Adolf Spieß

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Adolf Spieß (no year)

Karl Adolf Spieß (born February 3, 1810 in Lauterbach ; † May 9, 1858 in Darmstadt , Grand Duchy of Hesse ) was a German sports teacher , gymnastics teacher and gymnast . He is considered the founder of German school sports / school gymnastics and girls' gymnastics.

Life

Spieß was the son of the musician and pastor Johann Balthasar Spieß (1782–1841), a sponsor of the public school system in Offenbach am Main , and his wife Maria Luise, née Werner. Spit had two sisters and two brothers. His younger brother Hermann Spieß was general commissioner of the " Mainz Adelsverein ". He married Maire Buri on February 21, 1840. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved to Offenbach in the spring of 1811. From 1816, according to other sources since 1814, he was taught there in his father's private educational institution. In 1820 he visited with his father Johann Christoph Friedrich Gutsmuths in Schnepfenthal. Four years later, in 1824, he was a founding member of the Offenbach school gymnastics club.

Spieß began studying Protestant theology in Gießen in 1828, and in the meantime studied in Halle in 1829, during which time he established or deepened contacts with Friedrich Ludwig Jahn , Johann Christoph Friedrich Gutsmuths and Ernst Wilhelm Bernhard Eiselen . During his studies he became a member of the Old Burschenschaft Germania / Waffenverbindungen Gießen in 1828 and a member of the Old Burschenschaft Germania Halle in 1829 . In the winter of 1829/30 he attended the Eiselnsche Gymnasium in Berlin. In 1830/31 he continued his studies in Giessen as well as his activities as an active gymnast and fraternity. In April 1832 he passed his theological exam in Giessen. Subsequently, for the period from May 1832 to August 1833, he was the tutor of Count Karl Solms-Rödelheim in Assenheim, Carl zu Solms-Braunfels , the first general commissioner of the "Mainzer Adelsverein". fleeing from the persecution of demagogues , he emigrated in 1833 to Switzerland .

From the fall of 1833 he taught history and gymnastics in Burgdorf . He also taught in Münchenbuchsee in 1835 , from which time the later “gymnastics father” Johannes Niggeler emerged. In May 1844 he moved to Basel , where he arranged for a school gymnasium to be built. Spieß introduced year-round gymnastics lessons and was an explicit advocate of girls' gymnastics. In Switzerland from 1840 to 1846 he published The Teaching of Gymnastics in four volumes. From 1847 to 1851 he wrote his gymnastics book for schools ; this was his most important book with basic didactic ideas, goals, content and methods.

Spieß 'birthplace in Lauterbach

When the “gymnastic lock” was lifted in 1842, Spieß traveled to Germany twice to present his theoretical gymnastics concepts to the Prussian Minister of Culture, Johann Albrecht Friedrich von Eichhorn . Although he wanted to return to Germany, he turned down the offer in 1845 to become head of the university and school gymnasium in Heidelberg. Finally, in 1848 he was appointed to Darmstadt by the Hessian Minister Heinrich von Gagern , so he returned to Germany and organized the development of school gymnastics in Hesse until 1855. Thanks to his initiative, one of the first school gyms in Germany was built in 1852.

He died of the late aftermath of an injury from a fencing match as a student on May 9, 1858 in Darmstadt. He was buried in the old cemetery . His grave is II K 43.

Idea and lessons

Spieß saw gymnastics as an educational tool for obedience and discipline and for the formation of good subjects as well as for physical and military education. The focus of his gymnastics lessons consisted of calisthenics , order exercises and equipment exercises . He also tried to combine individual physical education with the promotion of the national community spirit sought by Jahn. He also followed the educational ideals of Friedrich Froebel , with whom he maintained personal contact. He also called for the introduction of girls' gymnastics and is considered to be its founder. The criticism of his teaching methodology relates primarily to the frontal teaching with rigid exercises, which from the point of view of modern pedagogy is considered to be herd-like training and not appropriate for children.

Adolf Spieß Hall

A gymnasium was built in Lauterbach from September 1906 to July 1908. It was named Adolf-Spieß-Halle, served for numerous sporting events, but also as a school sports hall. During the First World War it was used as an emergency hospital.

Works (selection)

  • Thoughts on the integration of gymnastics into the whole of popular education. 1842.
  • The teaching of gymnastics. 4 volumes, 1840–1846.
  • Gymnastics in the common exercises. In a doctrine of the order relationships in the structures of a plurality for both sexes. Schweighauser'sche Buchhandlung publishing house, Basel 1846.
  • Gym book for schools as a guide for gym lessons by the school teachers. 2 volumes 1847–1851.
  • Basic features of the state organization of gymnastics in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. In: Der Turner 4. 1849.

Awards

A memorial plaque has been on the house of his birth in Lauterbach since 1881.

literature

Web links

Commons : Adolf Spiess  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Spieß, Adolf. Hessian biography. (As of February 28, 2013). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  2. ^ Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 5: R – S. Winter, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8253-1256-9 , p. 467.
personal data
SURNAME Spit, Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German educator
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH Lauterbach (Hesse)
DATE OF DEATH May 9, 1858
Place of death Darmstadt