Carl Theil

Carl August Theil (born December 17, 1886 in Danzig ; † August 25, 1945 in Jena ) was a German reform pedagogue and university curator.

life and work

The son of the royal Prussian music director Karl Hugo Theil began studying general sciences at the Technical University of Danzig and then studied philosophy and philology at the universities of Berlin , Munich and Jena until 1912 . He then married Elisabeth, the adopted daughter of a university lecturer, and went to the Odenwald School with her . Theil came into contact with the reform pedagogy of Paul Geheeb and the movement of the rural education homes . In 1913 he received his doctorate in ancient history in Jena. After his military service in the First World War and the state examination, he worked at the Jena Adult Education Center in 1919 . In 1920 he built the “New School Hellerau”, which was oriented towards reform pedagogy, on the grounds of the Hellerau Festival Hall . In 1923 he was appointed to the Weimar Wilhelm-Ernst-Gymnasium as a teacher and director , from which he was transferred to the Jena Gymnasium as early as 1924 due to a campaign by parents and teachers . Here Theil was active in the circle of friends of the university school and spread the teachings of the founder Peter Petersen . As an active socialist, he was banned from working in 1933. It was not until 1941 that he was able to teach again at the Schloss Salem private school . After the end of the Second World War , he successfully campaigned for the Soviet occupying power and the Thuringian Ministry of Education to re-establish the university curatorial office, which was closed during the Nazi era. However, he died a few weeks after taking office.

Fonts (selection)

• as editor: guidelines for life science lessons with bibliography , compiled by a working group of Thuringian teachers, Langensalza: Beltz 1930.
• Dialogue. Verses in memory of a dead person , Leipzig: Insel-Verlag 1942.

Secondary literature

• Christian Faludi: Theil, Carl , in: Matias Mieth, Rüdiger Stutz (ed.): Jena. Lexicon on city history. Tümmel-Verlag, Berching 2018, p. 644.
• Jürgen John : Carl Theil (1886–1945). Reform pedagogue - socialist - university curator, in :, Stefan Gerber et al. (Hg.): Between city, state and nation. Middle class in Germany . Part 2, Göttingen 2014, pp. 771–801.