Philip T. Markowicz lecture in Judaism and Jewish Biblical Studies

Teaching with tolerance in a time of hate: Jewish private schools in Nazi Berlin, 1933-1939

Monday, March 18
6 - 7:30 p.m.
University of Toledo Center for Performing Arts, Recital Hall
Free admission
Parking - payment and info at parkutoledo.com

 

Dr. Barry Jackisch, University of Toledo associate professor of history and the 2024 Philip Markowicz Endowed Professor in Judaism and Jewish Biblical Studies, will examine a small number of Jewish private schools that existed in Nazi Berlin until the outbreak of World War II. Because all Jews were segregated and banned from existing German schools under Nazi racial policy, those Jews who tried to stay in Germany formed their own educational institutions.

Studying these schools helps us remember and commemorate the teachers, administrators, students, and families who fell victim to the murderous persecution of the Nazi regime and those who escaped and survived. This overlooked subject offers a valuable perspective on the history of the Holocaust and the cancer of hate and intolerance in modern societies.

The fact that these Jewish schools survived in the capital of Hitler's Germany points to the importance of understanding the Holocaust as a process, something that did not simply occur overnight, but with a long history rooted in antisemitism and becoming increasingly more violent and discriminatory. It also shows us where potential existed, even in Nazi society, for Jewish survival and resistance in the face of growing persecution.