Diary of the physician and educator Siegfried Lehmann (1892–1958), entry and sketch dated February 28, 1925

Source Description

The diary of Jewish doctor and educator Siegfried Lehmann is kept in the archives of the children's and youth village Ben Schemen in Israel, which he founded. It is a thread-bound notebook in DIN A5 format with a semi-rigid black cover and blank pages. The first pages of the notebook, which were apparently written on, are missing, and the last pages, which were probably blank, have been cut out. The entries cover the period from December 29, 1924 to December 20, 1930 on 87 pages. The individual entries were generally written at long intervals. The entry dated February 28, 1925 deserves special attention. At that time, Siegfried Lehmann had already decided to give up his position as head of the Jewish orphanage in Lithuania and leave the children's home he had founded in Kaunas. His plan was to establish an agricultural youth settlement in Palestine, where children and young people from Kaunas would receive agricultural training that would enable them to earn their own living later on. In the entry dated February 28, 1925, Siegfried Lehmann describes what motivated him and how he envisioned the settlement. Siegfried Lehmann used various materials and methods to win supporters for his idea, including brochures, lectures and films. However, Lehmann used his diary entries solely for self-reflection and to structure his thoughts. He never published the sketch of the planned youth settlement that accompanied the entry.

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Recommended Citation

Diary of the physician and educator Siegfried Lehmann (1892–1958), entry and sketch dated February 28, 1925, edited in: Jewish Textual Architectures, <https://jewish-textual-architectures.online/source/jta:source-9> [October 26, 2025].