History of schools in Harxheim
Not much is known about the history of schools in Harxheim before the 20th century. However, a Protestant school at Obergasse 7 and a Catholic school at Enggasse 2 have survived. From 1909 to 1972 the children of Harxheim attended the elementary school in Mainzer Straße 28 at the northern end of the village. Since the school year 1972/73 they go to the then newly built elementary school in Gau-Bischofsheim.
Not much is known about the history of schools in Harxheim before the 20th century. In any case, however, it can be assumed that the quality of school instruction was of poor quality until 1816, the year in which Rhinehesse emerged as a new province of the Grand Duchy of Hesse after the end of the French period. 1) Until then, the authorities had hardly invested in the school system, teachers were poorly trained or not trained at all and were poorly paid. The Grand Ducal Hessian government changed this: It had schools built and teachers were better trained and paid. In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, the curriculum included other subjects such as history, geography, singing and drawing. Children were required to attend school when they reached the age of six and had to attend school for eight years. In smaller communities, all grades were usually taught in one room by one teacher.
The old-established Harxheimers know to report that there used to be a Catholic school in Harxheim in Enggasse 2 and a Protestant school in Obergasse 7. The building of the Catholic school was demolished in 2000, the house in Obergasse 7 is now a residential building. Both buildings can be found in old fire registers of Harxheim, and there is also local history literature on the Catholic school.
Apparently Harxheim already had a school under church sponsorship during the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648). 2) At this time at the latest, Harxheim and thus also its school became Lutheran and the remaining Catholics initially had no school for several decades and also no financial means to pay a teacher. In the 18th century, state authorities again appointed a Catholic teacher, to whose maintenance the Catholic inhabitants of Harxheim also had to contribute. In 1816, the Catholic community inherited a small manor where classes could be held. In 1837, the manor was sold due to uselessness and teaching continued in a private house. In 1848 the Catholic community bought a new schoolhouse with a large garden behind it, it was located at Enggasse 2.
In addition to the proceeds from the sale of the old schoolhouse, financing was provided by funds from a bequest and grants from the church and school building fund. Part of the garden was later used to build the Catholic church here in 1870. In 1899 the Catholic school ceased to exist. Instead, Harxheim now had a communal school with one Protestant and one Catholic teacher. 3) The communal school at that time had 95 pupils, sixteen of whom were Catholic. The Catholic community made the previously Catholic school building available for use by the civil community, and the civil community had to bear the costs of maintaining the building.
On the right in the picture the former catholic school, photo from 1987
Image source: Willi Buchert
Excerpt from fire cadastre Harxheim 1834 – 1837: residence of the catholic community
Image source: HstAD, C6, 926, p. 41
It was not unusual at that time for the teacher to have his quarters in the school building. In the address directory of Harxheim for the year 1906, a teacher Gärtner (this was the Catholic teacher at that time) is listed as living in house No. 68. 4) All houses in Harxheim were numbered at that time without consideration of street names, the house number 68 at that time got the address Enggasse No. 2 only later. It is reasonable to assume that fire insurance for this building would also have been recorded under number 68 in the fire cadastre. 5) In fact, in the fire cadastre of Harxheim from 1834 to 1937 there is a one-story residential house under the number 68, owner is the Catholic community. 6) Even though the house is described as a residence, it may still have been used for schooling.
Group photo in front of the school building Obergasse 7, around 1906/07
Image source: Günter Happel
The former Lutheran school can also be found in old Harxheim fire registers. In the fire cadastre of 1817 – 1835 7) the Lutheran parish is registered under number 6 as the owner of a two-story residential house with barn and coach house (the Lutheran parish became a Lutheran parish only in 1824). The insurance begins in 1821. The number 6 could correspond to today’s number 7 in the Obergasse, since the counting at that time started in today’s Obergasse 1 and then continued counterclockwise. 8)
In the fire cadastre of 1834 – 1937 this building appears again, this time actually under the number 7. Under the column owner is indicated “Evangelische Gemeinde / Schulhaus”.
However, it is not clear when the building was actually used for school purposes. In the 1906 Harxheim address directory, the entry “Remy, Peter, teacher” appears under No. 7.
The Protestant teacher may therefore have had his accommodation in the school building of that time.
Former Lutheran school building at Obergasse 7
Image source: Irmgard Kaiser-Vreke
Excerpt from fire cadastre Harxheim 1834 – 1837: residential house/schoolhouse of the Protestant community
Image source: HstAD, C6, 926, p. 6
Interestingly, there is another entry in the fire records that refers to a former school building. In the fire cadastre of 1817 – 1835, a two-storey schoolhouse with a barn is registered under number 25 with insurance commencement in 1821, and the municipality – thus the civil municipality – is registered as the owner. Again, assuming that the number 25 corresponds to the house number of that time, the building could have stood on Untergasse. The house in today’s Untergasse 21 (formerly Lambinet/Friedrich/Egelhofer) is registered in the old fire cadastre under number 22. So the school should have been around here. This building has not been preserved in the local memory as the site of a school – as far as is known so far. In the later fire cadastre of 1834 – 1937, the building, whose number rises from the previous 25 to now 27, is apparently privately owned. It is unclear how this school building should also be classified in conjunction with the two denominational schools.
