Kaunas Jewish Gymnasium with the Lithuanian language of instruction : a construct of confrontation between Germans and Jews

Straipsnyje, remiantis Lietuvos centrinio valstybės archyvo medžiaga ir prieška-rio Lietuvos periodiniais leidiniais, nagrinėjamas žydų tautybės vaikų mokymasis 1920m. įsteigtoje Kauno vokiečių gimnazijoje. Atskleidžiami 1925m. atsiradę ne-sutarimai tarp vokiečių ir žydų dėl smarkiai pakelto mokesčio už vaikų mokymąsi gimnazijoje ne vokiečių tautybės asmenims. Dar didesnę konfrontaciją sukėlė anti-semitizmo politika nacių valdomoje Vokietijoje, paskatinusi Lietuvos žydų protestus ir vokiečių boikotą. Atskleidžiami žydų bendruomenės veiksmai paimant savo vai-kus iš Kauno vokiečių gimnazijos 1933m. pavasarį ir steigiant jiems atskirą moky-klą – Kauno žydų gimnaziją dėstomąja lietuvių kalbaThe present study is aimed at exploring the reasons for founding Kaunas Jewish Gymnasium with the Lithuanian language of instruction as well as its wider histo-rical context. The article is based on the materials found in the collections of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Lithuania and available at the Lithuanian Central State Archives; the periodical publications of that time were also made use of.The article draws the reader’s attention to the fact that in the period after the First World War, when the independent state of Lithuania was founded, ethnic minorities were provided with a possibility of establishing their own national schools. Those schools were also attended by students of other nationalities, including Lithuanians. However, that was not typical of Jewish schools, which were attended exclusively by Jewish children.When the German gymnasium was established in Kaunas, it was attended by more than a hundred of Jewish children and a smaller number of children of other natio-nalities. The tuition fee was the same for all, irrespective of the nationality. However, the situation changed in 1925: the school-supporting society passed into the hands of Germans and issued the regulation that children of other nationalities should pay over three times more. The parents of the students, who were mostly Jews, objected to that regulation though they were not in the capacity to change the discriminating situation. Thus the children continued to attend the gymnasium, and their parents were made to pay the high tuition fee.When national socialists came to power in Germany with their leader Adolf Hitler in the position of the chancellor, the anti-Semitic manifestations became more wi-despread. The Lithuanian Jewish community expressed solidarity with the Jews in Germany by organizing protest meetings and announcing boycott of Germans in Lithuania [...]Mokytojų rengimo institutasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta