Hanna Bergas
Encyclopedia
Hanna Bergas was a German teacher. Fired from her job and prevented from teaching in public schools in Nazi Germany
, she found employment at a private
boarding school
in Herrlingen, in southern Germany. In 1939, Bergas was part of the group of teachers from Bunce Court School
that met the Kindertransport
s and helped the refugee children adjust to their new lives in England. After the war, Bergas emigrated a second time, moving to the United States.
Bergas was then hired by Anna Essinger
to teach history at her private boarding school, Landschulheim Herrlingen. Within months, Essinger decided that Nazi Germany
was no longer conducive to educating children and she moved the entire school to Kent
, England. Bergas and her cousin, Helmut Schneider, who also became a teacher there, moved with the school.
In 1938, Essinger was asked to organize a reception camp at Dovercourt
for the Kindertransports coming from Germany with thousands of children unaccompanied by their parents. From December 1938 to January 1939, Bergas was part of the group of four staff people from Bunce Court, three teachers and a cook, who went to meet the Kindertransports and help the children adjust to their new situation. Bergas described the scene at the arrival of the first transport with hundreds of confused children who neither knew each other nor anyone else, who were "full of anxiety and distrust" because of bad treatment received under growing anti-semitism
.
After Bunce Court School closed in 1948, Bergas emigrated to the United States, settling in Palo Alto, California. She wrote a memoir about her experience teaching in England at Bunce Court. Called Fifteen Years: Lived among, with and for refugee children, 1933-1948, it is archived at the Leo Baeck Institute
in New York.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, she found employment at a private
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in Herrlingen, in southern Germany. In 1939, Bergas was part of the group of teachers from Bunce Court School
Bunce Court School
The Bunce Court School was an independent, private boarding school in the village of Otterden, in Kent, England. It was founded in 1933 by Anna Essinger, who had previously founded a boarding school, Landschulheim Herrlingen in the south of Germany, but after the Nazi Party seized power in 1933,...
that met the Kindertransport
Kindertransport
Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig...
s and helped the refugee children adjust to their new lives in England. After the war, Bergas emigrated a second time, moving to the United States.
Career
Bergas was fired from her job in early April 1933 as the Third Reich began restricting employment for Jews. Bergas arrived at school shortly before 8:00 a.m. and was greeted by the principal, who asked her to step into his office, whereupon he told her he'd been given orders to prevent her from going to her classroom and that she was no longer allowed to teach at German schools. There was no one to say goodbye to because her colleagues were all in their classrooms, so she gathered her belongings and went home. That afternoon, people came by to express their sorrow and anger at their country. Colleagues and pupils with their mothers brought flowers of all sorts and sizes. By evening, the flowers and fragrance had created the ambience of a funeral. Bergas wrote, "...and indeed, this was the funeral of my time teaching at a German public school."Bergas was then hired by Anna Essinger
Anna Essinger
Anna Essinger was a German-Jewish educator. At the age of 20, she went to finish her education in the United States, where she encountered Quakers and was greatly influenced by their attitudes, adopting them for her own...
to teach history at her private boarding school, Landschulheim Herrlingen. Within months, Essinger decided that Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
was no longer conducive to educating children and she moved the entire school to Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England. Bergas and her cousin, Helmut Schneider, who also became a teacher there, moved with the school.
In 1938, Essinger was asked to organize a reception camp at Dovercourt
Dovercourt
For the neighbourhood in Toronto see Dovercourt-Wallace Emerson-JunctionDovercourt is a small seaside town in Essex, England. It is older than its smaller but better-known neighbour, the port of Harwich, and appears in the Domesday Book of 1086...
for the Kindertransports coming from Germany with thousands of children unaccompanied by their parents. From December 1938 to January 1939, Bergas was part of the group of four staff people from Bunce Court, three teachers and a cook, who went to meet the Kindertransports and help the children adjust to their new situation. Bergas described the scene at the arrival of the first transport with hundreds of confused children who neither knew each other nor anyone else, who were "full of anxiety and distrust" because of bad treatment received under growing anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
.
After Bunce Court School closed in 1948, Bergas emigrated to the United States, settling in Palo Alto, California. She wrote a memoir about her experience teaching in England at Bunce Court. Called Fifteen Years: Lived among, with and for refugee children, 1933-1948, it is archived at the Leo Baeck Institute
Leo Baeck Institute
The Leo Baeck Institute-New York in Manhattan is a library, archive, and exhibition centre devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. The Institutes's offices and collections are housed in Center for Jewish History in New York City...
in New York.