Walking Tour in English and German: Fräulein Zukertort and the private education of girls in Flensburg. Meeting point: Mask-Fountain (next to the Sparkasse bank, Südergraben 8)

3 pm – 4 pm:  Walking tour with Rachel Calladine, Monument Protection of the City of Flensburg. 

‘Fräulein’ Marie Antonie Amalie Zukertort was 43 years old when she arrived in Flensburg in 1896 to take over Louise Johannsen’s Private Higher School for Girls in Südergraben. The headmistress, who came from a Jewish family from Piotrków, Poland, soon set about finding new premises - no easy task with almost 300 pupils. Unused warehouses in backyards, residential buildings as well as purpose-built school premises were put to use. Her most ambitious school building project was however never realised; she was denied planning permission. After selling her school, along with its contents and library, to the city of Flensburg in 1912, she founded a private vocational training school for women in Südergraben.

The educational landscape in Flensburg was strongly influenced by private schools in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many prominent families in Flensburg sent their daughters to the private schools which formed a dense network, particularly in the area around Große Straße, Nordergraben and Südergraben. Many of these former school buildings still stand today; most have since been converted into flats. Whilst the public school buildings have a very visible presence in the city, the numerous private school buildings have almost completely fallen into oblivion.

The walk takes in all of Zukertort’s schools and also points out the numerous educational institutions that peppered Nordergraben and Südergraben around 1900.