Front page of the Jewish Community Paper with the obituary from RabbiVogelstein
Front page of the JewishCommunity Paper with the obituary from Rabbi Vogelstein.
IN MEMORY OF PAULAOLLENDORFF
In Jerusalem she died. It isexactly one year since she left Breslau with the yearning to see andexperiencethe Holyland, but always with the intention of turning back. Becauseshe was so liberal minded and wanted to move freely in another country she hadto learn another language. Her heart however remained in Breslau.
Her letter from Jerusalemgave the deep impression again that this was a wonderful city and that theadmiration for the place had been created by the strange nature of the placebut with it came the serious worry about much that she observed there. Also come the summer the wish andthe hope of returning to Breslau. Her state of health prevented these wishes.For years we know she was a very sick lady. Only her will to live, theastonishing energy, the unrequited fervour of her tireless spirit had kept hergoing until the complete failure of her organism.
Paula Ollendorff was apersonality of quite a character who devoted herself to the work she undertook.The dominating principle of her life was with the problem of education and whatit stood for. She was a holy person with a deep religious outlook.
She was born in Kostenbluton 18th. May 1860 and had attended school in Breslau. Her drive for educationand training then took her to teacher training college. She then went as ateacher overseas.
As both in Budapest andLondon the friendships that she had with former pupils and families, thisfriendship she was to receive her whole life through and was evidence of theperson she was.
She was the bestrepresentative of the Womens Labour seizing the opportunity to educate and tolead the Jews. She was taken with the knowledge that the upbringing andeducation of individuals from all circles of life must be seized. With thispoint of view she had acheived much of her social work, including her work forthe youth and her care for people at risk. Our Community Synagogue owes thanksto her ideas and continual co-operation with the Jewish babies and smallchildren, care for the Jewish childrens homes and the Jewish housekeepingschools of which carry her name. As a member of the Council and with thereorganisation of the social work her achievement was outstanding. She had inthis position projected her own rhetorical talent, shared her own outstandingexperiences, her knowledge of languages and literature and her deepunderstanding for art and music. Our Community Synagogue held her in thehighest honour.
We will miss her, her placeremains empty because the magic of her pewrsonaliy is absent. But her words andher voice remain living with us.
Born in Kostenblut, daughterof a businessman Hermann Ollendorff, Paula Ollendorff stood in Social Historyfor being at the start of the Social Welfare Tribunal in the Jewish Communityof Breslau.
After completion of teachertraining college she worked as a teacher for Berta Lindner in Breslau, Budapestand London.
In 1918 she became the firstwoman in Germany to become a member of the Town Council in Breslau, asrepresentative of the German Democratic Party. She founded a home forillegitimate children and a school of home economics. For many years she wasprincipal of a nursery school for the Jewish Womens Federal Office.
She died in Jerusalem.