The appointment of a former Hitler youth movement member, Mrs. Helga Houmere, as director of the International Nursery School, a private institution in suburban Queens, led today to protest resignations by five members of the staff of the school. They included four of the school’s eight teachers. None of those who quit questioned the educational qualifications of Mrs. Houmere. But they told the school’s board they would not serve under Mrs. Houmere because of her Hitler youth background.
The school is located in the Parkway Village development, whose 600 families are about 60 per cent Jewish. Nine of the school’s 12 board members are Jewish. Six of the Jewish members Joined with three non-Jewish colleagues in approving Mrs. Houmere’s appointment. When the furor over the appointment developed, the board gave Mrs. Houmere an ll-1 vote of confidence. Mrs. Phyllis Golding, the head of the school board, said that a consultant who helped screen applicants for the position, and who approved Mrs. Houmere, was Jewish.
Mrs. Houmere, who previously had taught in a New York nursery school for nine years, defended herself from the implied charges. She said that, in becoming an American citizen, she had to prove she was not a Nazi and that, if the staff members at the Flushing school had the opportunity, they would realize that her childhood association with the Hitler youth movement “has never had any bearing on my attitude toward all people. ” He added that such membership was compulsory at the time when she was 14 years old. She also said she had attended only one meeting of her youth group and that she abhorred the Hitler philosophy.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
