Students of Jewish Ancestry at the Supplemental Industrial School of Tarnobrzeg in the Years 1899 - 1910

   

The Supplemental Industrial School in Tarnobrzeg was establish in 1899 by the Committee of the District Council. It was located in the five classroom Public School and used many of its equipment and school supplies. 1 Teaching took place on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. The school had two levels: preparatory and industrial (the former with one and the latter with two grades). Students who didn't graduate from Public School or never attended one were admitted to the preparatory level following an entry exam. Students who completed grade four were admitted to the first industrial grade. 2

Catalogues (diaries and attendance records) of students in the Industrial Supplemental School during 1899-1910 were used in this article. They are the property of the Commission of Trade Schools in Tarnobrzeg. The first attendance record, dated 1899, was found in the archives of the school. The principal was Jozef Lopatynski. The home room teacher was Jozef Wojtanowski (the family name was not clearly written). The first class had 27 boys of differing ages. There were 24 Roman Catholics and 3 Jews.

Osias Horowitz (b. 1894, Tarnobrzeg) was five years old in the first grade. He learned the trade of a merchant, taking his apprenticeship with his father, the merchant Izrael Horowitz. (In the rest of this article, place of birth will not be mentioned if the student was born in Tarnobrzeg.) Abraham Izaak Laufer (b. 1893, Brooklyn) attended the first grade at age six. He wanted to become a merchant but resigned and returned to America. Jozef Lichtman (b. 1891) had his apprenticeship with the merchant Osias Lichtman.

According to the records of student attendance, grade two of the Supplemental Industrial School in the year 1900/01 consisted of 24 Poles and 3 Jews.

The preparatory class of 35 students in 1901/02 had 9 Jews.

The record of students in 1902/03 is incomplete and partly illegible. The home room teacher was Prazniewski. Sixteen students are recorded in the existing pages of the record. We don't know what grade they attended. Students of the Jewish faith were:

The next available attendance record is for the school year of 1907/08. Regretfully, previous records have vanished. Fourtyfour students attended the preparatory class. The home room teacher was Jozef Lopatynski. Jewish students learning the trade of tailoring were:

Those learning the trade of a merchant were:

Fourteen of the fifty-two students listed in the attendance record of the first class in the school year of 1907/08, were Jewish. Franciszek Kulas was the home room teacher.

Students of the merchant trade were:

Students of the tailoring trade were:

Students in other trades were:

Six of the twenty-four students listed in the attendance record of industrial grade two in the school year of 1907/08 were Jewish. Drafting instructor Antoni Dryja was the home room teacher.

Thirty-two students were registered in the preparatory class of the school year 1908/09. Six of these were Jewish. Their home room teacher was Zygmunt Kolasinski.

Ten of the fourtyone students registered in the industrial first grade were Jews. Their home room teacher was Antoni Dryja.

Three of the Jewish students learned tailoring:

The following had their apprenticeship as merchants:

Eight of forty-one students in the second industrial grade were Jews. Franciszek Kulas was the home room teacher. Students of the merchant trade were:

Fourteen of the thirty-four students in the first grade of 1909/10 were Jews. Franciszek Kulas was the home room teacher. Students of the merchant trade were:

The report of the management of the Supplemental Industrial School in Tarnobrzeg for the school year of 1909/10 has survived. >From this report, we know that 102 students were registered that year. The school year began on 15 September 1909 and ended on 12 May 1910. Ten students stopped attending the school during the year due to departures, changes in trade, and the trade masters' dissatisfaction with the school. 3 Six students in the second grade did not complete the course but of the six students who made favorable grades, two were Jewish:

The report does not identify which trade the Jewish students acquired.
It should be stated that the trades of merchant, peddler, and tailor were the most popular amongst students of Jewish nationality.

Janina Stadnik

References:

1. Report of the Management of the Industrial Supplemental School in Tarnobrzeg for the School Year 1909/10. Tarnobrzeg, 1910, p. 1.
2. Ibid., p. 1.
3. Ibid., p. 1.