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A Remembrance of the Past; Building for the Future." ~ Eve Eckert Koehler



Remembering Our Danube Swabian Ancestors
     
 

The School Rooms

By Peter Lang
Translated by Brad Schwebler

 The oldest school rooms may have been:

  1. No. 1 Karl Hanweck Street with teacher’s apartment.

  2. No. 2 Pavelic Street with teacher’s apartment, both belonging to the Serbian church.

  3. No. 4 Pavelic Street, two rooms, belonged to the political community and about 1930 it was demolished in view of the new building plan.

  4. No. 69 Reiter Square, former community house (city hall) with a very beautiful classroom, principal – chancellor, library (bookroom) and appliance room as well as a broom closet (former kitchen (Kittchen)).  Also a service apartment belonged to it too.

  5. At No. 71 Reiter Square was the school of teacher Rittberg with service apartment and two classrooms.  The house originally belonged to the “military border”, and with the building complex there were also large stalls (about 5 x 15 meters).  I, Peter Lang, lived here from 1942 on, and no longer Ms. Rittberg as it states in the village plan.

  6. At No. 73 Reiter Square there was a classroom and a service apartment.  It belonged to Miss Vukovanovic.  From about 1939 on the rooms were given up, although it had been necessary to use them.  With the problem the purpose was pursued to urgently move ahead with the school building.

  7. Also the old parsonage, in which the Luther Hall was later erected, was a school until about 1932.  In Luther Hall the confirmation and religious instruction took place, but it no longer served school purposes.

  8. Around the turn of the century there was also a rented classroom in the house at No. 5 Willi Messerer Street.

       For religious instruction the Reformed had a classroom in the parsonage.  During the war the festival room in the Serbian church, the zbornica, was a classroom as well.

   With the separation of the school in the fall of 1941 the Croatians received the room at 1 Hanweck Street, 2 Pavelic Street, and shared the zbornica next to the Serbian parsonage.  The German school received the buildings at No. 69 and No. 71 Reiter Square.  These rooms already were not used for school purposes before World War I.  The political community accumulated considerable savings surplus for a new building, but this was completely devalued through inflation.  In the first decade after World War I the mayor neglected a new attempt.  After 1930 there was a general world economic crisis.  As this was the time of the Abbysinian War ended, new efforts were made for the school building.  Because the first savings was devalued, one naturally believed it was better to save.  For this reason about 100,000 bricks were purchased and stored at the building site at No. 4 Pavelic Street.  Then World War II came and nothing was done with the school building again.  But as one heard the plan was realized after the war.  Beschka now had a 9th school year.  The principal was again Velislav Starcevic, a capable organization teacher.

   Perhaps there still may not be interest, as the mood for the school building changed.  The mayor let many respected citizens and all teachers come together to a general discussion besides the community council and local school council.  All, except for community councilman Marko Laparovic, 14 – 16 Pavelic Street, were united that one must build a school.  Only they were not all prepared to grant the money.  But Laparovic was against it with the reason that large classrooms would be difficult to heat and the children would catch colds in the cold rooms.  A general hidden laugh from all participants of the meeting was the source for this thanks to the fool.  

[Published at DVHH.org by Jody McKim Pharr, 2005]