Erna Barschak

Last updated

Erna Barschak
Born(1888-12-09)9 December 1888 [1]
Died12 October 1958(1958-10-12) (aged 69)
NationalityGerman
Occupations
  • Teacher
  • psychologist

Erna Barschak was a German teacher of vocational education studies and a psychologist. One of her important works is an autobiography about her emigration from Nazi Germany to the US.

Contents

Life

Barschak was a leaned typist and bookkeeper and worked in this position for 6 years, until she received a diploma in the field of business education. In 1915 Barschak completed the German Abitur which allowed her to go on to university, where she studied economics, sociology and psychology in Berlin and Tübingen. [2] Throughout her studies Barschak was a teacher at evening schools and after being awarded a doctorate in 1912, she moved on to work as a teacher at the public college for business and economics in Berlin as well as at the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus, known as a social center and school for sociology as well as women's education. During this time Barschak frequently published articles in socio-scientific journals, for example the weekly paper "Social Practice" (Soziale Praxis) published by Susanne Charlotte Engelmann. [3]

In 1930 Barschak became a professor at the public institute for teaching vocational education in Berlin, she was however removed from this post in 1933 following the rise to power of the Nazi party in Germany. Barschak was able to leave Berlin and move to London and Genf to study psychology, [3] which spared her the experience of career stagnation, as well as further occupational and private reprimands. However Barschak returned in 1935, while the Nazis were still in power, for an involvement in the Jewish educational system. She taught psychology and pedagogy at the Jewish academy for the education of teachers in Berlin and was actively involved in the preparation for emigration within the education system. This work, which she organised together with Fritz Bamberger, erroneously associated Barschak with Zionism. [3] In September 1939, notably the month of the invasion of Poland by the Nazis and thus marking the beginning of World War II, Barschak began to prepare her emigration by getting into contact with people she was associated with. [3] In 1940 she reached the US via Great Britain and with the help of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), secured a place as a Refugee Scholar at the Wilson College in Pennsylvania for the academic year 1941/42, a position that a year later would be transferred to Susanne Charlotte Engelmann. [4] Similar to Susanne Charlotte Engelmanns experience, this job opened up a way into academia which fortunately saved the career aspirations of the two women. [5] Hence Erna Barschak subsequently became a professor for psychology at the Miami University in Ohio. [4]

After her emigration to the US, Barschak published an autobiography which collect her experiences as an immigrant. [6] She illustrates a variety of problems for academic war refugees, especially within the new and unfamiliar work environment. For example, she describes the utopian and unrealistic idea, to be able to instantly continue their occupational career in the new home country.

Publications

Literature

Related Research Articles

Fritz Bamberger was a German Jewish Scholar, educator and magazine editor who directed the school system for the education of Jews in pre- World War II, was the editor-in-chief of Coronet starting in 1942, and taught and wrote in the areas of philosophy and intellectual history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Masaryková</span> Czech social worker and politician

Alice Masaryková or Alice Garrigue Masaryk was a Czech teacher, sociologist and politician. She is a prominent figure within the field of applied sociology and known to many as the daughter of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the First Lady of Czechoslovakia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek</span> Public library in Berlin

The Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek is one of the largest public libraries in Berlin, Germany. It was co-financed by a donation from the United States. The building was designed by American and German architects, including Fritz Bornemann and Willy Kreuer. It was opened on September 17, 1954, and was originally planned to become the Central Library of Berlin.

Frieda Wunderlich was a German sociologist, economist and politician of the German Democratic Party. She was actively involved in the women's movement fighting for gender equality.

Erna Lendvai-Dircksen was a German photographer known for a series of volumes of portraits of rural individuals from throughout Germany. During the Third Reich, she also photographed for eugenicist publications and was commissioned to document the new Autobahn and the workers constructing it.

Susanne Charlotte Engelmann was a German professor of education, a Protestant of Jewish descent, who emigrated to the United States following the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Bühler</span> German-American psychologist

Charlotte Bühler was a German-American developmental psychologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helmut Müller-Enbergs</span> German political scientist (born 1960)

Helmut Müller-Enbergs is a German political scientist who has written extensively on the Stasi and related aspects of the German Democratic Republic's history.

Trude Richter was a writer, literary scholar and teacher who became a political activist. She spent many years detained in labour camps in the Soviet Union, but she remained a committed Communist throughout her life.

Dr. Willy Cohn was a German historian and teacher. During the Nazi era, he documented the Jewish life in Breslau in his diaries, until he and his family were deported to German-occupied Lithuania and killed.

Karl Günther Ernst Felix Becker was a German art historian, best known today for the project Thieme-Becker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susanne von Nathusius</span> German painter

Susanne Philippine von Nathusius was a German portrait painter who worked in Halle and Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susanne Schädlich</span> German writer and literary translator (born 1965)

Susanne Schädlich is a German writer and literary translator. She is also experienced as a "ghost writer".

Rachel Zipora Dror is a German Jewish teacher and Holocaust survivor. After returning from Israel to live in Germany in 1957, and more intensively since her retirement from teaching in 1986, she has come to wider prominence because of her engagement for Christian-Jewish-Islamic co-existence, and as an advocate for religious openness and mutual tolerance. She turned 100 on 19 January 2021.

Gertrud Herzog-Hauser was an Austrian classical philologist. She was specialised in ancient mythology and religion as well as Latin literature and published Latin school textbooks. She campaigned for equal rights for women in education.

Herbert Arthur Strauss was a German-born American historian.

Christine Fischer-Defoy is a German woman writer, film director and cultural historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Salomon-Lindberg</span> German alto singer

Paula Salomon-Lindberg was an internationally renowned German classical contralto before the Second World War. She was specialised in Lied, oratorio and cantata, but occasionally also performed opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie von Milde</span> German woman activist

Natalie von Milde, Natalie Haller until 1881 was a German writer and feminist. She was an adoptive daughter of Rosa von Milde (1827–1906) and Hans Feodor von Milde (1821–1899).

Leonie Adele Spitzer was an Austrian writer, poet, and educator.

References

  1. The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; NAI Title: Declarations of Intention for Citizenship, 1/19/1842 - 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21
  2. Christine von Oertzen, Strategie Verständigung – Zur transnationalen Vernetzung von Akademikerinnen 1917–1955 Göttingen 2012, biographical appendix. Also the following.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Oertzen, Strategie Verständigung, p. 308.
  4. 1 2 Oertzen, Strategie Verständigung, p. 333.
  5. Oertzen, Strategie Verständigung, p. 326.
  6. Oertzen, Strategie Verständigung, p. 320f. Also the following.