As American students return to school over the coming weeks, we remember Jewish students during the Holocaust and the changes Nazi rule meant for their education.

 

As American students return to school over the coming weeks, we remember Jewish students during the Holocaust and the changes Nazi rule meant for their education. For second grader Yoka Verdoner (above), the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands did not immediately change her happy life at home—family films show her making funny faces, playing with her younger siblings, and eating chocolate pudding. However, it meant drastic changes in the rest of her life—such as when she and other Jewish kids were banned from public school. But Yoka didn’t let the Nazis keep her from learning. She enrolled in a Jewish school and then an “illegal” class a brave Jewish teacher held in his home. What happened to Yoka and her family? >> Jacob Wiener (above) grew up in Bremen, Germany, with both Jewish and non-Jewish friends. As a young boy, he noticed only “subtle” antisemitism. That changed when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, while Jacob was in high school. One teacher tried to make things easier on Jacob by holding required lessons about Nazi racial “science” on Saturdays, when Jacob did not attend. But other teachers embraced Nazi ideas. One day, a different teacher said to the class, “I want to show you how a Jew looks,” and called on Jacob to be his example. What did Jacob do then? >> Taught “How Evil and Bad Jews Are” Holocaust survivor Peter Feigl recalls an early lesson. >> “So I’ll Go to School Again” Łódź ghetto schools offered soup and knowledge. >> Photos: Students of the Jewish school on the Jan van Eyckstraat in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1941–42. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Francisca Verdoner Kan; Children from a religious school in Bremen enjoy an outing in the woods in 1925. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Jacob G. Wiener; Klaus Peter Feigl’s 1943 identity card portrait when he was an Austrian/German Jewish child hiding in France. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Peter Feigl; Teenagers pose with Jewish Council Chairman Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski during their high school graduation in the Łódź ghetto in September 1941. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Izak and Rosa Rosenwasser ‌ Donate to Keep Holocaust Memory Alive DONATE Keep Holocaust memory alive to inspire citizens and leaders to confront antisemitism and hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity in a constantly changing world. Stay Connected ‌ UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 Main telephone: 202.488.0400 TTY: 202.488.0406 VIEW IN BROWSER