Annie Landau

Annie Landau (חנה יהודית לנדאו) (20 March 1873 – 23 January 1945) headed the Evelina de Rothschild School in Jerusalem from 1899 until her death in 1945.

Landau submitted annual formal reports to the Ladies' Committee of the Anglo-Jewish Association, which included information about the state of the school's finances as well as the progress of the students.

She began a campaign to emphasize health, cleanliness and hygiene among the Evelina School students, especially due to the cholera, meningitis, and scarlet fever epidemics that occasionally spread throughout Jerusalem.

During one epidemic the Evelina School was ordered to stay open, as medical authorities felt its premises were cleaner than the students' houses.

On Thursday afternoons the school held Kabbalat Shabbat ceremonies, where Landau spoke to the students about the week's Torah portion.

Despite the school's Jewish character, Landau came under fire from Ashkenazi rabbis, who felt that secular knowledge would lead the students to abandon religion.

In Alexandria, Landau worked with the Anglo-Egyptian authorities to provide schooling and social services for hundreds of refugee children from Palestine and Syria.

In her later years, the Evelina School created a branch of Henrietta Szold's Youth Aliyah program and established the Schwartzstein dormitory.