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Jewish Education in Lodz
Lodz's Jewish community readily supported all educational initiatives, participating in projects of various societies supporting the development of Polish as well as Jewish education. Jewish education in Łódź was as diverse as the community at large, and varied according to wealth, religiosity and the degree of assimilation. To a certain extent political views also played a role, as political parties often funded and ran schools. Initially, Jewish schools had an exclusively religious character (e.g. cheders and yeshivas). Lay education, however, began to develop thanks to the support of wealthy members of the Jewish community. From the second half of the 19th century until the after World War I, there were twelve religious elementary schools and one vocational school�Talmud-Tora�that also taught religion. The first high school for boys was opened in 1912 thanks to the efforts of Rabbi Maks Braud.
The Talmud-Tora school introduced secular education to Łódź. In addition to religious education, and a general education program, the school also ran professional programs. The Talmud-Tora Society funded the school with the goal of helping young people of modest means obtain both and an education and a profession. In 1919, Talmud-Tora moved to a building on Średnia Street (currently 46/47 Pomorska Street) that Zygmunt Jarociński built specially for the school. The school was later divided into to levels, thus creating a six-grade school along side a vocational school that awarded a journeyman's diploma. Along with changing the name to the Society of Broadening Education and Technical Knowledge, thus shedding the religious associations of Talmud-Tora, the school extended the scope of its educational activities, expanding to a seven-class elementary school and a high school. A humanities high school was later added. The Szwajcer High School took its name from its first director�Abraham Szwacjer, whose name was found on the building's façade. The building's courtyard held the Jarociński Industrial School, which had departments of weaving, mechanics and electro-technology (the mechanical high school).
During the two decades of the interwar period, non-state schools and general Jewish schools (szabasówki�known as Sabbath schools since classes were not held on the Sabbath) were popular. These schools included the well-known cheders, as well as private Orthodox schools with curricula weighted more towards the religious (e.g. the Gerszon Ela Liss School located at 50 Kiliński Street and the Bejs Jakow Girls School). The Medea School and the Brochów School, run by political parties, used Yiddish as the language of instruction. There were also schools that taught classes both in Polish and Jewish languages. As there was already a differentiation between primary and post-primary schools, high schools were considered a part of the elite stratum of the educational system.
The lay-religious schools such as Gerszon Ela Liss at 50 Kiliński Street and Ajzyk Pasternak (first located on Cegielniana Street, then moved to 18 Piotrkowska Street and then once again to 19 Śródmiejska Street) were quasi-cheders that attempted to reconcile lay and religious instruction. Another educational option was the general schools that were often connected with secularizing, assimilating and Polonizing the Jewish youth.
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Schools that used Hebrew as the language of instruction were generally linked to the Zionist movement. Schools associated with political parties, such as Gimnazjum I and II at Magistracka Street (today 21 and 22 Kamiński Street), which were run by the Society of Jewish Middle Schools, taught classes both in Polish and Hebrew. They were called the Braud schools [szkoły braudowskie] after Markus Braud, the founder of the Society of Jewish Middle Schools. Braud was the patron of the schools, including the Polish-Hebrew language high school on Magistracka Street. Additionally, the General Zionist party backed the Tarbut schools that taught Hebrew and Jewish culture. In 1917, Sara Szernirer, who was affiliated with the Zionist movement, initiated the idea of religious education to girls. In 1923, the Bejs Jakow Association (House of Jakub) created the first such school at 32 Śródmiejska Street (now Więckowski Street). There were also other popular schools: the Girls High School at 6 Piramowicza Street, run by the Society of Jewish Middle Schools, that used both Polish and Hebrew as the languages of instruction; the Polish language high school Aba on Zielona Street (currently 10 Legionów Street); and the high school Jaszuńskiej on Południowa Street (currently 18 Rewolucji 1905). Jewish pupils also attended Polish schools, including the high school Elizy Orzeszkowej at 21 Koścuiszki Street. During the 1930s, a school was being built at 7 Anstadt Street that planned to open on September 1, 1939. Today the building houses High School XII.
For the Society of Polish Middle Schools, their program of bilingual and bicultural education was of particular import, as it was seen as a potential remedy against the trend of assimilation. Educating students in this manner prepared them not only for life in multicultural Poland, but also for the pressures of realizing the ideas of Zionism. The Kacenelson School on Zawadzka Street (now 43 Prócchnika Street) was also a bilingual school linked to the Zionist cause. The Kacenelson family both directed and worked in the school. The school also maintained a camp in Włodzimierzów, near Sulejów to which summer and winter trips were organized for the students. However, the schools run by the Bund, including the two general schools Medea, used Yiddish as the language of instruction, gradually introducing classes taught in Polish. This was done because many children starting their education in general schools (such as those at 3 Plac Wolności and 22 Sienkiewicza) did not speak Polish.
After World War II, there were functioning schools for Jewish children: the private Hebrew language school Bojowników Getta run by the Hechaluc-Pioner Productivity Center, which was initially located at 72 Wschodnia Street and later moved to 18 Południowa Street; and the state run Perec School that was originally located at 49 Kiliński Street and later moved to 13 Więckowskiego Street. Classes in these schools were conducted in Yiddish, Hebrew and Polish. For some time, the revived Jewish community ran the Talmud-Tora religious school, and even the Netzach Izrael Rabbinical College. In Helenówek, just outside of Łódź, there was an orphanage for Jewish children who survived the Holocaust. It was located in the same place that, prior to the outbreak of the war, where Zionist organizations had opened Dom Sierot (an orphanage) comprised of a boarding house and farm land on which the children learned to till the soil among other agricultural endeavors.
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