Herrlinger Life: Pages of the Jewish boarding school Herrlingen near Ulm a.D.
author: Schülerschaft Jüdisches Landschulheim Herrlingen
source date: January 1934
language: eng
availability: Courtesy of Yad Vashem.

These pages tell of the Herrlinger life. Of a new Jewish youth community that is in the making.

Three and a half months ago, the Jewish rural school in Herrlingen was founded. Its life still has the magic of the new and unfamiliar. The experience is therefore still the focus of its existence. That is why only the young people are speaking this time. And what the children, aged 11 to 16, are presenting here are the joyful, bright splashes of color that fall into the gray of work, duty, and tasks.

It hardly needs to be said that young people who write about their lives in this way must be very happy. They do not lack the respect, to which they are entitled. Life in the rural school places demands on them that none of them have ever faced before. They do not always surrender so willingly to their task that it would be perceived as merely a source of joy. But they surrender to it with seriousness, with the awareness that the privilege offered by such an enriching community must be earned through the fulfillment of hard duties. The pages of „Herrlinger Life“ [„Herrlinger Leben“] are intended to be the mouthpiece of our experiences and intentions, our struggles and victories.

Not a school newspaper. Not an educational newsletter. Organ of a unique body. Voice of our community. Where no longer only individuals speak.

Why did I go to a Jewish boarding school? I spent my elementary school years at a Jewish school. Then I went to a public high school and was happy to be able to attend a public institution, almost as happy as I am today to be attending a boarding school that provides a Jewish education. At that time, I wanted to break out of the narrow confines of a purely Jewish education and into the education that every citizen enjoyed. Because I thought I was “German” and was often even ashamed to tell a Christian friend that I attended a Jewish school.

So I went to the state school and for years felt superior to those who attended a Jewish school. I learned what everyone else learned, not what was taught to a small group, to which I always felt I belonged.

Suddenly, in the spring of 1933, everything changed. Outwardly, on the part of my classmates, there was no noticeable difference. Through my years of attachment to the class and through my position as class representative for two years, I had earned the respect and friendship of all my classmates, until one day the class teacher came in and announced: "We don't need to hold a new election, I will decide. You will understand that no Jew is allowed to take over the leadership of the class today!" Although the whole class later expressed their regret to me and assured me that I had been unanimously re-elected, and the students also spoke to the class teacher, the decision remained. The decision had been made! Very strongly, more strongly than any other experience, this proved to me that I did not belong there.

“I don't belong here” was my only thought during all the lessons. So I tried to get out of this community. Out, back to the school where I could live freely and develop. And so it was for almost every Jewish student. But what can we do to become free and upright people again, what can we do to prevent the doctrine of the inferiority of our race from eating away at our brains?

We must reconnect with Judaism! We must learn that being Jewish is a source of pride and not synonymous with inferiority. I wanted to go to a Jewish school, but not an Orthodox one.

I wanted to learn about Jewish culture and literature, the full extent of Jewish scholarship. However, there were also some things that made me doubt the education in Jewish schools. When I saw how teachers suddenly went to a Jewish school without somehow becoming aware of this change, this awakening, I thought to myself: "Won't I remain homeless in the Jewish school? Will these teachers even have the strength to lead me back to Judaism when they themselves have not yet found the way?" So I wanted to go to a Zionist school where the teachers had been involved in the Zionist movement for years, even at a time when they would have been better paid and more respected as state teachers. I was happy to come to Herrlingen, to a Jewish country school. Here I was also supposed to experience a connection with nature, return to the land. I was glad to come here, as I also knew Hugo Rosenthal as a true and proud Jew. But I discovered that this institution was not Zionist. Now, however, I have learned that it is better to freely show the students Judaism in its various forms. They will then be able to decide for themselves: Europe or Palestine? And the youth will decide; they are already doing so, they are already building a new homeland. So I visit a Jewish institution, get to know my people, become a free person and a conscious Jew. But I am still missing some things, and it is the duty of the Jewish school to give them to me, then its task will be fulfilled!

[...]

[Sketch of two men in rural outfit]

A conversation between two Swabian farmers: “Ah, here comes Arnold!” – "Are you ready to go, where are you heading?“ – ”I'm going to the new country road because I have to supervise the workers. Are you coming with me or don´t you have time? – "Ha, no, I have to go to the train station because I have to go to Ulm and run some errands.“ – ”Well then, goodbye and don't miss the train!"