Arthur Pfeifer

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Arthur Pfeifer (born January 29, 1884 in Dresden , † October 29, 1976 in Waldheim ) was a German educator and pacifist . He was a teacher in Saxony from 1904 to 1954 .

In the Weimar Republic, the pacifist worked as a school reformer. He was a member of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and the World Federation for the Renewal of Education (New Education Fellowship) and worked on the French magazine L'École émancipée . Under National Socialism, he was reprimanded and transferred as a punishment. In 1941/42 he received official criminal proceedings for “endangering the national structure”, pacifism and anglophile attitudes. After the war he returned to Waldheim. As the head of the elementary school there and as a mentor to new teachers, he helped denazify the school system. A renewed membership in international organizations such as B. As a citizen of the GDR, he was denied the Reconciliation Alliance.

Live and act

parents house

1884

Josef Theobald Arthur Pfeifer was born in Dresden on January 29, 1884. His mother (1860–1917) was the daughter of a wealthy master shoemaker who had given her a higher education. At the age of twenty-two, she opened a lending library on Victoriastraße not far from the main train station, in which she offered not only German but also foreign classics, primarily in Italian, French and English, which she herself spoke. In the lending library she met her future husband Josef Pfeifer (1857–1942), who had come to Dresden on his journeyman journey after completing an apprenticeship as a glass painter in Harrachsdorf (Riesengebirge), where he switched to porcelain painting. Both parents, the mother Protestant, the father Catholic, had freethinking inclinations and were members of the Monist Association founded by Ernst Haeckel in 1906 . They read Haeckel's "World Riddles" and devoted themselves to observing nature, for which regular visits to the Botanical Gardens provided ample opportunity. As a schoolboy, her son Arthur looked after the herbarium of a noble gentleman whom his mother knew because of her relatives with the Saxon noble family von Pflugk.

education

1898-1907

After a short apprenticeship as a baker, Arthur Pfeifer began his training at the Royal Saxon Teachers' Seminar in Dresden-Friedrichstadt in 1898, which he completed in 1904. Even before completing his training, he was accepted into the Saxon school service in 1903 as one of the best pupils due to an acute teacher shortage, which he took up in Gröba near Riesa.

1907

In October 1907 Arthur Pfeifer registered for a degree in pedagogy at the University of Leipzig, where he a. a. Heard psychology lectures with Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). As a guest, however, he must have attended lectures before, e.g. B. with Friedrich Ratzel (1844–1904), the important geographer, whom he held in high esteem throughout his life.

Relocation to Waldheim

1908-1911

The marriage to Maria Concordia Margarete Weisse (1886–1967) and the birth of their son Hans (1908–2002) led to the termination of the studies. Arthur Pfeifer got a job in Waldheim. Daughter Irene (1911–1996) was born here in 1911.

1913

As a result of a lung disease, Arthur Pfeifer spent almost a year in Davos.

1914

When the war broke out, Arthur Pfeifer was drafted for military service, but not drafted because of his unstable health. The fact that Arthur Pfeifer knew how to combine teaching methodology with philosophical aspects early on was shown in his book "Technique of Spiritual Work", which was self-published in Dresden in 1914. All technology of learning has not to lose sight of the educational goal: "... a will directed towards social action, based on sufficient knowledge." [S. 121]

Adult education center, school reform

1919-1924

In 1919, in Arthur Pfeifer's apartment at Turmstrasse 15, Siegfried Kawerau (1866–1936), a representative of Paul Östreich's Association of Resolute School Reformers , the social scientist and adult education center educator Gertrud Hermes (1872–1942) and the zoologist and pacifist Richard Woltereck ( 1877–1944) founded the Waldheim Adult Education Center, which Arthur Pfeifer directed until 1933. In addition to co-founding other adult education centers in Saxony and Thuringia , Arthur Pfeifer was a member of the New Education Fellowship and worked on the French syndicalist magazine L`École émanzipée. Due to his technical and methodical competence, Arthur Pfeifer was appointed to the curriculum committee of the Saxon Teachers' Association.

