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Eleonora von Taube

Baroness, educator, founder, owner and head of the private Zdolbuniv Women's Gymnasium, which was evacuated to Kerch during the First World War.

Overview

Baroness Eleonora Oleksandrivna von Taube was an education figure of the early 20th century. In 1914 she opened a private women's gymnasium with the rights of a state gymnasium in the town of Zdolbuniv (near Rivne). Owing to the approaching front line of the First World War, the educational institution, together with its owner and teachers, was evacuated to Kerch, where the gymnasium continued to operate through 1918 inclusive.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Founding of the gymnasium in Zdolbuniv: In 1914 Baroness von Taube opened the gymnasium in the building of the two-grade municipal railway school of Zdolbuniv, constructed in 1905.
  • Evacuation and activity in Kerch: Because of military operations and the imperial evacuation policy, the institution was relocated to Kerch in 1914–1915. In Kerch the gymnasium operated throughout several years of wartime and revolution. The school was overcrowded with both evacuated and local pupils.
  • Organizational efforts of 1918: In the summer of 1918, at the request of the acting Minister of Public Education Nalbandov before the Kerch City Administration, the gymnasium was permitted to hold classes in a second shift in the premises of the Kerch Women's Public Gymnasium. Seeking to ensure full-fledged education, Baroness von Taube looked for a separate premises in Kerch (in particular, she placed an advertisement in the newspaper "Volna" with contacts at the address: Instytutska Street, No. 25).