Kurt Schumacher Academy

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The Kurt Schumacher Academy was an educational institution of the SPD- affiliated Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Bad Münstereifel ( North Rhine-Westphalia ). It was opened on August 31, 1971 under the name "Haus Münstereifel". Since 1985 it has carried the name of the former SPD party leader and parliamentary group leader of the SPD in the first German Bundestag Kurt Schumacher . The educational institution was headed by Rainer Gries . At the end of 2013, the SPD planned to close it at the end of 2014. At the end of 2014, the educational facility ceased operations.

During the term of office of the then Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt, the executive committee of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of its chairman Herbert Wehner met regularly in the academy . Willy Brandt stayed at the academy frequently from 1971 to 1974. The SPD leaders met here at the beginning of May 1974 just before Brandt's resignation as Federal Chancellor.

further education

The Kurt Schumacher Academy is a conference center for adult education that offers seminars on political, social, ecological and cultural training. A focus of the work are rhetoric seminars, to develop speeches and qualification for conflict management . On the subject of ecology , seminars on the compatibility of environmental protection and tourism or the participants' options for action in environmental and nature conservation are offered. Political seminars deal, for example, with the future of the welfare state in the context of globalization , perspectives for social democracy in the 21st century, the party system or the situation in the Middle East . In September 2008 the 65th Münstereifel Literature Talks took place in the Academy.

Portuguese closed conference

From April 17 to 21, 1973, at the suggestion of Willy Brandt, Mário Soares and his political friends, who worked underground or in exile, held a closed meeting in the Münstereifel house. The aim of this conference was to prepare for the overthrow of the fascist dictatorship in Portugal . Here on April 19, 1973 the Portuguese Socialist Party was re-established.

Meeting of the SPD leaders before Willy Brandt's resignation

On May 4 and 5, 1974, the top management of the SPD met with union chairmen in the Münstereifel house to discuss the consequences of the tough collective bargaining round in the public service, the loss of the SPD in the Hamburg state election campaign and the loss of reputation in the local elections in Schleswig-Holstein and Hesse to advise the SPD / FDP government in the population and the economic crisis. On the evening of May 4th, Herbert Wehner had a long one-to-one conversation with Willy Brandt, "the course of which was probably the decisive factor in the decision to resign (Willy Brandts as Federal Chancellor)," as Peter Merseburger described the event. The affair surrounding Brandt's assistant Günter Guillaume , who had spied on Brandt on behalf of the GDR , was also addressed . Wehner took the view that Brandt could be blackmailed. On May 5, Brandt announced in a larger group that he would resign. In addition to Wehner, he himself named Finance Minister Helmut Schmidt , the SPD treasurer Alfred Nau , the SPD federal manager Holger Börner and the parliamentary state secretary Karl Ravens as those present . After his return to the federal capital Bonn , Brandt wrote his declaration of resignation on the evening of May 5, which was handed over to Federal President Gustav Heinemann , who was in Hamburg , the next day . Willy Brandt himself stated in his “Memoirs” about Wehner's role: “Much has been puzzled over the influence that Wehner exerted in those days. In the week after my resignation, I wrote - in a letter to the members of our party - firmly: the claim that Wehner pushed me out of office was 'not a word true' " . On the other hand, Brandt wrote that Wehner had held back very much when those present tried to prevent him from resigning at the sixth round in Bad Münstereifel.

Naming the Kurt Schumacher Academy

Since 1985 the academy has borne the name of the former SPD party and parliamentary group leader Kurt Schumacher, who died in 1952. The name was given on the occasion of Kurt Schumacher's ninetieth birthday in the presence of his closest companions Annemarie Renger and Fritz Heine .

1986 bomb attack

On the evening of December 21, 1986 militants from the environment of the Red Army Faction carried out a bomb attack on the Kurt Schumacher Academy extension, which was about to be completed. The housekeeper, who was living alone in the academy building at the time, was warned by telephone shortly before the attack. As a result, the bomb attack only caused considerable property damage. There is still no trace of the perpetrators.

Inauguration of the extension building

On March 8, 1987, the extension to the Kurt Schumacher Academy was inaugurated. The chairman of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation welcomed Heinz Kühn , Manuel Tito de Morais , Holger Börner and Herbert Wehner.

Literature in the Kurt Schumacher Academy

Since 1987 the Münstereifel Literature Talks have been held twice a year at the Kurt Schumacher Academy . Here authors met with editors , critics, literary scholars and interested readers for a joint discussion.

In 1992 the Münstereifel authors' meeting was initiated in addition to the Münstereifel literary discussions . It takes place once a year in the second week of March, closed to the public.

Web link and source

  • "Pictures, documents and notes on the history of the Kurt Schumacher Academy Bad Münstereifel"; Brochure of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung undated
  • Website of the Kurt Schumacher Academy

literature

  • Arnulf Baring : Change of power. The Brandt-Scheel era . In collaboration with Manfred Goertemaker . 3. Edition. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (DVA), Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-421-06095-9 .
  • Willy Brandt : memories . 3rd expanded edition. Propylaea Verlag u. a., Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1989, ISBN 3-549-07353-4 .
  • Further outlook changeable. Münstereifeler reading book . Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bad Münstereifel 1996, ISBN 3-86077-524-3 , ( Münstereifeler literary discussions ).
  • Kalus Modick, Helmut Mörchen (ed.): Of the pleasure and burden of literary writing. A look into the workshop of German writers . Eichborn-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-8218-0888-8 .
  • Helmut Mörchen (ed.): The Münstereifeler literary talks. A chronicle. With pictures by Herbert Hering-Heidt. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung - Kurt-Schumacher-Akadademie, Bad Münstereifel 2006, ISBN 3-89892-541-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Rossmann : To Brandt's hundredth. End in the Eifel. In: FAZ.net , December 17, 2013, accessed on December 18, 2013.
  2. ↑ Kurt Schumacher Academy Information on the FES homepage

Coordinates: 50 ° 33 ′ 13 ″  N , 6 ° 45 ′ 13 ″  E