Hachshara Ellguth-Steinau / Ligota Ścinawska

In September 1937, on the initiative of the Reich Representation of Jews in Germany and the Hechaluz, the construction of the Middle Hachshara in Ellguth-Steinau began. The estate belonged to the Jewish factory owner family Fränkel from Neustadt O.S. The institution was considered a „prestigious estate of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany". Lessons were given in agriculture, palästinology and Hebrew (20 minutes per day.) In addition, there were courses in natural sciences, physics, chemistry and biology. In April 1938, 55 members of the Zionist youth umbrella organization Hechaluz are said to have lived in Ellguth, and in May 1939, 90. On October 28, 1938, all members were taken from the estate with Polish horses and deported to Poland. On November 10, 1938, two young people from Breslau came to the estate on a motorcycle to report on the events in their city. A gendarme followed in the afternoon, but at first he only searched for weapons. During the night, a mob of farmers and the SA entered the house, beating up and threatening the Zionist youths. All those still on the premises had to pack their belongings and were taken to the Opole police station by truck that same night. The young women were later released there, while the young men were transported to Buchenwald concentration camp. After a few weeks, all Ellgut members of the Hechaluz (as far as is known) were released. They either left the country immediately or had to wait in Ellguth until they were offered places in a similar institution in the Netherlands (usually in Werkdorp). Former Ellguth residents became active in the resistance group around Joop Westerweel in the Netherlands in the 1940s, while others were among the founders of the Gal Ed kibbutz in Palestine/Israel in 1945. There are no reliable descriptions of Ellguth's history from mid-1939 to 1941 or as a place for Jewish forced labor.