Benjamin Ortmeyer

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Benjamin Ortmeyer (born April 13, 1952 in Kiel ) is a German educational scientist. He taught as an adjunct professor in the educational sciences department at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . Ortmeyer mainly deals with pedagogy during the National Socialist era . With his habilitation thesis Mythos and Pathos instead of Logos and Ethos , Ortmeyer triggered a discussion about the involvement of the pedagogue Peter Petersen in the Nazi racial ideology and about the possible renaming of schools and streets, which after him or others incriminated teachers, including Eduard Spranger , are named. Ortmeyer's research prompted various schools in Germany to rename themselves.

Live and act

From 1975 to 2003 Ortmeyer taught mathematics, social studies and music. In 1996 he received the Heinz Galinski Prize from the Berlin Jewish Community. In 1998 he received his doctorate from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg with a thesis on the fate of Jewish schoolchildren during the National Socialist era . In 1999 he was forcibly transferred by the state education authority for the city of Frankfurt am Main. The majority of the parents' representatives spoke out against the forced transfer. He received support from the Education and Science Union (GEW), of which he was a member of the Frankfurt district board until 2008. In 2003 he became a research assistant in the educational science department at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. In 2008 he completed his habilitation with the text Mythos and Pathos instead of Logos and Ethos - On the publications of leading educationalists during the Nazi era: Eduard Spranger, Herman Nohl , Erich Less and Peter Petersen . Ortmeyer has taught as a private lecturer since 2009 and as an adjunct professor at the Goethe University since January 26, 2011 . From 2012 to 2018 Ortmeyer headed a research center for Nazi education there together with Micha Brumlik .

Dispute over the national anthem

In 1991 Ortmeyer published the brochure “Arguments against the Deutschlandlied . History and present of a terrible song of praise to the German nation ” . Among other things, he criticizes the fact that for those persecuted by the Nazi regime the song was emotionally connected to the crimes of this system and that its author Hoffmann von Fallersleben was anti-Semitic and militaristic , but by no means democratic. In addition, there is no law that designates this song as a national anthem.

The brochure sparked heated discussions in the mass media after the Hessian state association of the GEW reissued it as an educational aid during the 2006 World Cup . The foreword to the new edition was written by the GEW federal chairman Ulrich Thöne and the Hessian state chairman Jochen Nagel. The tabloid Bild headlined against the brochure : "Teachers 'union makes our national anthem lousy - The teachers' union for education and science (GEW) wants to spoil the singing of the German national anthem for us!" Other daily newspapers were also heavily criticized. Theo Zwanziger , the President of the German Football Association , described the brochure as scandalous: "We are happy about the beginning of normality all over Germany, only these people do not notice it." Further criticism came from politicians of the CDU and FDP and aus Share science. Hans Ottomeyer , the general director of the German Historical Museum in Berlin, described the arguments in the brochure as nonsense. Ulrich Thöne then withdrew the brochure: “This brochure comes from the museum and is not our current contribution to the debate on the subject of national consciousness.” Walter Jens , on the other hand, said: “If I have something to complain about in our country, then it's this unspeakable national anthem with the partial incomprehensible text. Who knows what the 'pledge of happiness' is. ” The publication Irrsinn der Normalität deals with the violent reactions to Ortmeyer's writing . Aspects of the re-articulation of German nationalism .

Habilitation thesis

In his habilitation thesis “Mythos and Pathos instead of Logos and Ethos” Ortmeyer dealt with the educators Eduard Spranger, Herman Nohl, Erich Less and Peter Petersen during the Nazi era. In it he describes u. a. Petersen's intellectual closeness to National Socialism . In an article on "racial high quality" , Petersen fought against the liberal "delusional ideal of the equality of peoples" and declared it the "duty of high-quality peoples and races to keep their genetic makeup pure". In a book review from 1933 for the magazine Blut und Boden , he wrote: “Because it is impossible for the Jew to live with our way of life, he has a corrosive, flattening, even poisoning effect on us in everything he attacks and kicks everything in the service of his striving for power. ” Ortmeyer is therefore critical of Petersen's attitude during the National Socialist era:

