Integration and Formation of Identity: Exile Schools in Great Britain

In: Shofar: a quarterly interdisciplinary journal of Jewish studies ; official journal of the Midwest and Western Jewish Studies Associations, Band 23, Heft 1, S. 71-84

Abstract

Teachers and educators who were forced out of Germany after 1933 on political grounds or as a result of their Jewish ancestry founded more than 20 schools in exile worldwide. These were largely boarding schools oriented towards the German progressive educational reform tradition of Landerziehungsheime (literally "countryside educational homes"). They all had one common task: to support the uprooted and confused refugee children as they developed a new and complex identity, and as they came to terms with an alien environment. Using the example of two schools supported by the Quakers and influenced by their philosophy of tolerance, the author illustrates how this task was performed. The contribution of the directorship and staff of these two schools in solving the problems connected with the Kindertransport is illuminated.