Hachshara and training sites institutions in Niederschönhausen
Starting in 1933, the “Reich Representation of German Jews” began establishing more educational centers throughout Germany in which both youth and adults were prepared for their emigration to Palestine (in Hebrew, Hachshara, meaning “to make suitable or fit”). Beginning in January of 1934, Jewish youth and young adults lived in a retraining site in Niederschönhausen led by the engineer Leopold Kuh and his wife Ruth. The center provided training in various trades, including forging, metalworking, carpentry and gardening. Girls received instruction from Ruth Kuh in home economics. In 1936 another training center was established in the same area – the “Day School for Pre-Vocational Training,” which provided educational opportunities for up to 60 Jewish teenagers who had finished their schooling and to whom it was not possible to start a vocational training in Nazi Germany. The training centers provided a space for these marginalized and persecuted youth where they were protected from the hostilities they experienced in their day to day lives, if only briefly. But on June 21st, 1938, a large crowd attacked the Hachshara groups, destroyed the inventory and set the carpentry workshop on fire. At the latest after the Germany-wide pogroms in November 1938, Jews from throughout Germany left their homes. The retraining side was closed on May 30th, 1941 and the remaining youth were pressed into forced labor. In October 1941 the National Socialist regime prohibited all Jewish emigration out of Germany. By April 1943 almost all German Jews had been deported. Out of the 103 youths and young adults who spent time in the Relocation Center and whose names are still known, at least 39 were able to emigrate in time to Argentina, Australia, Great Britain and the United States. After 1945, the existence of the Relocation Center in Niederschönhausen was quickly forgotten. For those who lived nearby, it was above all the “Latte Sport Field” on the company premises of the “Beverage Jew” Paul Latte that made a lasting impression.
Children and young people who were because of anti-Semitic measures not able to begin a vocational training after finishing school lived in the “Day School for Pre-Vocational Training.”
Source: Pisarek Image Archive / akg-images
Kitchen work in the Hachshara camp in Berlin-Niederschönhausen,1935.
Source: Jewish Museum Berlin, acquired with funds from the German Lottery Foundation Berlin, Photo: Herbert Sonnenfeld
Ruth (1916–2005) and Leopold Kuh (1910–1974) were both from Berlin and were able to emigrate to England in 1938/39.
Source: Privately owned by Dennis Kew and Jewish Museum Berlin, acquired with funds from the German Lottery Foundation Berlin, Photo: Herbert Sonnenfeld
Two men in the Hachshara camp in Berlin-Niederschönhausen working at the foundry, 1935.
Source: Jewish Museum Berlin, acquired with funds from the German Lottery Foundation Berlin, Photo: Herbert Sonnenfeld
The schoolchildren lived on the grounds of the “Day School for Pre-Vocational Training”
Vocational training training, practical work, Hebrew classes and sports at the “Latte Sports Field” defined their daily lives. The picture shows Karl Adler (choir director) at a meeting of the Jewish Youth Association, 1935.
Source: Pisarek Image Archive / akg-images
Below: Young men doing relay races in the Hachshara camp in Berlin-Niederschönhausen, 1935.
Source: Jewish Museum Berlin, acquired with funds from the German Lottery Foundation Berlin, Photo: Herbert Sonnenfeld
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