Ada and Theodor Lessing Adult Education Center

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Ada and Theodor Lessing Adult Education Center
The new headquarters of the VHS since 2015 on the Leine, left the Kreuzkirche, right the Marktkirche
type of school Community College
founding 1919
address

Burgstrasse 14

place Hanover
country Lower Saxony
Country Germany
Coordinates 52 ° 22 '22 "  N , 9 ° 43' 52"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 22 '22 "  N , 9 ° 43' 52"  E
carrier State capital Hanover
management Jacqueline Knaubert-Lang
Website www.vhs-hannover.de
The former main building on Theodor-Lessing-Platz, scaffolded for renovation in 2011
Lettering of the VHS on the former main building, in front of the street sign Theodor-Lessing-Platz with a separately mounted information board about Theodor Lessing

Ada-und-Theodor-Lessing-Volkshochschule has been the name of the Volkshochschule (VHS) in Hanover since 2006 . With the naming as a “special unique selling point ”, the city of Hanover as the municipal sponsor honors the first director of the educational institution , Ada Lessing , and her husband, Theodor Lessing , as one of the “pioneers of modern adult education ”.

Current

Educational offers

The VHS offers more than 1,000 courses every six months (as of October 2011), which are offered in printed form in the program booklet or viewed online directly on the VHS website and booked for registration or printed out. With its offer, the VHS is aimed at all citizens, from young people to senior citizens. There are courses for "older people" or especially for women. IT or commercial practice , craft and technology , environment and health , culture and social affairs are just as much a part of the program as district-related offers.

  • Every year around 1,000 young people prepare for vocational training , a school leaving certificate or a new job in the VHS .
  • In courses on integration learn more than 4,500 adults per year, "to reorient themselves and for everyday life and work to qualify ."
  • In the field of language and foreign languages , the VHS is the largest provider of language courses in the Hanover region with around 13,000 participants and imparts language skills "for everyone at all levels with internationally recognized exams".
  • In addition to ensuring an open basic offer of adult education, the VHS also offers its own developments of tailor-made "qualification programs for private and public clients, companies and associations ."

Quality and Awards

history

Prehistory from the 19th century

After efforts to raise the level of education in the German population grew in the middle of the 19th century, individual courses were initially offered in Hanover in history , geography , arithmetic and German through to calligraphy and singing .

Workers 'associations and workers' education committees were responsible for the first series of lectures. The starting signal for this was the founding of the book printer reading association on August 23, 1845 , which was renamed in 1848 as the Hanover Workers' Association . This grew rapidly to around 1,000 members by 1871, which shows the high level of acceptance of this and similar institutions and initiatives.

In 1900 the so-called "popular college courses" were introduced. They should “present the results of scientific research in a generally understandable, but scientifically solid form to all those who are denied access to universities”. From 1911 onwards, Theodor Lessing represented one of the most important protagonists of this conception of education with his philosophical and cultural lectures.

Free Adult Education Center Hannover-Linden

The municipal arts and crafts school at Neuen Weg 3 was the seat of the VHS
postcard by Karl F. Wunder from 1926 , photo around 1898
In 1926 the VHS office was in the Old Palace (right) in Leinstrasse
Stahlstich around 1858 according to Georg Osterwald

To government support, there was only through the social situation of the population after the First World War , by unemployment , the German inflation and numerous riots was marked: the " demobilization - Decree " from January 23, 1919 promoted public education clubs and similar establishments. Thus, on February 10, 1919, a “People's Education Commission ” was founded, which in the autumn of the same year brought together the “popular education courses”, some of which were very heterogeneous in terms of content, and offered them under the name “Freie Volkshochschule Hannover-Linden ” (VHS) ”.

In January 1920 the courses were offered for the first time in a “program booklet”. The opening ceremony of the first adult education center in Hanover took place on January 25, 1920 in the ballroom of the New Town Hall. The office was located in the building at Am Himmelreich 1 until 1926 ; only in 1923 it was temporarily relocated to the municipal arts and crafts school on Neuen Weg 3A for a year . Theodor Lessing's wife Ada Lessing was in charge of the VHS from 1919 to 1933.

In the meantime, however, efforts to integrate remaining “popular university courses” into the adult education center failed; these went into the Leibniz Academy founded in 1921 .

So cooperated VHS Hannover-Linden with other cultural and educational objectives committed institutions , especially with the "Freie Volksbühne Hannover" , but also with museums and art associations .

In 1922 the VHS consolidated itself "by taking over the courses organized by the workers' education committee" - so-called " works council courses " were held in the adult education center from then until 1931.

In 1926 the VHS office moved to the Alte Palais in Leinstrasse . In the following year the VHS 1926 had 6,052 "listeners", the "highest number of listeners in its history". Another year later, in 1928, the educational institution was renamed “Volkshochschule Hannover”.

time of the nationalsocialism

After the seizure of power in 1933, the statutes of the adult education center were changed under the National Socialists and employees who did not conform to the ideology of the NSDAP were dismissed. In 1934 the VHS was first incorporated into the German Labor Front , and in November of the same year it was integrated into the NSDAP's Deutsche Volksbildungswerk as a “Volksbildungsstätte” . At the same time, the office of the former VHS was relocated to the headquarters of the NSDAP Gauleitung in Dincklagestrasse .

reconstruction

The city ​​wall integrated into the former main building and the Borgentrick tower

After the Second World War - with the approval of the British military authorities - the Hanover Adult Education Center was reopened on January 27, 1945 in Kurzen Strasse (seat closed in 1970). The institution was now run by the newly founded Association for Adult Education .

