Members of the local school council were: the principal, the community
judge (mayor) and until 1921 the pastor of each of the offices because: he was
also an elected member of the community committee (community council).
Schools were examined by the school council as well.
From 1941 on the local school council was appointed by the local leader.
Members were: Dr. H. Renner as local leader, Mayor Stefan Hoffmann, master locksmith Johann Heib,
Senior Karl Peter, and myself as principal.
The local school council posted the estimate for the school and the
community council took it as a rule without hesitation in the community
estimate. Until 1921 the
teachers’ pay was also in it. From
1921 on the school was nationalized, and the teachers were paid by the state.
For the community the provision for firewood remained the highest
priority, but thanks to the laws of the “military border” the community only
paid the freight for the school’s wood and the teacher’s firewood.
Each teacher received 4 fathoms = 16 square meters of oak or beech wood
in the year. Coal was either used
in the schools or in the apartments. From
1942 on the state also took over these assignments for the school. The state paid from then on a very high sum for the cooking.
But there was a catch. The
food could only be legally purchased with a food card, and there were none.
Not to let the posts for food lapse into disuse, I established from
studying the office papers that fish was free from food cards.
But the question emerged, who could supply the fish.
The farmers cooperative could supply food, but no fish – but sufficient
bills. In the district school office where the accounts were settled
one was astonished over the purchasing possibilities, and it did not last long
before the “fishing economy” was boosted.
Fortunately the school council didn’t ask how the fish tasted, except
only, did we also have firewood. Of
course we also had firewood because the cooperative also “supplied” this for
the permissible “high price”… Why
simply, because it was also complicated.
The
Continuing Education Schools
The continuing
education schools were :
The citizens
school:
Composed of four grades of public school. Lasted 4 years. Strict
selections improved the success. Special
worth was placed on natural science subjects such as physics and chemistry.
Mathematics was the same as in grammar school.
German was taught as a foreign language.
The school was especially suited for technical occupations.
Citizen schools in the area of Beschka were in India until 1918
(Hungarian), in Neusatz until 1941 (Serbian), and in India again from 1941 on
(German). The students rode there
on the train.
The
Grammar School
Composed of four grades of public school.
Lasting 8 years. There were
also strict selections here. It
concluded with a “Matura” = “Abitur” (final exam?).
Foreign languages included German, Latin, and formerly also Greek.
The “Matura” was entitled to the highest school attendance.
The nearest grammar school for Beschka was in Karlowitz until 1941, and
from 1941 on in Ruma (German). The
students rode the train to Karlowitz. In
Ruma they had to have living quarters and eating places.
The Trade Academy
The
trade academy in Yugoslavia was not a high school, but a middle school in which
one attended after four grades of grammar school and after four school years
concluded with a final examination. There
was only one such school in the cities. But nearby Beschka had also received one such school.
This is not a bad joke, but the whole truth because probably few people
from Beschka heard anything about it. In
the summer of 1941 I received from the Office of School Ways the order to buy
space in Beschka for the trade academy because it should move from Semlin to
Beschka to get out of the way of the air raid.
For A levels to be authorized, one had to attend a high school.
The nearest trade academy was in Neusatz (Serbian), and from 1941 on in
Semlin (German). From 1944 on one
was planned for Beschka.
Until
1900 all these schools were attended by three or four German students from
Beschka at the most. After that,
until 1918, the citizen schools were attended by more people from Beschka.
Some, about five to ten students, attended the grammar school in Neusatz
or Neuwerbaß. After 1918 it
remained rather unchanged. The student census was somewhat higher about 1930, but it got
worse again because of the world economic crisis.
After 1936 some more students went again to continuing education schools.
From 1941 on the census of students increased greatly.
Today, after the people fled, it is so, that the people of Beschka
changed from a folk of farmers, craftsmen, and day workers to a folk of
competent specialists and academians.
Particularly strongly represented were the occupations in short supply
such as the tutor. We now have
about 20 preachers, many teachers, guidance counselors, and even high school
teachers. There were also several
doctors, about 10 veterinarians, and about five pharmacists.
There are also many who, with the occupations they learned at home,
worked their way up into leading positions in America.
We have countrymen who have taken up leading positions in the economy
although they had not learned the English language at home.
Also in the unusual occupations such as atomic energy and computers our
countrymen are represented. In
addition it is referred to in the family register.
