Metadata: Tukums City Jewish Elementary School
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, 1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Reference number:
- 2115
- Title:
- Tukums City Jewish Elementary School
- Title (official language):
- Tukuma pilsētas ebreju pamatskola
- Creator/accumulator:
- Tukums City Jewish Elementary School
- Date(s):
- 1920/1940
- Language:
- Latvian
- German
- Yiddish
- Hebrew
- Russian
- Extent:
- 138 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains documents of the Tukums City Jewish Elementary School including its charter of evening courses, charters of the Elementary School, minutes of meetings of the pedagogical council, instructions and circulars of the Department of School Education, student lists, lists of kindergarten pupils, certificates for smallpox vaccinations, birth certificates of students, copies of teacher certificates, school journals, grade books; journals of the kindergarten, evening courses in English and Russian; certificates of completion of a full school course, diaries, charter of the Tukums Private Jewish Elementary School of the "Hamore" Jewish Teacher Society (this private Hebrew school was merged with the city Yiddish school). In 1919 a state Jewish school, with language of instruction in Yiddish, was opened in Tukums as a part of an all-Latvian project for primary education. Later parents insisted on the introduction of Russian and German lessons in the upper grades. In 1927, a private Hebrew school, led by Shaya Slavetsinsky and the "Hamore" Jewish Teacher Society, also opened in Tukums. In 1933 Hebrew was included in the curriculum of the Yiddish school, a class with teaching in Hebrew was formed, and gradually both schools united. For example, in the certificate of completion of the Tukums City Jewish Elementary School of Fleisher Feiga Basse on 26 May 1939, we can see grades in Yiddish and Hebrew, in addition to grades in English, German and Latvian, Bible, and general subjects. According to data from June 1930, 94 students studied at the Tukums City Jewish Elementary School, taught by 6 teachers. 35 students studied at the Tukums Private Jewish Elementary School of the "Hamore" Jewish Teacher Society. There were two teachers . In 1930 an adult evening course teaching Russian, English and Jewish literature was also opened in the Tukums City Jewish Elementary School. These courses organised by Fanny Karmer, the school director, were called the "Fanny Kramer Educational Jewish Evening Courses”. According to the charter, the goal of these courses was "to educate people over school age who wanted to replenish their knowledge or learn some subject from a secondary school course". Fanny Kramer, a well-known Jewish intellectual in Tukums, contributed greatly towards the development of social life and culture in the city.
- Archival history:
- After World War II materials from the interwar period, along with earlier materials, were part of the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR. In 1962 it was decided to reorganise the archive and it was renamed the Central State Historical Archives of the Latvian SSR. The materials predating the period of Soviet rule were deposited in this archive, predecessor of the current State Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The city of Tukums is 65 km from Riga. Jews were allowed to settle in Tukums only after Courland joined Russia in 1795; they moved here from the neighbouring estates and from East Prussia. In the second half of the 19th century many Jews moved to Tukums from Lithuania. There were three synagogues in the city. In 1850, the Jewish State School for Boys was opened. While Latvia was independent, in addition to the Jewish school there were a Jewish kindergarten, a library, a theatre group, a choir and several charitable organisations. In 1928, there were three Jews on the city council. In 1935, there were 953 Jews in the city (12% of the total population), who owned 48% of businesses.
Tukums City Jewish Elementary School was located on Liela Street 39.
- Access points: locations:
- Tukums
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Jana Makarova, Riga