existing documents (diagram 2):
Diagram 2.
from Hebrew: There is otherwise little known about the school in those days. However, the few existing records from the years 1820 to 1836, when very modest, give an insight into various aspects of daily life.
The Building: "Altona, the 15th May 1828", as verified, the school was located in
a rented private house: " ... and that the gentleman headmaster of the Jewish Charity
School (Armenschule) correctly paid me the final amount of the half-yearly rent of 112
Markl. 8 ... Courant due this Ascension Day, with such receipt herewith ... "
These two different lists show that there was no increase in the number of teachers, and that arithmetic and writing were taught in the school; however, the principal subjects were probably traditionally Jewish.
Jewish Free School - Jewish Elementary School (Israelitische Freischule -
Israeiltische Volksschule).
On the 28th Nissan (24th April 1838), W.S. Warburg, notary public and lawyer and
member of the committee of representatives of the Jewish community in Altona
presented a letter from Isaac Hartwig, chairman of the Hamburg Jewish
community, to the assembled teaching staff of the school, in which the latter informed
them "he had commissioned the board of governors of the Altona Jewish community to
buy a house, in his name, for the facility of the Charity School Talmud Torah
(Armenschule Talmud Tora) ...". In addition, Isaac Hartwig donated a further sum of
money from which the interest was to be used for furnishings and other school
purposes. "It was resolved hereupon to proceed with all urgency in executing the
legator's instructions". On the 13th November 1838 a house at no. 3 Grünestraße was
bought by the Altona Jewish community from Johann Christian Bowgin as school and
orphanage. Although not built as a school this property ultimately provided the
necessary conditions for the sound evolution of the school. However, before the school
was opened in its new building a private, religious, Jewish elementary school
("Israelitische Volksschule") was opened in competition, in Altona, under the headship of
Dr Samuel Enoch. As with the Hamburg-Altona period, dates and facts concerning these
two schools are unclear and confusing: Dr Enoch's private elementary school, whose teaching staff included the estimable Chief Rabbi Ettlinger and Dr Salomon Ludwig Steinheim, religious philosopher and physician, taught religious and general knowledge: "subjects .. which addressed the body .. mind .. [and] hearts of the pupils." The school admitted both boys and girls and, with its initial 37 pupils, was housed in the private accommodation of its headmaster Enoch, and remained here, even after the number of pupils had doubled, until 1844 when it moved into no. 3 Grünestraße with the Jewish Community Free Charity Talmud Torah Orphan School (Israelitische Gemeinde Frei-Armen-Talmud-Tora Waisenschule). Enoch's school received both praise and criticism especially from Tadey who seriously criticised the excessive number of subjects (twenty) which included "Danish". However, the most severe criticism was levelled at Chief Rabbi Ettlinger who used the expression "confirmation" instead of "examination for admission to further education" to describe the final examinations.
These preliminary remarks are significant. Enoch was undoubtedly both a
highly learned and religious man, and a good educational organizer, who played a
significant role in the evolution of the Altona Jewish school. But he was criticized
pedagogically: Enoch's Jewish Elementary School (Israelitische Volksschule) existed for ten years. Due to its almost two year "start" over the Jewish Free School (Israelitische Freischule) it overshadowed the latter before it began anew in the Hartwig building at no. 3 Grünestraße.
After renovations to the building at no. 3 Grünestraße, the Free School was "opened" in
May 1840 as the following record affirms: (diagram 3):
Diagram 3
Minutes of the board of governors of the Jewish Free School (Israelitische Freischule)
(25th May 1840)
"If death is oblivion, which devours the present and all its
creations, mankind, having learned the art of writing, has the gracious
providence to convey this knowledge so as to maintain the good and useful for the
future. This skill we owe to all teachers, which is bequeathed us, and which the
principle of love, and the practical, commands us, through writing or
work, to pass on to future generations. At this time this principle also
inspires the under-signed representatives of this local Jewish Free School, where, with
todays ensuing opening of the Isaac Harwig Free School and Orphanage (Isaac
Hartwigschen Freyschule- und Waisenhaus), a new epoch begins. This minutes-book
was started for this purpose, wherein all resolutions of the board are to be
recorded for posterity, so that all experiences and decisions can be of use in the future.
May it please the all merciful God to favour us with much to record that is good and
beneficial, and may it please future generations to continue this work which we herewith,
under divine assistance, begin with the inauguration. Epilogue. Here ends the early history of the High German Jewish Community School in Altona (Hochdeutsche-Israelitische Gemeindeschule zu Altona) as, in 1840, it finally became known. From 1840 onward its history was faithfully entered into the minutes-book. The around 500 pages, densely written in Gothic handwriting, await their deciphering - in which the almost ninety year life of the school in Grünestraße is recorded, in joy and sorrow, in comedy and tragedy, from cheder-school until its transfer to the magnificent building at no. 17 Palmaille where for a further ten years pupils and teachers were accommodated - until their end in the Holocaust. May the surviving minutes and the "principle of love" save the Altona Jewish Community School (Altonaer Israelitische Gemeindeschule) from "oblivion".
German text:
Literature:
|