Memorial plaque for Jewish pupils at Reismann-Gymnasium on Reismannweg

In the 2023/2024 school year, class 10a of Paderborn's Reismann-Gymnasium dealt with the topic of „anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination in OWL – then and now“. One result is a memorial plaque (pictures) on the school building on Reismannweg, developed with the support of the city archives and the Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit (GCJZ). The memorial plaque commemorates twelve Jewish pupils in the years 1933 - 1937 who were forced to leave the former Reismann Oberrealschule. The most important task of the school for the National Socialists was to teach the children the racial ideology of the National Socialists as early as possible. Hitler saw school as just a preliminary stage for the Wehrmacht.

The proportion of Jewish pupils at the then Oberrealschule was between 3 and 5 percent between 1922 and 1933. In 1933/34, the expulsion of Jews from the upper secondary schools was initiated. From 1937, there was not a single Jewish pupil left.