School of General Education

The last remaining Jewish school in Hamburg during the Nazi era was located at Karolinenstra<e 35 from 1938. On April 29, 1942, the Gestapo in Hamburg decreed that the Israelitische Töchterschule at Karolinenstraße 35 had to be closed. Since December 1941, a smear campaign had been launched by the school administration to deprive the Jewish community of its school.

As late as August 1840, the Chief Rabbi Dr. Ullmann had submitted an application for the establishment of a Jewish elementary school - a predecessor of today's elementary schools. This application was supported by Mayor Leysner of the city of Krefeld. A school building was erected towards the end of the same year. The school rooms were located at Lohstraße 613. From 1853, the Jewish school moved to premises at Petersstraße 159 (today house number 41) due to lack of space. In 1860, the Jewish community acquired the house at Felbelstraße 15 (later 26) to accommodate its growing student body.

The house Rektoratstraße 10 was acquired by the Jewish community in 1862. The building served different purposes. In the basement was the Jewish school. The private school was nationalized in 1905. It existed until 1932, when the last Jewish teacher - Israel Nussbaum - retired.

On the second floor of the building, the Jewish community built a prayer hall, which existed until the expropriation of the property around 1939/1940. The building passed into municipal ownership.

See description of the synagogue.

The school was named after Hans Rosenthal in his honor. Since then, the students have been studying Rosenthal's history as a Jew and his survival during the Nazi era.

Hans Rosenthal (April 2, 1925 in Berlin; February 10, 1987) was a famous showmaster who had to hide from the Nazis in a summerhouse when he was 18 to 20 years old. He was survived at 62 by his son Gert Rosenthal, who himself has given interviews at the school and says that naming the school after his father was a matter close to his heart. Hans became famous through his show Dalli Dalli.

The Jewish International School - Masorti Elementary School was established in 2018 with the desire to give Jewish children a sense of self-evidence in living out Judaism and culture. In doing so, the all-day school serves children in grades 1 through 6, and the languages of instruction include German, Hebrew and English.

Masorti e.V also offers two day care centers for children. For more information visit the website of Masorti e.V.

From 1890, the Jewish Community House also housed the Jewish Community School. This was crucial to the development of the community, as the Jewish Community School allowed for an autonomous, Jewish education for children.

For a long time there was vehement resistance from the Hanau Vorsteheramt against an independent, Jewish school system. Officially, the aim was to bring the Jewish community closer to the Christian community and to put aside mutual prejudices. At the same time, however, one reason was that the "Jewish youth should give up a number of bad habits".