Two rare photographs depicting historical events at the "Tarbut" Gymnasium in Rowna, between the two world wars.
A photograph showing Rabbi Aharon Hacohen Rappaport put the Mezuzah at the entrance to the new gymnasium building, October 8, 1933. The gymnasium moved to its new location on "13th Division Street" on the eve of the 1934 school year. It was a holiday in the city and a crowd of people had gathered. Rabbi Aharon Hacohen Rapoport, an enthusiastic Zionist activist and one of the founders of the gymnasium building in its new housing, was engaged in forest trade and for a time was a business partner of H.N. Bialik. Rabbi Rappaport perished in the Holocaust. The photograph is divided back for use as a postcard. Signed with ink stamp of local photo Studio "Alfa" size: 9x14 cm.
Group photo of teachers and graduates of Tarbut Gymnasium, class of 1935-1936. The photo shows, among others: third from right teacher Shtif, fifth Berkovsky, sixth Director of the gymnasium Dr. Issachar Reis, seventh Mrs. Axelbird handicraft teacher, ninth Krolik. Immediately after the Soviet annexation in 1939, the gymnasium ceased to exist as a Hebrew gymnasium. The languages of instruction were now Yiddish and Russian. Dr. Reiss moved with his family to Lvov, his hometown, where he perished in the Holocaust. The photograph is described on the back in pencil, and divided for use as a postcard. Signed with ink stamp of local "Alfa" Photo Studio. size: 9x14 cm. Minor cracks. Tear at the top of the photo.
"Tarbut" was a network of Zionist Hebrew schools that operated in Eastern European countries, particularly in Lithuania and Poland, during the interwar period between World War I and World War II. The origin of the Hebrew school was in the network of schools affiliated with the Jewish "Haskalah" (Enlightenment) movement in Eastern Europe, and later in the corrected rooms operated by Hovevei Zion in Russia at the end of the 19th century. The corrected Chayders were, in fact, more modern Chayders, open to new approaches, with a national character and public supervision. The Holocaust, which wiped out most of Polish Jewry, also brought an end to a cultural network. Amos Oz's autobiographical book, "A Tale of Love and Darkness", describes the murder of Tarbut students and their teachers in Rovno, Volhynia region, by the Nazis.
