Education
The ORT Trade School in Vilkaviskis
While some students prepared for the university, others prepared for the world. The ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation through Training) Trade School in Vilkaviškis was an 'Economic Engine.' Over a rigorous three-year course, students transformed from apprentices into skilled craftsmen, mastering the trades that kept our town—and the world—running."
Aim of the courses: to train Jews in various trades so that they could earn their living From June 1931, a three-year course for boys in metalworking run by the town’s Haskalah Va’avoda was offered in Vilkaviškis. In October 1937 it was taken over by the ORT Vilkaviškis branch. In September 1938 permission was received to open a dressmaking section for girls.
It was then renamed and became the ORT Vilkaviškis three-year trade course. It was run according to the statutes and programme signed by the Education Minister in the society’s building, which had been purpose-built for the course. It had all the necessary modern machines, tools and equipment. The course did not differ from a vocational school: students over 14 with primary education were admitted; studies lasted for three years; not only special, but also general subjects were taught. The ORT Vilkaviškis branch, the World ORT Central Committee in Paris, and donations from individuals financed the courses; the tuition fees and income earned from fulfilled external orders were also used to fund it. In 1939 the course was led by Samuelis Eidelsas, who was educated at Brno High Technical School; he also worked as a lecturer. Other lecturers were Alfonsas Ulčinas, Abromas Streleckis, Sara Faktorovskytė, Giršas Levinsonas, Bašė Šamborskytė and others. In 1940 the courses were attended by 40 students: 24 in metalworking and 16 girls in sewing. On 1 September 1940, the People’s Education Commissar of Soviet Lithuania ordered the courses to be closed; it happened three weeks after ORT activities were banned.
y in Vilkaviškis [Vilkovishk], 1936.
Graduation class of a vocational school, Vilkaviskis, Lithuania 1934