Plaque on the Talmud Torah School

The Talmud Torah School (Talmud-Tora-Schule) in Hamburg was founded in 1805. It was the first Jewish school in Germany which combined strict, traditional Judaism with modern education. The school building on the Grindelhof was inaugurated in 1911. In the 1920s, the school director and chief rabbi Joseph Carlebach implemented reforms that modernised teaching there. In 1932, the school was accredited as an Oberrealschule or secondary school authorised to give exams. Girls were accepted to the senior classes in 1933. By 1937, the Talmud Torah School was the largest Jewish school in northern Germany. It was forced to merge with the Jewish girls’ school on Karolinenstrasse in 1939, and the school building in the Grindel quarter had to be cleared. Alberto Jonas, director of the girls’ school, and his small staff managed to keep classes going until all Jewish schools in Germany were finally closed on 30 June 1942. Hundreds of boys and girls and many teachers, including Alberto Jonas and his wife, were deported.

The city of Hamburg bought the building from the Jewish Claims Conference after the war and used it for various purposes over the years. In 2004 it was finally given back to the Jewish community of Hamburg. It has operated as a school again since August 2007. It is now known as the Joseph Carlebach School or Joseph Carlebach Education Centre (Joseph-Carlebach-Bildungshaus) and is a state-accredited private day school with an associated preschool.

Text on the plaque:
This building was erected in 1909-11 following a design by the architect Friedheim.
The school was founded in 1805 in Neustadt.
It was accredited as a Realschule in 1869 and an Oberrealschule in 1932. It was one of the most important Jewish schools in Germany.
In 1939 the school was forced out of this building, and in 1942 it closed in connection with the deportations.