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Baerwald, Hermann

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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German educator; born at Nakel, in the province of Posen, Nov. 7, 1828. His academic education began at the gymnasium of Konitz, continued at the Elisabeth-Gymnasium of Breslau, supplemented by a couple of years spent under the inspiring influence of Gustav A. Stenzel, then the head of a school devoted to the study of philology and history, and wound up at the University of Berlin, where he became an object of Leopold von Ranke's interest, who greatly influenced Baerwald's future career. With his academic titles gained at the Prussian capital, Baerwald proceeded in 1856 to Vienna, only to be called three years later to Berlin to fill an important place at the Jewish Teachers' Seminary of that city. Here he remained till 1868, when a call was extended to him from the Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main to act thereafter as the director of their realschule for boys and girls known under the name of the "Philanthropin." A more favorable field for the realization of Baerwald's great qualities could not be found.

Baerwald was possessed of a deep longing to spread light and relieve human misery, and a noble presence, rendered magnetic by a charm of manner and a soft, melodious voice, opened to him every heart and even many a capacious purse for the benefit ofthe needy. Baerwald is a member of the central committee of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris. There is hardly a benevolent institution in Frankfort that has not felt his benign influence. The name of the young men who are indebted to Baerwald for their making is legion. After an activity of thirty-one years at the Philanthropin, Baerwald retired from the office he had filled with considerable honor under general manifestations of admiration and gratitude.

Baerwald is the author of: "Formelbuch," "Historische Miscellen: Lebensrettung Kaiser Otto II. durch den Juden Kalonymus," in Wertheimer's "Jahrbuch," 1857; and "Zur Geschichte der Israelitischen Real-und Volksschule in Frankfurt am Main von 1804-1822," 1875.