Wilhelm Jerusalem

Who was Wilhelm Jerusalem?

Wilhelm Jerusalem was an Austrian Jewish philosopher and pedagogue.

He studied classical philosophy at the University of Prague and did a doctorate on the theme "The Inscription of Sestos and Polybios". Until 1887 he was a teacher at grammar schools in Prague and Nikolsburg. In 1888 he became a member of the staff of teachers at the grammar school "k.k. Staatsgymnasium im VIII.Bezirk" in Vienna. In 1891 he was an outside lecturer at the University of Vienna. One of his interests was education and he demanded a change of the educational system in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Another one of his fields interest was the education of minorities. He wrote a monography about the education of the deafblind. In 1890 he published a psychological study about the deafblind Laura Bridgman. He is regarded as the discoverer of the literary talent of the deaf-blind writer Helen Keller and was correspondence with her. They never met personally. From the scientific work about the deafblind he developed the Austrian direction of the philosophical method of "Pragmatism". In 1907 he translated "Pragmatism" of William James in German language. After World War I he became a Professor associate at the University of Vienna for philosophy and educational theory. In 1919 he became one of the teachers of the "Schönbrunner Schule" which came about after the Vice Mayor of Vienna Max Winter had obtained a considerable part of the Viennese Schönbrunn Palace to be used for the advancement of the education of young women and a men, to became educators and teachers.