Internationaler Versöhnungsbund / International Fellowship of Reconciliation

1920-1932

According to his son, Arthur Pfeifer came into contact with the International Union of Reconciliation through the pastor from Ziegra near Waldheim / Sa., later professor of theology in Leipzig, Alfred Dedo Müller (1890–1972), whom he met in the early 1920s . AD Müller was a student of the Swiss religious socialist and pacifist Leonhard Ragaz (1868–1945) and the ethicist FW Foerster, who worked in the same way. From 1925 to 1927 he was secretary of the German Association of Reconciliation according to Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze (1885–1969). Since AD ​​Müller held the secretariat, Arthur Pfeifer was regularly elected to the working committee, in which he a. a. worked with the teacher Gerda Baumann (1893–1975), the reform pedagogue Waldus Nestler (1887–1954) and the university professor Richard Woltereck (1877–1944). He gave numerous lectures as well as AD Müller and W. Nestler. Due to his good language skills in English and French, Arthur Pfeifer was in great demand as an interpreter at the meetings of the International Union of Reconciliation.

1922

his apartment at Turmstrasse 15 in Waldheim was designated as the headquarters of the teachers belonging to the Reconciliation Union. His encounters in the Union of Reconciliation with spiritual companions such as the Catholic priest and campaigner for peace Max Josef Metzger (1887–1944), the French pastor and temporary international secretary of the Union of Reconciliation, Henri Roser (1899–1981), the last were formative for Arthur Pfeifer's life Secretary Leo Tolstois Valentin Bulgakov (1886–1966), the English clergyman and confidante of Gandhi Charles Freer Andrews (1871–1940), the co-founder and chronicler of the International Union of Reconciliation Lilian Stevenson (1870–1960), the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Sir Norman Angell (1873–1967) ) and others.

1928

With a grant from the Saxon Ministry of Education of 300 Reichsmark, Arthur Pfeifer traveled in July to a holiday course of several weeks at the University of London. In his England report, which the ministry described as "very interesting", he described a. a. Training institutions for young people and adults and particularly praised the "reading rooms of the youth" in the libraries, which he recommended Saxony to imitate. In the same report he points to the "remarkable position of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which was founded on the recognition of the incompatibility of Christianity and war and the use of violence of any kind" in the English public.

1931

the marriage was divorced. He still lived in the same house with his wife.

The relationship with the brothers Friedrich Wilhelm and Karl Foerster

Arthur Pfeifer got to know the work of the Foerster brothers through Pastor Müller. The books of the reform pedagogue and pacifist Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster (1869–1966), who had emigrated to Switzerland in 1922 because of the nationalist agitation directed against him, were important educational reading in the Pfeifer household. In his contribution to the book "Fr. W. Foerster and the real world" published by AD Müller in 1928, Arthur Pfeifer praised Foerster's work "Education and Self-Education", "Christ and Human Life" and "Religion and Character Development" as "enlightening books." " :

There is bread here, not stones; Life - not literature; Light that illuminates the reality of existence - not theories about life. [S. 88]

Arthur Pfeifer received no less strong impetus from the work of Karl Foerster (1874–1970), the flower gardener and garden philosopher, whom he visited several times in Bornim near Potsdam and whose magazine "Gartenschönheit" he regularly obtained. Waldheim owes the founding of the horticultural association to an initiative by Arthur Pfeifer.

Artistic interests

In addition to his natural history, philosophical and pedagogical-methodological interests, Arthur Pfeifer's artistic inclinations were added - quite deliberately, these even formed the focus of his understanding and teaching of life. At the age of 13 he had read Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" for the first time and the image of the intellectual and artistic way of life as it is drawn there in the "Pedagogical Province" had a lasting impact on his lifestyle and ideal of education. Pfeifer's admiration for Goethe was always very practical. In the seventies, he, now a member of the Weimar Goethe Society , held "Faust talks" with young people in Waldheim.

In Waldheim, Arthur Pfeifer became aware of the work of the graphic artist and sculptor Georg Kolbe (1877–1947), who was born here . Even trained in drawing and well-versed in artistic techniques, Pfeifer was able to provide detailed information about the works of Georg Kolbe in Waldheim.