Excerpt from fire cadastre Harxheim 1817 – 1835: schoolhouse of the municipality
Image source: HstAD, C6, 949, p. 13
Of course, in the fire cadastre of 1834 – 1937 there is also the old school on Mainzer Straße 28. Under the number 106 there is a two-storey schoolhouse with privy and urinal with insurance beginning in 1909, owner is the municipality. This building was solemnly inaugurated on August 23, 1909 and served as a school until 1972.
After that, the administration of the local church was housed here until the move to the current community center in Bahnhofstraße in 2019.
Excerpt from fire cadastre Harxheim 1834 – 1837: schoolhouse of the municipality, inaugurated in 1909
Image source: HstAD, C6, 926, p. 64
Group photo in front of the school building Mainzer Straße 28, around 1948
Image source: Erwin Gmall
The toilet building in front of the schoolhouse is still preserved in a photo from 1987, but was probably demolished not much later.
Former Harxheim elementary school, photographed in March 2020.
Image: Birgit Korte
Old school, still with toilet building in front of it, photo from 1987
Image source: Ralf Buchert
Johannes Würth, at that time Protestant pastor in Harxheim, wrote down the following about the new school and the inauguration festivities – at that time an important event in the village – in the chronicle of the Protestant community 9):
“Already on August 23, a new momentous hour came for the community. The inauguration of the new schoolhouse built by the community at a cost of 2400 Marks at the end of the village on the road leading to Hechtsheim. Since the writer of this had taken over the festive speech, the reasons are easy to guess, why the executing architect, Mr. district building inspector Lucius from Mainz, who was already mentioned next door, did not appear to this celebration, and consequently the district authority, as one meant to our mayor in Mainz during a relevant conversation, took no notice of the celebration at all. (Note: The pastor had fallen out with the district building director during his previous time in Appenheim as part of the renovation of the church there). As a result, to everyone’s satisfaction, the usual feast at the expense of the municipal treasury was omitted this time, and the celebration itself took place no less dignified and impressive in the close circle of the municipal council, the school board, the teachers, and the festively attuned school youth, who, presented with ‘boys’ thighs’ and dressed in Sunday best, entered the decorated house together with many of the participants in the celebration after the chorale singing and the festive speech. May these classrooms, which were completed without any accident in a period of two years, provide many generations with the earthly and heavenly wisdom necessary for life, and may the truly good understanding between the local civic and ecclesiastical community bodies, teachers and clergy, as it has existed here until now, be preserved for all time. Before the end of the fall, the two old classrooms in the old schoolhouses were converted into living quarters, creating more space for the two hardworking teachers.”
From the minutes of the parish priest it appears that before the new school building in Harxheim was put into operation, there were probably still two buildings in which school lessons were held.
In 1968, the school system in Rhineland-Palatinate changed with the abolition of the Volksschule and the introduction of the Grundschule and Hauptschule. Instead of the previous practice of teaching several grades in one classroom, schools with multiple grades were now to be created. Harxheim was too small for this.10) Since the beginning of the 1972/73 school year, the Harxheim children have therefore been going to the then newly established joint elementary school of the communities in Gau-Bischofsheim, Harxheim and Lörzweiler, which is located in Gau-Bischofsheim. A separate Harxheim school was thus history. In 1975, the Bodenheim community became the sponsor of the new elementary school. Since the school year 1982/1983 Lörzweiler has its own elementary school.11)
How the school lessons in the memory of former pupils at the end of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s in the Harxheim school went, is very authentic and amusing from an article by Tanja Reßler, which was created for the commemorative book for the 1250th anniversary of the village in 2017.
A former village school teacher also has his say in the 1917 commemorative book. Friedrich Ruckel worked as a teacher in Harxheim from 1955 to 1961. From his descriptions we can see that teaching in Harxheim was very progressive and committed at that time. To this day, Mr. Ruckel still maintains contacts in Harxheim.
References:
1) Krämer, Gerhard (2021): Notizen zu Harxheim. Unpublished manuscript. p. 108 f.
2) Friedrich family: From the chronicle about Harxheim. Sammlung verschiedener Überlieferungen. (“Hausbuch Friedrich“). p. 20f.
3) Friedrich family: From the chronicle about Harxheim. Sammlung verschiedener Überlieferungen. (“Hausbuch Friedrich“). S. 16.
4) Landes-Adreßbuch für das Großherzogtum Hessen. II. Volume: Province of Rhine Hesse. Darmstadt 1906. p. 252 f.. Taken from Google Books on 21.12.2021.
5) The information on the numbering of the houses and the transferability of the numbers to the fire cadastre comes from the local historian Rüdiger Gottwald, who grew up in Harxheim.
6) HStAD, C 6, 926
7) HStAD, C 6, 949
8) s. 5)
9) Würth, Johannes (1909 – 1920): Aufzeichnungen in der Gemeindechronik der evangelischen Gemeinde Harxheim. Archive of the Protestant community of Harxheim. p. 75f.
10) s. 1)
11) Reßler, Tanja (2017): From chalk dust to teaching methods with vision. What was going on in a village school. In: Ortgemeinde Harxheim (Hrsg.): Festbuch 2017. Harxheim. Eintausendzweihundertfünfzig. Selzen. p. 159 f.
