[Cz-L] Fw: The History of Toynbee-Halle

>> To all Cz.-L members interested in the history of the Toynbee Halle.
>> Following is a translation of a German brief description of the 19th and
>> early 20th century Toynbee-Halle Community Centers, as forwarded to me by
>> our "Czernowitzer Landsman" Arthur Rindner. It seems that the
>> Czernowitzer Toynbeehalle followed the model of similar institutions in
>> Europe and the US.
>>
>> "In London it was The Bernhard Baron St. George Jewish Settlement, which
>> did an exemplary job in the East End, of the London district, providing
>> social counseling, health care, club activities for children and young
>> people, lecturing and educational activities for adults, organizing the
>> Jewish High Holy Days (see Henriques 1929). On the continent, following
>> the example of the above-mentioned " Jewish Settlement" movement, two
>> groups of such centers were established: one, comprised the "Jewish
>> People's Homes" in Berlin, Hamburg, Breslau, Leipzig and Vienna and the
>> second one, the Toynbee-Hallen, similar to the London Toynbee-Halle,
>> exclusively dedicated to public education. Such Toynbee-Hallen were
>> established in Vienna, Prague and other cities. In December 1900 the
>> "Jüdische Toynbee-Halle" was opened in Vienna at Webgasse 13. Its
>> establishment as well as the establishment of the Ottakringer people's
>> home followed the model of the English Settlement Movement. As Leon
>> Kellner wrote in the founding proclamation published in Vienna in the
>> Zionist weekly "Die Welt", the purpose was to bring together rich and
>> poor, to care for unity and elatedness of all, responding to people's
>> common spiritual interests in order to overcome feelings of social
>> inequalities. Due to the vast crowds, the opening ceremony the reading
>> of the founding proclamation had to be repeated. The existence of the
>> large Jewish Toynbee Halle library was mentioned. The well-known lyric
>> poet Paul Celan worked at that library much later, as a high school and
>> university student, the adjacent apprentices' dormitory was also
>> mentioned.
>>
>> The funding for the construction and furnishings were provided by a
>> wealthy Jewish businessman. The Jewish Toynbee Halle became an important
>> meeting place for Jewish men and women who lived in a complex
>> anti-Semitic environment.
>>
>> Also in Berlin there was a "Jewish Toynbee-Halle for National Education
>> and Entertainment" established by Bnei Brith. It was established in 1902
>> or 1904 and was located at Kleiststrasse, not far from the
>> Nollendorfplatz. The stated objective of the organization for its 800
>> members was: "to organize free lecture and other entertainment evenings
>> for the poor Jewish population, in order to provide them spiritual and
>> social stimulants, so as to mollify the existing social contrasts"
>> (Jewish Yearbook for Greater Berlin 1926, 232). In the mid-20's of the
>> former century a Jewish People's Home was established at the Wohlers
>> Allee 58 in Altona (until 1937 an independent town). The People's Home
>> had a kindergarten and an education facility. Reportedly, they had a
>> reading room and language courses were provided. In addition, on the
>> first floor there was a consultation room for a physician, who also
>> provided medical assistance for infants and youth care. Occasionally,
>> some 25 girls and boys attended the kindergarten. Starting noon time
>> some 60 children were looked after (Plog 1999). The people's home used
>> to prepare and serve lunch for 40 needy children. Eva Michaelis-Stern
>> (1904-1992), the daughter of the well known psychologist William
>> Stern, reported: The initiative for establishing the Altona people's
>> home came from the Zionist youth confederation. A friend of mine was at
>> that time the kindergarten teacher, I myself was teaching gymnastics,
>> others taught music. This way, each of us contributed as she could.
>> The People's Home had a director, Mr. Wittkowsky, who was apparently an
>> employee of the institution. The Home was open in the mornings for
>> little children and in the afternoons for schoolchildren. The children
>> that we took care of were from "Ostjüdische" families that came to
>> Germany from Poland after World War I on their way to America and got
>> stuck in Hamburg. More often because of their economic difficulties,
>> they did not have the money to continue their travel or did not have an
>> immigration visa. They used to live together in a specific neighborhood
>> in Altona. The major difficulty was that the group that we used to
>> bring to the people's home spoke only Yiddish whereas all of us, who
>> came to work there, were from Hamburg and Altona and spoke only German.
>> While our Zionist group was very interested to preserve the Jewish
>> identity of these people it was also important to provide them at the
>> same time a great deal of European education" (Ellger-Rüttgardt 1996,
>> p. 275). The people's home in Altona was financed with the support of
>> the Jewish Community in Altona and the German-Jewish Community in
>> Hamburg. Nevertheless, there were always financial bottlenecks.
>>
>> From Wikipedia:
>>
>> Toynbee Hall is the original university settlement house of the
>> settlement movement. Founded in 1884 in Commercial Street, Whitechapel
>> in the East End of London, it is still active today. A centre for social
>> reform, Toynbee Hall was founded by Samuel and Henrietta Barnett with
>> support from Balliol and Wadham colleges at Oxford University, and named
>> after their friend and fellow reformer, Oxford historian Arnold Toynbee.
>>
>>Best Regards, A. Kogan
>>
Received on 2007-06-19 18:26:57