“Petersen's support for the Nazi state, his proven racism, his clear focus on militarism and German nationalism are not alone. Petersen's manipulative school pedagogical technique of 'leadership theory' is fitted into the Nazi idea of ​​leadership as preparation for command and obedience and selection of leaders. "

- Benjamin Ortmeyer

In the debate about the public commemoration of Petersen triggered by Ortmeyer's publication, however, there were also voices that Petersen defended: Jürgen John , professor emeritus for regional history at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Petersen's long-standing place of work), accuses Ortmeyer of assuming Petersen wrongly adopted a reactionary basic orientation and an anti-democratic-authoritarian style of upbringing. Hartmut Draeger, Vice President of the Society for Jenaplan Pedagogy (a school concept developed by Petersen), considers this, despite the statements quoted by Ortmeyer, to be a reform educator who tried to maintain his humanistic school concept even under the dictatorship.

Renaming

As a result of the discussion triggered by Ortmeyer's habilitation thesis, several schools named after Petersen changed their names. The Peter Petersen School in Weiterstadt was renamed the Anna Freud School. The school conference of the Peter Petersen School in Hamburg unanimously distanced itself from Petersen on November 30, 2009 and named the school after Irena Sendler . There were other renaming of schools in Bergheim , a former Peter-Petersen-School is now called "school at the Roman Tower" in Cologne - Höhenhaus named an elementary school in "Rosenmaarschule" to, and in Frankfurt am Main is a formerly named after Petersen integrated Comprehensive school today only "IGS Eschersheim". The Mannheim Peter Petersen Gymnasium was renamed the Johanna Geissmar Gymnasium in 2014 . The "Petersen-Platz" in Jena was renamed "Jenaplan" in 2011 after a long and public debate.

Ortmeyer's assessment of the post-war educator Eduard Spranger, who was highly valued in West Germany , led to similar debates . For Ortmeyer Spranger was one of the educational “gray area collaborators” during the National Socialist era and stood out for his anti-Semitic convictions; under no circumstances should he be honored by school names. In late autumn 2016, Ortmeyer sent brochures with his findings to all eight schools in Germany named after Spranger, where discussions and events took place and in at least three cases (including schools in Frankfurt and Mannheim) there were renaming. The Eduard-Spranger-Gymnasium in Landau in the Palatinate also discussed a renaming, which was rejected by a majority of school and teacher representatives in May 2018. Ortmeyer then suggested that after this decision, the high school be revoked the European award “ School without Racism - School with Courage ”, which was awarded in 2016 , which triggered outraged reactions from the school community.

