Schicksalsgemeinschaft im Wandel: Jüdische Erziehung im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland 1933-1938

Describes the discussion in the German Jewish community during the first six years of the Nazi regime on the education of the Jewish child. During this period Jewish children were still allowed to attend German public elementary schools. Many parents at first preferred this alternative because they wanted to ground their children in German culture, as well as to accustom them to cope with the hostility of their environment. The children, however, suffered and thus turned increasingly to Jewish schools. The Reichsvertretung issued guidelines for these schools which attempted to allow for the demands of liberals, Orthodox, and Zionists; to give the child confidence in his Jewish identity and an appreciation of German and universal culture; and to prepare him by the study of languages and a manual trade for the struggle of life under changed conditions, especially for emigration.