Arthur Pfeifer saw the description of the relationship between the educational-artistic provinces and the world that was to be found in Goethe continued in contemporary literature by Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), most recently in the " Glasperlenspiel ", the obligatory, happy one Dangers related relationship between master and student tells. The intimate relationship with the poet and painter Hermann Hesse lets one feel the gratitude that Pfeifer sent to Montagnola on December 26, 1950, to show which lines of force emanate from the honored "... in spaces and in times, invisible, far-reaching lines of force who control the future from afar. "

The time under the Nazi regime

1933

On March 19, 1933, the responsible district education authority in Döbeln was instructed by the Ministry of Public Education to keep Waldheim teachers Pfeifer, Oehme and Theile away from school service in Waldheim. A complaint by the three teachers who had been reprimanded was rejected in July 1933 as "unfounded",

as there is still a suspicion that the three teachers, according to their previous attitude, have counteracted the intentions of Christian and patriotic upbringing in their teaching and educational work.

Arthur Pfeifer's relationship with Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster was also extremely stressful.

1934-1945

Arthur Pfeifer was transferred to Zschopau (Erzgeb.) as a punishment. Here he met the high school teacher and reform pedagogue from the Dresden Dürerversuchsschule Dr. Kurt Schumann (1885–1970) and the young academic assessor and enthusiastic glider pilot Helmut Seidel (born 1903), both of whom had shared fate, who had also been transferred to Zschopau because of their political convictions.

In September 1941 Arthur Pfeifer was initiated against Arthur Pfeifer for "degrading the German character" and conspicuous advocacy for England with the result that his salary was reduced and he was under threat of being taken into "protective custody" by the Gestapo immediately if repeated in 1943 to Oederan - in the same school district - was transferred. Spiritual support was offered to Arthur Pfeifer by correspondence with his former student and colleague in the Reconciliation Union, Gerda Baumann from Waldheim, who had been working as a teacher for Saxon children with lung disease in Agra (Switzerland) since 1928.

Back in Waldheim

1945-1949

After the Allied victory over the Nazi regime, Arthur Pfeifer returned to Waldheim. In January 1946 he took over the management of the largest elementary school in the Döbeln district, which he held until August 1949. In addition, he trained new teachers and worked as a mentor for geography in the Döbeln district.

At the Lessing High School in Döbeln

1949-1954

Even after his retirement, Arthur Pfeifer was appointed as a teacher of art education and geography at the Lessing Oberschule in Döbeln - an appreciation of his extraordinary pedagogical skills and extensive school experience. Immediately after the war, his friend Kurt Schumann, for whom he was the "smartest schoolmaster" he had met, wanted to bring him to the high school he ran in Zschopau.

The last few years

1954-1976

Even after he left school, Arthur Pfeifer worked as a teacher. He gave lectures on nature, music, fine arts, literature and the history of technology and science and held courses on Goethe's "Faust", the German Romantics and others. a. In Waldheim he took care of the upbringing of the children of friendly families. The correspondence with the Leipzig teacher Gertrud Schade, which began in 1960 and which he continued until the end of his life (3000 letters and as many answers), is full of practical hints and wisdom and at the same time paints a picture of his interests, experiences and hopes.

During these last few years the contact with some former teacher colleagues did not break off. When he was congratulated on his 80th birthday from Döbeln, Arthur Pfeifer replied with unbroken confidence:

I was particularly pleased about that. Because the schoolmaster is generally similar to the actor: both cause some impressions in the present day that are only more or less permanent. That is in the nature of things, no fireworks burn forever. If someone remembers a dozen years later, then it's a lot. But: on November 3rd, 1823, Goethe said to Eckermann: "Always hold fast to the present. Every state, indeed every moment, is of infinite value, because it is the representative of a whole eternity." This fact gives dignity to any real teaching activity.

Arthur Pfeifer died in Waldheim on October 29, 1976. His grave is in the cemetery not far from his former home.

