Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

341
should not expect the school to grow, but in fact to expect a steady reduction in its
number of pupils. 132
Pupils attended the school Monday to Friday and attended Bible and Hebrew
lessons and an explanation on the weekly portion of the Torah on Saturday
evenings. Pupils participated in the following subjects, listed in the order in which
they appeared on the pupils’ weekly timetable: Hebrew, Religion, German,
English, Geography, Writing, History, Arithmetic, Natural History, Drawing,
Gymnastics, Handicraft and Singing. 133
Whilst the three teaching assistants were not trained teachers, they were well
educated and performed their duties in a professional manner. The gymnastics and
sporting events were conducted in the vacant field, adjacent to the Jewish
cemetery in Sudenburg. 134 Some pupils also had private tuition from the teaching
staff. In particular, Dr Lehmann gave private tuition in English to a number of
pupils. 135 The positive recollections of this school are testimony to the dedication
of the staff in a time of great adversity. Despite the pervasive bleak and hostile
external environment, this school celebrated life:
We learnt all the things we had to. It was a happy time. It was a good place to
go. The teachers were very professional. They were trying very hard to do the
right thing. We had competitions to win prizes. I won a prize – a big book. It
was a fairly happy thing, you know. It was much better doing that than if we
had been permitted to keep on going to the public school, I’m sure. 136
132
Betr.: jüdisches Schulwesen, 29. Februar 1940, Bestand Rep. C 28 II, Signatur Nr.
88, Band 2, LHASA MD, op. cit., p. 86. The cited quotation is the author’s translation
from the original German which reads: ‘Der Unterricht ist besonders auf die
Vorbereitung der Auswanderung eingestellt. Ein Anwachsen der jüdischen Schule ist
nicht zu erwarten. Es ist vielmehr mit einer ständigen Abnahme der Schülerzahl zu
rechnen.’
133
Betr.: jüdisches Schulwesen, 29. Februar 1940, ibid., p. 89.
134
Correspondence from M. F. to the author, op. cit., 12 July 1999.
135
Ibid.
136
Name withheld, op. cit., 18 June 1999.