I would like to write a few words about the remarkable Rudolf Steiner School in Berlin and the very happy time I spent there as a pupil in the 1930s.
The teachers were sensitive and helpful to us Jewish children. They made us feel we belonged and did their best to ensure we lived as normal a life as possible. When our class went on an “Ausflug” and the authorities forbade Jewish children to take part, I think the teachers felt more unhappy about this than the children. The school regularly exceeded the quota of Jewish children that it was permitted to accept, and when, finally, no Jewish children were permitted any schooling at all, I believe the teachers were as unhappy as the children. I was fortunate to be able to go to “Eerde”, the school in the Netherlands set up by the Quakers to help children like me. A lot of the teachers in the Rudolf Steiner School were openly anti-Nazi, and my beloved form teacher went to prison for her beliefs. The teachers were loving and brave.