The Freundeskreis "Arthur Pfeifer" eV Waldheim

2002

The "Arthur Pfeifer" Association of Friends was founded in Waldheim under the chairmanship of Waldheim lawyer Gottfried Schlesier, which came together until 2014 and made research into the life and work of Arthur Pfeifer its task. The Freundeskreis ensured that a memorial plaque was attached to Arthur Pfeifer's former home and that his grave was included in the honorary graves of the city of Waldheim. He also made sure, especially in the person of the painter Gisela Neuenhahn, that the sculptor Georg Kolbe, a son of the city, whose memory Arthur Pfeifer had kept alive in lectures for decades, could take the place he deserved in the local history museum.

literature

  • Arthur Pfeifer. A Saxon schoolmaster. In: Waldheimer Heimatblätter H. 15/1999, 2nd improved and expanded edition 2011. With the contributions:
    • Heinrich Neyer: a courageous man and fatherly friend
    • Gisela Neuenhahn born Too bad: "Stick to the beautiful in life"
    • Renate Schmidt-Rhaesa: Cheerful, kind and wise
    • Gottfried Schlesier: "Linquenda" - that which can be left
    • Fritz Mierau : The true teacher works in silence and Arthur Pfeifer. A chronicle
  • Fritz Mierau: Saxon Inheritance. In the S. My Russian century. Autobiography . Ed. Nautilus, Hamburg 2001, pp. 34-42 ISBN 3-89401-386-9
  • Werner Ulbricht: Arthur Pfeifer - a Saxon schoolmaster. About the work of an upright teacher in Oederan during the Nazi era . In: Contributions to the history of the city of Oederan 1190 - 1990, Vol. 2, Oederan 2002, pp. 303–305 (The text is based on the notes of Hans Zeidler, a former Oederan student of Arthur Pfeifer from 1943 to 1945. Student works by H. Zeidler from his teaching time with Arthur Pfeifer can be found at the German Institute for International Educational Research DIPF in Berlin.)
  • Fritz Mierau: On the art of treating people. Letters from the Saxon province. In: Upper Lusatia and Saxony in Central Europe. Festschrift for the 75th birthday of Prof. Dr. Karlheinz Blaschke. Verlag Gunter Oettel, Görlitz-Zittau 2002/2003, pp. 373-386
  • Arthur Pfeifer. Letters from Waldheim 1960 - 1976 , ed. v. Sieglinde and Fritz Mierau. KONTEXTverlag, Berlin 2004 (Excerpts from letters to Gertrud Schade. With a foreword by Fritz Mierau, "... to put emotional highlights in the minds". Foreword again in: Fritz Mierau, Keller of Remembrance. Language in times of lived utopia. Publisher epubli Berlin 2017) ISBN 3-931337-41-3
  • Fritz Mierau: Authority and Freedom. My teacher Arthur Pfeifer. In: Sinn und Form H. 4/2005, pp. 482–496. Again in: Fritz Mierau, Cellar of Memory. Language in times of lived utopia. Publisher epubli Berlin, 2017.
  • Arthur Pfeifer. Eine Chronik (1884 - 1976) , 305 pages with 230 illustrations, Ms. u. CD from the “Arthur Pfeifer” Association of Friends
  • Andreas Pehnke: Arthur Pfeifer, a gifted school practitioner , wisdom lover and life teacher. In: Saxon Biography , 2007.
  • Sieglinde and Fritz Mierau: "What illusions did we have to banish the war spirit". The International Union of Reconciliation in correspondence between Arthur Pfeifer (Waldheim / Sa.) And Gerda Baumann (Agra / Switzerland) ; Commented excerpts from letters and short biographies on the homepage of the Freundeskreis “Arthur Pfeifer” eV, 2007 (see the Freundeskreis website ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ecumenical Archive (Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze Collection) in the Evangelical Central Archive in Berlin, 51 J IV
  2. ↑ Typescript in the possession of the Freundeskreis "Arthur Pfeifer" eV, [p. 5]
  3. ^ Letter in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern
  4. ^ Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig : District School Council Döbeln, No. 842
  5. ^ Federal Archives R148 / 1358: Reich Administrative Court , II. Service Penal Senate
  6. ^ Letter exchange A. Pfeifer / G. Baumann 1935 - 1975; Copies from the "Arthur Pfeifer" Association of Friends
  7. ↑ Andreas Pehnke: "I belong on the zone boundary!" The Saxon reform pedagogue and local researcher Kurt Schumann (1885-1970). Sax Verlag, Beucha 2004, p. 221, ISBN 3-934544-63-0
  8. ^ Letter to Hermann Schneider v. February 1, 1964 ( Mierau Archives )
personal data
SURNAME Pfeifer, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German educator and pacifist
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1976
Place of death Waldheim , GDR