It is believed Gordonstoun founder Kurt Hahn first visited Moray while he was studying at Oxford.
The “cold and rainy” region in the north of Scotland was perfect for a man who reportedly could not tolerate sunlight.
Years later, when he was forced to flee from his home in Nazi Germany, Hahn returned to the north-east.
The passionate educator went on the open Gordonstoun School, near Duffus, in 1934, with the late Prince Philip one of his first students.
Today, his remarkable legacy was recognised with the unveiling of a new plaque at the school ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day.
Escaping Nazi Germany
Hahn was born into a wealthy Jewish family in Germany in 1886.
Although he loved to read and write, he hated the education system which focused on tests rather than pupils’ passions.
He was determined to create a school where students could “do” things instead of only listening to teachers.
After working with the German Foreign Office during the First World War, Hahn got a job as private secretary to Prince Max von Baden.
It was in the prince’s family castle that Schule Schloss Salem – the Salem Castle School – was opened in 1920.
Hahn developed the “Seven Laws of Salem” which guided the education at the Southern Germany school, as well as the other educational facilities he went on to open.
However, Hahn actively spoke out against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party and was eventually forced to leave his home country and beloved school.
After spending five days in prison in March 1933, Hahn moved to the UK where he settled in Moray.
Kurt Hahn honoured at Gordonstoun
The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) unveiled a new plaque at Gordonstoun today to honour the memory and achievements of Hahn, who died in 1974.
An interfaith service was also held to mark his courage in standing up against the Nazi regime.
During the service, a letter was read out by The Princess Royal, who is also a warden at Gordonstoun.
She wrote: “This plaque will be a permanent monument, informing students, teachers and visitors of Kurt Hahn’s bravery and accomplishments.
“It will serve as a reminder of how it came to be that Hahn came here to Gordonstoun, and also serves as a warning of what happens when a society succumbs to the dangers of indifference in the face of extremism and racial hatred”
‘An everlasting tribute’
The plaque was unveiled by former Gordonstoun pupil and AJR member, Michael Flesch, whose father was a student at the Salem School before Hahn fled to Scotland.
The school’s principal, Peter Green, said it served as “an everlasting tribute” to a man who was “ahead of his time in his thinking.
Frank Harding MBE, who devised the AJR plaque scheme, added: “Having been briefly imprisoned as both a Jew and a notable and prominent outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, Kurt Hahn fled to Britain in 1933.
“He brought with him the ethos and values he inculcated at Salem in Germany and which have enabled Gordonstoun to burnish its international reputation as a leading and inspiring institution of learning.
“The plaque recognises Hahn’s remarkable contribution to British society and forms part of the AJR’s mission to bring awareness of how Nazi oppression and the Holocaust impacted the lives of people who rebuilt their lives in this country.”
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