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School And Teachers
At the turn of the century, Scheindorf
already had, because of the high number of
students, two classes in the religious
elementary school. According to witnesses,
the school building stood across from the
current school on the estate of Balthasar
Pfefferkorn. At that time, Head Teacher Paul
Petuker was also the choirmaster: Hans
Muller handled the second class from
1900-1911. The Swabian children were taught
in Hungarian, and were only allowed one
afternoon when they were taught to read and
write German. The willingness to sacrifice
of the Swabian townspeople made it possible
to build a new school in place of the no
longer useful and up-to-date one. The cost
of the new building, which was dedicated and
officially opened on December 8, 1902, was
8,000 Kronen. The Swabians were able to
enjoy this school, which was built with such
great sacrifice, for only 15 years, because
it became the victim of a fire on August 21,
1917. The Swabians wasted no time, but
rebuilt quickly. In 1919, a new school
opened, at a cost of 85,000 Kronen. This
building is still used today for the
education and training of students.
Petuker's successor in 1907 was Johann
Prommer. Muller's place - he was transferred
to Madratz - was taken by Georg Schradi in
December 1911. After Prommer and Schradi
were drafted into the army in 1914, Pastor
Ettinger took over the teaching. In 1915,
teacher Emmerich Horvath became
choir-master, but he too was drafted in
1916. His successor, Ludwig Krause, died
after a short period of teaching so that the
priest had to help again. From 1917-1918,
Stefan Jackel and Elisabeth Feld worked at
the Scheindorf Elementary School. When Georg
Schradi came back from the war in 1919,
teacher Feld left her position.
With the change in government in 1919, there
was also a change in the schools. The
Romanian authorities ordered that German be
used in the Swabian communities in the
Sathmar area. The Hungarian bishop and his
priests opposed this measure and took the
point of view that the Hungarian school law
of 1868 gave the school officials and the
Church community the right to decide which
language to use. Therefore, the bishop on
March 15, 1921 ordered each pastor to take a
statement from each family about which
language they considered as their mother
tongue. Pastor Ettinger and his Scheindorf
parishioners decided unanimously to use the
German language. The teaching in German,
which was officially reintroduced in 1921,
continues to today.
Georg Schradi, who could not come to terms
with the annexation of the Sathmar area of
Romania, left for Hungary in 1923. The
school became one class, and choirmaster
Jackel had to teach more than 100 children
for the time being. Only in the fall of 1926
was the second job of teacher filled by
Margarita Lang, who stayed until 1940. In
1936, Stefan Jackel left the town and moved
to Terebesch. His successor was Martin
Gyetko, and his wife Franziska, who started
as a third teacher in 1938, took over the
second teacher position in 1940. Both of
them worked until the evacuation of the town
in October, 1944. They taught 120 students
on the average.
Pastor Ettinger, after the annexation, was
the savior of the German religious school.
In 1948, when all the schools in Romania
became state schools, the Scheindorf
Elementary School kept German as the
teaching language. Two teachers teach the 50
children in the primary school.
Scheindorf's little children, who were taken
care of in a child-care facility, in
Hungarian until 1915, and in German between
the two world wars, have been taught in a
German Kindergarten since 1968.
[Credits,
Originally Published by Jody McKim Pharr at the DVHH.org 29 Sep 2006]
[Published by Sarah Coraggio
at the DVHH on 2 October 2018]
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Last
Updated:
13 Oct 2018 |
Keeping the Danube
Swabian legacy alive!
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