Garden path 03

Community life

Boys and girls in sports clothing, 1936. The girls’ building is in the background. From the photo album of Ilse Buchholz (later Deborah Bakschitzky), who is sitting in the front row on the right.

Years spent together at a boarding school forged bonds. Even if school and apprenticeship left little leisure time, many "Ahlemers" mention close personal relationships and the diversity of cultural and sporting activities in their memoirs. Following the Nazis rise to power in 1933, the school grounds became a temporary place of refuge for children and young people offering them protection.
The alumni "Association of Former Ahlemers" was responsible for the flow of information between the school and its graduates. Often ‘Ahlemers’ maintained far-reaching contacts, thus creating a worldwide alumni network.

Boarding school life: a dormitory in the girls’ building, 1931. Between 1921 and 1936 this building was used for the boys. Standing in the rear on the left: Meir Bickel

Apprenticeship completed! Graduates of the Gardening School on the stairs between the sport grounds and the girls’ building, 1937