General German Educational Institute
In 1816 Friedrich Froebel founded the General German Educational Institution in Griesheim ; In 1817 it was moved to Keilhau near Rudolstadt . In its now 190-year history, the school has always been used as an educational institution except during the Second World War .
The first lessons took place in the so-called lower house. This was part of a farm that Froebel's sister-in-law had previously acquired. The house, which was not completely finished at the time, can therefore be regarded as the oldest of the entire building ensemble. Although a few rooms could be used bit by bit, there was soon no longer enough space. The growing number of pupils, as the students were called at that time, required more space to sleep as well as more classrooms.
That is why Froebel and his colleagues in Middendorff and Langethal began building the House of Lords in 1818. This received two extensions in 1854 and 1885 in order to provide optimal learning conditions for the growing number of students. The gym building followed in 1894.
After Froebel's departure in 1831
The youngest member of the building ensemble and a widely visible sign that German school history has been written in this small town in Thuringia for 190 years is the schoolhouse, which was inaugurated in 1905. Until March 1939, this was privately owned by the Barop, Wächter and Gerst families. Johannes Barop , under whose direction the idea of the new building arose, was only the second headmaster after his father Johannes Arnold Barop after the "Froebel era". Practically from the beginning of the construction phase, his son-in-law Otto Wächter took over the school. After Barop's death, another son-in-law, Gottlieb Gerst (1870–1927), was in charge of the scientific management. From 1927 onwards he was followed by several directors appointed by the Thuringian Ministry of Education, until in 1934 the son of O. Wächter, Reinhold Wächter (1901–1983) continued the family tradition. The students were able to take the Abitur of the Oberrealschule since 1928 and that of the Reform Realgymnasium since 1930. After its closure as a private school, the facility housed a teacher training institute, where the students were to be prepared for the primary school teaching profession. This existed until spring 1945.
The post-war period 1945–1955
Starting in autumn 1945, new teachers were trained in Keilhau to build a democratic Germany. The school, which was initially called the Thuringian Teacher Training Institute, was later called the Pedagogical Technical School. In November 1946, according to orders from the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD), a so-called preparatory school moved into the building. As part of the “1000 working-class children at university” campaign, pupils were to be prepared for a course of study by taking them to their Abitur in Keilhau. Since April 1948 the facility has been called the State Boarding School, which was subordinate to the State of Thuringia .
Speech therapy school 1956–1990
Speech therapy work began in Keilhau at the beginning of the 1956/57 school year . Children from many districts of the GDR came here to solve their language problems, e.g. B. stuttering , to get a grip. Alexander Hübener († 2013) was the director who managed the school for the longest by far. Employed as a teacher in Keilhau since the early 1950s, he took over the helm in 1962. He made a great contribution to the fact that the Froebel spirit could continue to live in Keilhau. For example, he saved valuable holdings in the school library from destruction through courageous action. In addition, he left no stone unturned in delaying the impending decline of the “lower house”, so that the house, with which everything began in Keilhau in 1817, could be saved over the year 1989 and is now reconstructed and delights pupils, teachers, employees and guests. In 1990 he retired after handing over the baton to his long-time colleague Gabriele Wächter.
After the political turning point in 1990–2007
The first state school after the political change in 1990 has been privately owned since 1999 as the "Freie Fröbelschule Keilhau". It now meets the high requirements of a speech therapy center with a curative educational dormitory. Here, the students can acquire a state-recognized secondary school leaving certificate. The importance of the facility is underlined not least by the fact that today children from all over Thuringia (and from neighboring federal states) are taught and looked after in Keilhau.
literature
- AE: The School in the Forest - A Peace Work from the Wars of Liberation . In: The Gazebo . Issue 37, 1867, pp. 580-583 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 42 ′ 50 ″ N , 11 ° 14 ′ 53 ″ E