Jawne
Encyclopedia
The Jawne was a Jewish Reformrealgymnasium in Cologne
.
near Tel Aviv
, where the Jewish Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin
, after the destruction of Jerusalem in year 70 D.C., tried to maintain the Jewish traditions with a school of Jewish law.
. It was founded by Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach (1874–1927), brother of rabbi Ephraim Carlebach
, of the congregation Adass Jeshurum around Easter 1919, was built in 1921 and was recognized by the state in 1925 as a ‘’Real-Progymnasium’’ and ‘’Lizeum’’, with the rights of a semi-public institution.
Rabbi Carlebach had founded in 1907 a private elementary school by the name of ‘’Moriah ’’.
On September 28, 1929 the its official name was changed to ‘’Privats Jüdisches Reform-Realgymnasium mit Realschule für Knaben und Mädchen‘‘. The Javne school position was strengthened when, on April 27, 1928, it entered into an agreement with the executive board of the Cologne community whereby, for a period of five years, this school would receive an annual stipend. In return the school was to be administered by a board of governors the majhority of whom was appointed by the executive board of the Jewish community. Its teachers and directors had to be of conservative religious views. Since April 9, 1929 its director was Dr. Erich Klibansky
.
During the school year 1930-31 the pupils numbered 103 boys and 75 girls, during 1936-1937 the total number of students, boys and girls, was 410.
Klibanksy recognized early the nazi danger. He reacted reinforcing the lessons in English and Modern Israeli Hebrew to prepare his students to a life out of Germany. Already in 1933 he said without illusion: „To which School can I send my child ? This question is today peremptory. One cannot answer that we should not go back by ourselves into a ghetto, because the breakup process of the German people towards us Jews is in full movement“.
Erich Klibansky and his teachers planned after 1938 to evacuate the whole school to Great Britain
, and organized to this end the Kindertransport
. The outward voyage by train and ship colud be done only without the company of their parents. He thus succeeded to let a part of his students leave for England. .
At least 130 Jewish children from Cologne were able to survive.
After the breakout of the Second World War this was no more possible. Klibansky, his family and the remaining students were deported in 1942 with more than 1000 other Jewish from Cologne near Minsk
and killed there without exception.
. In the small square a survived student has created a memorial with the Löwenbrunnen (designed by the scuptor and survivor of the school Hermann Gurfinkel) and the names of the killed children. In November 2008 the initiative was been honored by the prize “Aktiv für Demokratie und Toleranz”, in December 2009 by the Cologne Bilz-Prize of the Bilz-Foundation.
The preservation of the memorial place is from 2009 endangered, because the necessary space is not as previously rented for free from the owner, but the association has to pay a market rent.
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
.
Name
The school took its name from the town YavneYavne
Yavne is a city in the Central District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 33,000.-History:...
near Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, where the Jewish Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...
, after the destruction of Jerusalem in year 70 D.C., tried to maintain the Jewish traditions with a school of Jewish law.
History
The Jawne in Cologne was the first and only continuative Jewish school in RhinelandRhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
. It was founded by Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach (1874–1927), brother of rabbi Ephraim Carlebach
Ephraim Carlebach
Ephraim Carlebach , was a German-born Orthodox rabbi.Carlebach belonged to a well known German rabbi family. His father Salomon Carlebach was rabbi in Lübeck. He had seven brothers and four sisters...
, of the congregation Adass Jeshurum around Easter 1919, was built in 1921 and was recognized by the state in 1925 as a ‘’Real-Progymnasium’’ and ‘’Lizeum’’, with the rights of a semi-public institution.
Rabbi Carlebach had founded in 1907 a private elementary school by the name of ‘’Moriah ’’.
On September 28, 1929 the its official name was changed to ‘’Privats Jüdisches Reform-Realgymnasium mit Realschule für Knaben und Mädchen‘‘. The Javne school position was strengthened when, on April 27, 1928, it entered into an agreement with the executive board of the Cologne community whereby, for a period of five years, this school would receive an annual stipend. In return the school was to be administered by a board of governors the majhority of whom was appointed by the executive board of the Jewish community. Its teachers and directors had to be of conservative religious views. Since April 9, 1929 its director was Dr. Erich Klibansky
Erich Klibansky
Erich Klibansky was headmaster and teacher of Jawne, the first Jewish Gymnasium of Rhineland in Cologne.-Life:...
.
During the school year 1930-31 the pupils numbered 103 boys and 75 girls, during 1936-1937 the total number of students, boys and girls, was 410.
Klibanksy recognized early the nazi danger. He reacted reinforcing the lessons in English and Modern Israeli Hebrew to prepare his students to a life out of Germany. Already in 1933 he said without illusion: „To which School can I send my child ? This question is today peremptory. One cannot answer that we should not go back by ourselves into a ghetto, because the breakup process of the German people towards us Jews is in full movement“.
Erich Klibansky and his teachers planned after 1938 to evacuate the whole school to Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and organized to this end the Kindertransport
Kindertransport
Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig...
. The outward voyage by train and ship colud be done only without the company of their parents. He thus succeeded to let a part of his students leave for England. .
At least 130 Jewish children from Cologne were able to survive.
After the breakout of the Second World War this was no more possible. Klibansky, his family and the remaining students were deported in 1942 with more than 1000 other Jewish from Cologne near Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
and killed there without exception.
Remembrance
In the Cologne Lern- und Gedenkort Jawne, that is located in the area of the destroyed gymnasium, the history of the school is remembered with exhibitions. At moment there is the exhibition „The children of the next door schoolyard“ conceived by the historian Cordula Lissner. The area, thanks to the insistent efforts of citizens of Cologne, was named in 1990 Erich Klibansky PlatzErich Klibansky Platz
The Erich Klibansky Platz in Cologne quarter Altstadt-Nord, located on Helenenstraße, takes the name of Erich Klibansky, the one-time and last headmaster of the Reformrealgymnasium Jawne. It took his name in 1990.- Location :...
. In the small square a survived student has created a memorial with the Löwenbrunnen (designed by the scuptor and survivor of the school Hermann Gurfinkel) and the names of the killed children. In November 2008 the initiative was been honored by the prize “Aktiv für Demokratie und Toleranz”, in December 2009 by the Cologne Bilz-Prize of the Bilz-Foundation.
The preservation of the memorial place is from 2009 endangered, because the necessary space is not as previously rented for free from the owner, but the association has to pay a market rent.
External links
- Adolf Kober, Cologne, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia 1940, p. 271-272
- Arbeitskreis Lern- und Gedenkort Jawne - Informationen zur historischen Jawne und zur Gedenkstätte
- Grußwort zur Ausstellungseröffnung „Die Kinder auf dem Schulhof nebenan“. Jawne, das jüdische Gymnasium in Köln.
- Bericht über die Kölner Jawne von Frau Dr. Cordula Lissner, in: forum, Zeitschrift der GEW Köln, Heft 1/2007 p.
- http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=10551 mit Fotogalerie
- http://www.kirche-koeln.de/aktuell/artikel.php?keyword=&id=1304&archiv - 19k
- http://www.rhenaniajudaica.de/
- http://www.migration-audio-archiv.de/audioweb/
- „Ich wollte beweisen, dass Hitler sein Ziel nicht erreicht hat!“ Henry Gruen und seine Rückkehr nach Köln, in die „Heimat seiner Jugend“ WDR5, Erlebte Geschichten, Sendung vom 7. August 2005
- http://www.hagalil.com/archiv/2010/01/06/jawne/ Das jüdische Internetmagazin haGalil berichtet über die Bemühungen zum Erhalt der Jawne.