Hugo Treffner Gymnasium

History

Hugo Treffner Gymnasium was founded by Baltic German Hugo Hermann Fürchtegott Treffner on 7 December 1883. The Treffner family originated from Austria, connected to the royal family in the 1600s. During the Thirty Years' War the family fled to Estonia. By the end of 1884, there were a total of 65 students studying various subjects in German. The school was special for offering secondary education to peasants. At the end of the year, a prep class was opened to teach languages and Treffner became a 4-class progymnasium. In 1886 and 1887, another 2 prep courses were opened on the primary level. In 1889, the official language changed to Russian.

Originally the classes took place in rented rooms. In 1886, Hugo Treffner bought a house for the school, which was expanded in 1887, 1888 and 1906. The building would be the school's residence until 1919. The house was situated at the present site of the Hugo Treffner statue in Tartu. The original building was destroyed in 1941 by German troops invading Tartu.

The schools development was at a low from 1892 to 1897, caused by crop failure and peasants leaving the school. After that period, attendance rose sharply once again. The students of the early 20th century were involved in several nationalistic underground groups, which later evolved into the literary group "Young Estonia" (Noor-Eesti).

The school was recognized as a private gymnasium in 1907. The first director and founder of the school Hugo Treffner died on 29 February 1912. Before his death, the director position fell to a board composed of Mihkel Aavik, Nikolai Beldjugin, Konstantin Treffner and Vladimir Uspenski; in addition Cornelius Treffner, brother of Hugo Treffner, held a right to vote on matters proposed. The school was named Vladimir Uspenski Private Gymnasium after Hugo Treffner died. Uspenski, however, signed the school over to the alumni group "Upkeep of the Gymnasium Founded by Hugo Treffner Group". The group named Uspenski director, but when he left the faculty, Nikolai Sahharov became the director of the school, officially named "Gymnasium Founded by Hugo Treffner".

In 1917, Konstantin Treffner, H. Treffner's first cousin once removed, became the director of the school. During the German occupation of Estonia in 1918, the school switched to teaching in Estonian. The same year, Hugo Treffner Gymnasium and Tartu Alexander Gymnasium were merged and in February 1919, the school got a new home, where it is situated to this day. During the merge, the school gained the inventory and library of Alexander Gymnasium. In the Estonian War of Independence, 230 students of Hugo Treffner Gymnasium were drafted, seven were killed in battle.

Curriculum

Hugo Treffner Gymnasium serves students in classes 10 to 12. Students enter based on an entrance exam, which is taken in the spring of each year. Students who have performed well in a national olympiad are not required to take the entrance test.

The school has three major departments: physics and maths, humanities (history, civics, philosophy, religious studies and art history), and life sciences (biology and chemistry). In addition to attending classes that address theoretical matters, students may also attend practical lessons in the subject matter. There are also elective courses and extracurricular activities, such as choir and folk dancing.

Partnerships with schools from abroad

The Comenius project 2012/2013

In October 2012, the students of Hugo Treffner Gymnasium went to Urspringen, Germany. The students stayed with host families. They took part in a variety of fun activities, which also included a little bit of work and a groupwork based project work. Then the students were shown around town and they also visited some historical buildings. During the third week of April 2013 four German students and one teacher visited Estonia within the Comenius project. The programme was roughly the same as it had been in Germany.

Estonia – Netherlands student exchange 2010/2011

During 2010/2011, some students of HTG participated in a student exchange with Merlet College in Cuijk, the Netherlands. In October 2010 the Dutch students came to visit Tartu and in March 2011 the Estonian students went to Cuijk. Both parties spent a week in the other country, allowing them to get acquainted with the local cultures.

Estonia – France student exchange 2012/2013

In October 2012, a student exchange program took place between the Lycée Léonard de Vinci and Hugo Treffner Gymnasium. The French students spent a week in Tartu. They were introduced to the local culture and cuisine. In March 2013, the Estonian students spent a week in France, where they were shown a piece of French people's local lives.

Friendship with the Uppsala Fyrisskolan in Sweden

Since 1992, every two years about 15 students and around 5 teachers from the Uppsala Fyrisskolan come to Estonia to compete in the Five School Competition, where the students solve various problems in maths, chemistry and physics. The Swedish students have been hosted by the Estonian students at their homes.

The Estonian students usually go to Sweden, as well. There they are shown the cities of Stockholm and Uppsala and they also take part in a friendly competition, where the teams consist of a mix of students from Estonia and Sweden.

Friendship with the Isokyrö School in Finland

The friendship with the Isokyrö School is mainly based on the choir and folk dancing groups of Hugo Treffner Gymnasium. The Isokyrö School is mainly an arts school. Both schools have sent their students to visit the others. When the Estonian students went to Finland, they mainly gave concerts and showed their dancing skills. When the Finnish students came to visit Tartu, they made some art. This particular friendship was initiated around 1994 and the last visits took place in 2007.

Friendship with the Riga National Gymnasium in Latvia

The friendship with the Riga National Gymnasium started in 2007, when the trip to Isokyrö was cancelled. As the leaders of the choir and folk dancing groups were looking for a new destination, the Latvian school contacted Hugo Treffner Gymnasium with the wish to initiate a friendship. Much like the trip to Isokyrö, the representatives of Hugo Treffner Gymnasium were mainly teachers, singers and dancers. The Estonian students have been to Riga twice, but the second time in 2012, only the choir group was sent. The Latvian students have been to Tartu only once, but they plan to come and visit Hugo Treffner Gymnasium once again in 2014.

Notable alumni

Adamson-Eric (1902–1968), artist

Artur Alliksaar (1923–1966), poet

Paul Alvre (1921–2008), linguist

Efraim Allsalu (1929–2006), painter

Kaur Alttoa (born 1947), art and cultural historian

Karl Ast (1886–1971), writer and politician

Kaarel Eenpalu (1888–1942), politician and journalist

Jaan Einasto (born 1929), astrophysicist

Ernst Enno (1875–1934), poet and writer

Ivar Grünthal (1924–1996), writer

Edgar Hark (1908–1986), Lutheran bishop

Jüri Jaakson (1870–1942), politician and businessman

Mihkel Järveoja (born 1986), orienteer

Ottniell Jürissaar (1924–2014), poet, composer, and conductor

Ain Kaalep (born 1926), writer and poet

Karl Kalkun (1927–1990), actor

Jaan Kaplinski (1941–2021), writer and translator

August Kastra (1878–1941), journalist and a trade union leader

Paul Keerdo (1891–1950), communist politician