Theodor Herzl School memory project

Das Wiedersehen (The Reunion)

Theodor Herzl School memory project

In researching the Margot Dränger testimony, I quickly found this memorial website to the school that Margot and our mother Helga both attended. (Margot came with the influx of new students in 1934. Helga was already a student.)

The school was strongly Zionist and many of its students emigrated to Palestine in the Youth Aliyah of 1938. In 1996, a group of 70 former students met at Kibbutz Ma'abarot. Then in 2006, a smaller group of 35 came to Berlin for a second reunion that was filmed and produced as a documentary film.  

That event was coordinated with the opening of a historical exhibition about the Herzl school. A 52-page exhibition catalog in German includes a written history of the school from 1920 to 1939. I plan to translate that essay to better place our mother in the timeline of school locations. 

The THS website informed me that I could order a package of materials about the two reunion events, including the film, audio recordings, and booklet. I sent a request and was soon in an email exchange with Amir Theilhaber, the son of the reunion organizer Adin Theilhaber-Talbar, who has since passed away.

A few days ago, I received the package and have now watched the film for the first time. I will post about the documentary and the supplementary materials in the future.