ÍdichSchule Memories: movements of a Jewish school, through the narratives of students and teachers (1922-1956, Porto Alegre/RS)

• Published in: Perspectiva (Florianópolis, Brazil) Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 908 - 929
• Main Author: Doris Bittencourt Almeida
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 01.10.2018
• Subjects: Acervos de memórias orais; Educação dos judeus; História da educação; História oral
• ISSN: 0102-5473; 2175-795X
• DOI: 10.5007/2175-795X.2018v36n3p908

This paper is about processes of education lived by a Jewish community in Porto Alegre, and focuses on the construction of a school, the ÍdichSchule. The research covers the period from 1922, date of foundation of the first synagogue and of the school, to the year of 1956, when this school goes through important transformations, and begins to provide High School education. The empirical corpus consists of narratives of oral memory by long-lived people, mostly of Jewish origin, students and/or teachers from this educational institution. The interviews were produced between the decades of 1980 and 1990, which were filed in a Jewish collection, and had been translated to a written culture. This investigation is interested in aspects that were chosen by the narrators as memories of communal experiences. By means of documentary analysis, it was possible to understand the memories of these individuals who preserve, almost viscerally, an appreciation for written culture. Above all, it is possible to state that the construction of a place to study was as important as a place to pray. Therefore, ÍdichSchule was constituted in this interface; it was an institution that needed, as well as many others, to surpass oppositions in order to fit in the Brazilian society. In this sense, it is possible to infer that there was an intention of assimilation amid discussions on the Jewish situation in Brazilian society. In disputes, which were expressed through understandings around students’ development, they sought a conciliation between the ones that prioritized religious teaching and those that defended a more secular education.