1962 to 1965 - parallel to the construction of the municipal gallery KUBUS - a new building for administration and teaching was built on Friedrichswall / Theodor-Lessing-Platz . The architect was Alfred Müller-Hoppe from the municipal building department . The building was the first to be built specifically for VHS teaching and was deliberately placed in the city ​​center between the New Town Hall and the surrounding museums.

In the building was known as part of the historic fortifications of the city preserved, Grade II listed " Borg Trick Tower " integrated and part of the old city walls . The glass windows in the entrance area of ​​the building were added in 1964 by the artist Gerhard Wendland . Shortly afterwards in 1966 the VHS was taken over by the city of Hanover.

New building in Burgstrasse

In 1983, the former name of the street in front of the VHS was first renamed from Knappenort to Theodor-Lessing-Platz .

In 2006 the municipal educational institution was given its current name. The relocation of the location has been under discussion since 2008 , and Raschplatz in particular has repeatedly been considered as a more suitable location. At the beginning of 2011, Lord Mayor Stephan Weil announced the planned move to the former school on Am Hohen Ufer . About four weeks later, stopped the CDU - faction in the county council Hanover-Mitte this project, however, again.

Since 2015, the VHS has had its new headquarters in the Am Hohen Ufer school, which was converted for 11.5 million euros .

Exhibitions and events

In the entrance hall, Detlef Kappeler's "Lessing Picture I" from 1985 honors the early protagonists of adult education. The VHS foyer was also used for changing exhibitions and events, such as

  • 2010
    • Presentations of historical dance posters by the Hanover State Opera , or
    • an exhibition of photographs taken by course participants.

Publications (selection)

  • HannoverReport literary. An anthology for the 750th anniversary of the state capital Hanover. Ed .: Volkshochschule Hannover (VHS), Hannover: VHS, 1991
  • Susanne Kannenberg, Stephan Wienhold (Red.): 100 years of sharing knowledge. Festschrift 100 years VHS Hannover , publisher: Landeshauptstadt Hannover, Faculty Ada-und-Theodor-Lessing-Volkshochschule, Hannover: LHH, 2019

One of the most important publications in printed form is the VHS program booklet, which appears every six months. B.

  • Ulrike Ernst (Red.): Expanding horizons / changing perspectives / Ada and Theodor Lessing / Volkshochschule / Hannover / VHS Herbst 2010 (program booklet), ed. vd state capital Hanover, 2010

literature

Web links

Commons : Ada-und-Theodor-Lessing-Volkshochschule (Hannover)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Hugo Thielen, Waldemar R. Röhrbein: Volkshochschule (VHS) Hannover. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 646f.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g hannover.de: Volkshochschule (VHS) Hannover
  3. ↑ a b c z. B. Ulrike Ernst (Red.): Expanding horizons / changing perspectives ...
  4. ↑ Our course program / overview
  5. ↑ artset-lqw.de/cms: Learning-oriented quality testing in further education ... ( Memento from November 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Klaus Mlynek : 1927. In: Hannover Chronik , pp. 164f .; online through google books
  7. ↑ Hannover.de: Städtische Galerie KUBUS ( Memento from May 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), last accessed on October 9, 2011
  8. ^ Hugo Thielen, Helmut Knocke: Theodor-Lessing-Platz 1. In: Hannover / Kunst- und Kultur-Lexikon , p. 205
  9. ↑ Gerd Weiß, Marianne Zehnpfennig: The fortification of the old town. In: Hans-Herbert Möller (ed.): Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany , architectural monuments in Lower Saxony, city of Hanover. Part 1. Vol. 10.1. Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden 1983, ISBN 3-528-06203-7 , p. 51f .; as well as annex to vol. 10.2: Theodor-Lessing-Platz 1 / 1A (remains of the city wall tower, Cord-Borgentrick tower). In: middle. In: Hans-Herbert Möller (Hrsg.): Architectural monuments in Lower Saxony. Volume 10. Wolfgang Neß a. a .: City of Hanover. Part 2. ISBN 3-528-06208-8 , pp. 3ff.
  10. ↑ Helmut Zimmermann : Theodor-Lessing-Platz. In: The street names of the state capital Hanover , Verlag Hahnsche Buchhandlung , Hanover 1992, ISBN 3-7752-6120-6 , p. 243.
  11. ^ Andreas Schinkel: Renovation / Volkshochschule Hannover moves to the Hohe Ufer. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ) from January 20, 2011, accessed on October 10, 2011
  12. ↑ ders .: Doubts about costing / CDU stops moving plans for adult education center. In: HAZ of February 15, 2011, accessed October 10, 2011
  13. ^ VHS: Semester starts in new rooms at hannover.de on September 3, 2015.