You will find it easier to follow this if you have read the
book The
House on Schellberg Street
Hani’s story
An interesting friendship
Consider Hani’s friendship with Renate. They are firm
friends at the beginning of the book. Hani lived and was brought up in Stuttgart.
Renate was brought up in Jena. Perhaps the link is Renate’s grandmother who
lives in Stuttgart.
How might the friendship have developed?
Renate went to a church school.
Hani went to a Waldorf school.
To do
Read the first two chapters where we are introduced to
Renate and Hani.
Work in groups to create the scene where they first met.
Now write a conversation that they might have had about
their two schools.
Chapters that might help you:
Hani, 2 June 1939 (especially the letter from
Renate)
Secrets
Hani’s parents are being secretive about something. See the
following chapters:
Hani 28
February 1939
What was their
secret?
To do
Imagine that Hani
now understands what was going on.
She writes a letter to Renate explaining it
all.
Make up a television
or radio interview about Hani’s parents. You will need a presenter and Hani.
The school in the cellar
Study the following
passages.
Hani 28
February 1939
Hani 12 April 1939
Hani 7 May 1939
Hani 14 May 1939
Hani, 2 June 1939
Hani 8 June 1944
Hani 19 November 1944
Hani 10 May 1945
To do
Make a timeline –
roughly one sentence per chapter – to show the history of the school
Make some of the stories
into diary entries by Hani.
Take one of the scenes
and make it into a short sketch.
Notes for teachers
The friendship between Hani and Renate
You can trace this in the chapters mentioned and you will no
doubt find more information in Clara’s
Story as there are some notes here from Renate’s earlier childhood.
Renate made several visits to Stuttgart and would have been influenced
by what her grandmother, Clara Lehrs, knew about the Waldorf School there. When
she was very little she and her parents and her grandmother all lived in Jena.
Her grandmother at that time worked at another Steiner institution: the Lauenstein,
where children with severe learning difficulties had residential care and education.
Hani went to the Waldorf School. The main influences of the
Waldorf School at that time would have been:
·
Deep Christianity
·
Deep spirituality
·
Inclusive education
·
Love for and engagement with the arts
Hani went to the Waldorf School after not getting on very
well at the normal state school
In some ways Renate and Hani were very different. Renate was
tall, slim and athletic. Hani was a little lazy and slightly overweight.
The chicken pox is a very important factor. Watch it carefully.
Again, there is more about this in Clara’s
Story.
Secrets
Many people secretly supported the Jews and resisted fascism
in Nazi Germany. They did this at great risk to themselves. Renate’s teachers
put themselves at risk and we read a lot more about this in Shooting Hitler, the fourth book in the Schellberg cycle.
The school in the cellar
It really did exist. In fact, it was so successful that it carried
on for many years after the war, only moving on when it became too big for the
house on Schellberg Street.
Several of the children were Down syndrome, epileptics or had
other physical or mental disorders. Ironically Clara Lehrs was looking after people
who were considered to be “defective” when she was an unwanted person herself.
Hani is a completely fictional character though Clara Lehrs
and Karl Schubert are not. Your students might like to find out more about them.
Though Hani is fictional her engagement with the BDM is based
on fact. The Bund Deutscher Mädel, Association of German Girls, is the girls’ equivalent
of the Hitler youth and was compulsory for girls aged 14 and above. The uniform
was very elegant and there were all sorts of interesting activities and opportunities
for the young girls. It must have been a real boon in the depressed 1930s.
Likewise the Reichsarbeitsdienst, government work service, was
a reality for slightly older girls. They were expected to do this after they left
school. Many girls worked on farms though often in the house and taking on housewifely
duties whilst the farmer’s wives worked the land. This was followed by the Kriegshilfsdienst, war help service, with
some girls continuing to work on farms, or for the post office or in hosptial.
It was perfeclty legitiamte
for Hani get a job as a housekepeer for
Herr Kühn. Women were meant to become homemakers and Kinder, Kirche, Küche (children,
church, cooking) was highly important. We might say that this indoctrination began
with the BDM.
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