Honors

Publications

  • Arguments against the Deutschlandlied. Past and present of a song of praise to the German nation. Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7663-2236-2 .
  • as editor: Reports against oblivion and displacement of 100 surviving Jewish students about the Nazi era in Frankfurt am Main. Wehle, Witterschlick / Bonn 1994, ISBN 3-925267-85-9 .
  • School days under the picture of Hitler. Analyzes, reports, documents (= Fischer. 12967). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-596-12967-2 .
  • as editor: Yiddish songs against the Nazis. Annotated lyrics with notes (also transposed for clarinet in Bb). Wehle, Witterschlick / Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-89573-060-2 (text mainly Yiddish in transcription and German translation).
  • Fate of Jewish Schoolchildren in the Nazi Era - Gaps in German Educational Science? Federal Republic of Education (1945 / 49–1995) and research into the Nazi school. Wehle, Witterschlick / Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-89573-077-7 (also: Heidelberg, Universität, Dissertation, 1998).
  • The GEW and the Nazi era. "The GEW must review its own activities critically". Open letter to the federal chairmen of the GEW and the main board of the GEW. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the November pogrom 1938. Wehle, Witterschlick / Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-89573-088-2 .
  • Myth and pathos instead of logos and ethos. On the publications of leading educationalists during the Nazi era: Eduard Spranger, Herman Nohl, Erich Less and Peter Petersen. Beltz, Weinheim et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-407-85798-9 (= at the same time: Frankfurt am Main, University, habilitation paper, 2008).
  • with Katharina Rhein: indoctrination. Racism and anti-Semitism in the Nazi school magazine “Help with!” (1933–1944). Analysis and documents. Beltz Juventa, Weinheim et al. 2013, ISBN 978-3-7799-2889-8 .
  • Beyond the Hippocratic Oath. Josef Mengele and the Goethe University. Protagoras Academicus, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-9430-5913-7 .
  • with Katharina Rhein: Nazi propaganda against the labor movement. 1933-1945. Imitation and indoctrination. Beltz Juventa, Weinheim et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-7799-3308-3 .
  • Racism and anti-Semitism in the NSLB magazine "German / National Socialist Education". 1933–1943 (= Nazi ideology in scientific jargon. 1). Protagoras Academicus, Frankfurt am Main 2016, ISBN 978-3-943059-18-2 .
  • with Saskia Müller: The ideological orientation of the teachers 1933–1945. Mastery, racism and hostility towards Jews of the National Socialist Teachers' Association. A documentary analysis by the central organ of the NSLB. Beltz Juventa, Weinheim et al. 2016, ISBN 978-3-7799-3414-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ taz on November 6th, 2010. "Civil courage goes to school"
  2. ^ Benjamin Ortmeyer, Fates of Jewish Schoolchildren in the Nazi Era - Gaps in German Educational Science? Federal Republic of Germany Educational Sciences (1945/49 - 1995) and research into the Nazi school , Diss. Heidelberg 1998
  3. ↑ Astrid Ludwig: Professional indoctrination. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. January 24, 2012, accessed May 10, 2015 .
  4. ↑ https://forschungsstelle.wordpress.com/2018/04/
  5. ↑ Bild-Zeitung on June 15, 2006
  6. ↑ Dissonance about the German anthem Süddeutsche Zeitung from June 15, 2006
  7. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau of June 22, 2006
  8. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of June 15, 2006
  9. ↑ Rhein, Katharina: Now come the bad guys. On the significance of the men's soccer World Cup in 2006 for the re-articulation of national identity in Germany using the example of the debate about the Germany song brochure. In: Project Group Criticism of Nationalism (Ed.): Irrsinn der Normalität. Aspects of the re-articulation of German nationalism. Münster, 2009, pp. 128-145
  10. ↑ Benjamin Ortmeyer: Myth and Pathos instead of Logos and Ethos. On the publications of leading educationalists during the Nazi era: Eduard Spranger, Herman Nohl, Erich Less and Peter Petersen . Beltz, Weinheim 2009, ISBN 3-407-85798-5 .
  11. ↑ Peter Petersen, There is racial high quality. Committed to you! , in: Home and Work. Monthly booklets for educational politics, 14th year (1941), booklet 2, p. 38 ff.
  12. ↑ Peter Petersen, review by Karl Beyer: Jüdischer Intellekt und deutscher Glaube (Leipzig 1933) , in: Blut und Boden. Monthly magazine for peasantry with strong roots, German character and national freedom, 5th year (1933), issue 6, p. 285 ff.
  13. ^ Benjamin Ortmeyer, Mythos and Pathos instead of Logos and Ethos , 2009, p. 312
  14. ^ The occasion was a panel discussion in Jena on October 5th and 26th, 2009, at which the renaming of Petersenplatz in Jena was discussed.
  15. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau, fr-online from December 5, 2009
  16. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from January 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ^ Die Welt on November 8, 2010: "The Angel of Warsaw"
  18. ↑ 40 years of "Schule am Römerturm" security gives the students wings . In: Kölnische Rundschau / Rhein-Erft Rundschau, February 28, 2013.
  19. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from February 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ↑ http://frankfurter-blog.de/2012/10/peter-petersen-schule-wird-umbenannt/
  21. ↑ PPG becomes Johanna-Geissmar-Gymnasium. City of Mannheim, February 5, 2014, accessed on May 10, 2015 .
  22. ↑ Falk Reimer: Landau: School was named after anti-Semite In: Die Rheinpfalz , June 14, 2017, accessed in March 2019.
  23. ↑ Sabine Schilling: “The process must not be completed”. In: Die Rheinpfalz , May 19, 2018, accessed March 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Ortmeyer, Benjamin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German educator
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel