Permanent homes for infants and toddlers in the GDR

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Cottbus baby home, 1955

The permanent homes for babies and toddlers were health care facilities that were under medical supervision or under medical supervision. These were facilities in which healthy infants and toddlers up to the age of 3 were permanently accommodated (also on Sundays and public holidays). From 1951 to 1990 they were under the supervision of the responsible health service department of the council of the rural or urban district.

These homes had a special position within the home education in the GDR . In addition to orphans and social orphans , infants and small children whose mothers were single parents or whose parents worked in shift systems were also taken in and permanently housed. Orphans and social orphans who did not have the opportunity to adopt were relocated to secondary homes after they reached the age of 3. If infants and toddlers were classified as at risk, the youth welfare organs have been responsible for arranging home education since 1969 . The organs of the health service were responsible for the implementation of the home education. You should work together with youth welfare services when it came to developing individual education programs.

Development of Homes

Heritage, new beginnings and orientation in the Soviet occupation zone and in the GDR (1945–1949)

New structures had to be built and war-related destruction did not leave the homes unaffected. Without improvisation, the poor supplies for many war orphans could not be maintained. A conceptual reorientation was difficult in the first few years. The work was initially based on concepts from the Weimar Republic.

The orders of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany ( SMAD ) formed the legal basis for all homes that were subordinate to the Central Administration for Popular Education (later the GDR Ministry for Popular Education ) . Infant homes were not mentioned in these orders . It has not yet been adequately researched whether there was a sharp distinction between nursing homes and homes for young children. Infant homes are listed separately in the statistics of the German Central Health Administration . The age limit in these homes was twelve months of age. It remains to be seen whether the care for young children (up to the age of 3) was under the control of the Central Administration for National Education or the DZVG. Another common practice during this period was to connect infant and toddler homes to maternity wards in hospitals.

Period of forced development and reform ideas (1950–1960)

Infant nurse in Berlin, 1955

Despite all efforts to set up permanent homes in abandoned or confiscated properties belonging to landowners or manufacturers, there was a lack of suitable rooms in many places. Often barracks were poorly prepared. At the 3rd party congress of the SED in 1950 and with the adoption of the provisional People's Chamber on September 27, 1950, the homes were expanded as planned as part of the five-year plan of the national economy. The training of nurses was also linked to this law.

The adoption of the Law on Mother and Child Protection and Women's Rights in 1951 went hand in hand with a restructuring of the administration in the ministries and lower levels of administration. The "Department for Mother and Child", now in the Ministry of Health (MfGe), received, among other things, the newly defined tasks for the promotion and development of permanent homes for infants and young children. In addition, the departments were assigned official guardianship as well as adoption and foster child care. The toddlers, who were previously housed in the homes of popular education, now fell under the responsibility of the MfGe and were moved to their homes. There was consequent differentiation and a clear separation of the children according to age groups in the care facilities. A commission decided on the admission of children and the allocation of places in the homes based on urgency.

The expansion of the permanent homes was pushed into the late 1950s. This development did not go uncritical. Reservations were expressed in particular by pediatricians who were able to substantiate their doubts through their own free research at the end of the 1950s. Indirectly, their results underpinned the findings and theoretical considerations of the Anglo-Saxon researchers John Bowlby and James Robertson , who further developed the attachment theory . At the instigation of the pediatricians, reform ideas such as B. the creation of family milieus, personal toys and clothing, faster adoption procedures and carers for the children discussed and tested.

Although there were significant concerns about residential accommodation, the number of residential places rose to nearly 11,000 between 1959 and 1961. Politically motivated perspectives in parts of the GDR government and the SED leadership saw the educational importance and the advantage of permanent homes in the education for community, which precludes one-sided preferential treatment.

Conversion of permanent homes into institutions for social education (1961–1970)

The construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 was not without consequences for the permanent homes. In the following years there was an ideological orientation in the education in the homes as well as in research on young children. The stimulated and tried reform efforts by the pediatricians were largely withdrawn. The risks that arose for the children in the home due to a lack of nest warmth were not given sufficient consideration. The Minister of Justice Hilde Benjamin wrote to the Minister of Health Max Sefrin on April 25, 1962 :

"I know that leading paediatricians, especially Dr. Eva Schmidt-Kolmer , take the view that children in the week nurseries develop more slowly. For this reason, she only advocates the placement of children in day groups and emphasizes the considerable need of small children for warmth. (...) I therefore consider it to be urgently necessary that, in connection with the women's communiqué, an ideological clarification be made with the doctors about the importance of placing small children in maternity homes for ensuring the implementation of equal rights for women. (...) I would also like to say that following the Council of Ministers meeting I received approval from a number of colleagues, in particular also from the Minister for Popular Education. "

The free research groups in Halle, Leipzig and Berlin were dissolved. Their results, like the attachment theoretical findings of John Bowlby , James Robertson and Mary Ainsworth , were not published any further until the political turning point in 1990. The number of permanent home places peaked at around 11,000 in the early 1960s. It was only after 1962 that the number of children cared for in permanent homes decreased. In 1965 the "Law on the Uniform, Socialist Education System" was passed. In this law, permanent homes were recorded as pre-school facilities for the first time. In 1966, the centrally managed Institute for Hygiene of Children and Adolescents (IHKJ) was founded under the direction of Eva Schmidt-Kolmer as a subordinate department of the MfGe. This institute has not published comparative research results between family children and children in homes. The institute did not provide any notable impulses to improve the living conditions of the children in the home.

In October 1966, the first international symposium on crèche and home problems took place in Prague with the participation of a GDR delegation. In addition to problems of susceptibility and frequency of illness, the fundamental question was whether infants and toddlers could be cared for in collective institutions with some success. For the GDR delegation, these were remnants of backward thinking and they argued accordingly.

In 1968 the draft of an educational program appeared under the title Pedagogical Tasks and Working Methods of the Crèches , which was also used in the homes.

Stagnation and dissolution (1971–1990)

In the early 1970s, a number of instructions and ordinances for work in the homes were issued. Fundamental reforms that responded to the needs of infants and toddlers are looked for in vain at this time. International research findings from the field of infants and toddlers, such as that of Emmi Pikler from Hungary, found no echo in care homes in the GDR. In 1983 the new education program for day nurseries and homes was presented to the “Council for Medical Sciences” and approved by the Minister for Health. Margot Honecker , Minister for Popular Education, stopped the already approved education program. The report of the results of the commission on pre-school education states:

“In general, it is becoming apparent that the demands on the work to develop socialist behavioral habits and characteristics are not clearly stated. (...) The insufficient substantiation of the content of these tasks harbors the risk of subjective interpretation and indifferent educational work. "

The new “program for educational work in day nurseries” was revised and in 1987 it became a binding working basis for permanent homes. In addition to the new education program, individual changes such as B. personal toys or photo folders, disadvantages in the development for the home children are compensated. Despite the known risks for the children, this form of infant and toddler care was retained. At the end of the 1980s, the number of registered children in care had risen again to over 4,000. An independent educational home concept that takes into account the particular form of care and the developmental psychological characteristics of the infants and toddlers in the homes has not been developed.

With the turnaround, the entire state education system was up for grabs. The permanent homes for infants and toddlers were dissolved in the course of German reunification or converted into children's homes and other social institutions.

Permanent homes

district place Name Address Period of existence
Rostock district Greifswald Infant B-Station University Children's Clinic , Fleischmannstr. 8th unknown
18586 Baabe Infant home and day care center at Strandstrasse 40 until 1992
Rostock Infant home, cribs & homes of the city of Rostock, Blücherstraße 55a before 1966 until at least 1968
Schwerin district Pinnow
Guestrow Professor Stolte Infant Home , Goldberger Str. 8
Neustrelitz Professor Czerny Infant Home
Plau Infant home , Ziegeleiweg 26
Eldena Weekly crèche, (today) Altonaer Strasse at least 1960 - at least 1973
Neubrandenburg district Schönenwalde ... ...
Magdeburg district Blankenburg Eleonorenheim
Schönebeck Marienheim , Leninstr. 88 a
Ballenstedt Infant home , Lange Str. 7
Halberstadt Permanent home for small children , Ernst-Thälmann-Str. 29
Potsdam district Brandenburg Infant home , Wilhelmsdorfer Strasse
Falkensee Infant home , Donaustr. 15th
Hennigsdorf Baby home
Heretic Infant home , Baustr. 3A
Teltow Infant home in the deaconess house , Philipp-Müller-Alle 45
Berlin capital of the GDR Pankow Blankenburg
Treptow Schönetal way
Tunnel road
Frankfurt (Oder) district Bad Saarow Infant home , Karl-Marx-Damm 15
Buckow Clara Zetkin Infant Home later House Sunshine
Joachimsthal Waldhof / Anne Frank , Waldhof
District of Erfurt Gotha Permanent home Gotha , Sonnebornerstr. 20th
Nordhausen Permanent home Nordhausen , Alexander Puschkin Str. 2
Apolda Permanent home Apolda , Faulborn. 33
Halle district Hall Rosa Luxemburg , Klosterstr. 5
Infant home , Murmansker Str. 16
Infant home Fritz-Weineck-Ufer 8
Vollheim , Dieselstr. 57
Landsberg Infant home , Friedensplatz 1
Bernburg Infant home , Friedensallee 35
Bitterfeld Infant home , Ignaz-Stoof-Str. 13
Kropstädt Säuglingsheim , Weddiner Weg 8
Weissenfels Infant home , Novalisstrasse 23
Leipzig district Leipzig Am Rosenthal , Tschaikowskistr. 28
Infant home , Langestr. 14th
Naunhof Permanent home , Schloßstr. 20th
Time Infant home , Semmelweisstrasse 10
Cottbus district cottbus Infant home , Thiemstr. 39
Hoyerswerda Bethesda , Schulstr. 3-5
Nativity 14
Finsterwalde Frankenauer Weg 42
Guben Urban infant home
District of Suhl ... ... ...
Gera district Rudolstadt Infant home , Richard-Wagner-Str. 2 ...
Karl-Marx-Stadt district Reichenbach in Vogtland Children's home Syrau near Plauen, Wiesenstr. 16 ...
Dresden district Dresden Maxim Gorki Infant Home
Neukirch Small children's home , Georgenbadstr. 25th

Social reappraisal

Fund home education

In view of the injustice suffered in the permanent homes for infants and toddlers in the GDR and in the youth welfare facilities, the German Bundestag and the youth ministers of the federal states decided to provide equal offers of help for those affected by GDR home education who still suffer from consequential damage today. The report presented on March 26, 2012, “Working up the home education in the GDR” formed an important basis for the development of specific offers of help. In this report, the federal government and the eastern German states come to the conclusion that coercion and violence were an everyday experience for many infants, children and young people in the GDR homes and that human rights were violated. The experiences in the homes led to massive impairment of the life chances and development potential of those affected, some of which are still traumatic today.

In the preamble to the report on dealing with home education in the GDR from 2012, it says:

“We hope that with the establishment of the Home Education Fund in the GDR in the years 1949 to 1990 and the submitted expertises and the report, the feeling of powerlessness that many former home children feel can be overcome and that these offers as a contribution to Reconciliation and the establishment of legal peace are understood. "

The federal government, the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and the Free States of Saxony and Thuringia jointly set up the fund. The fund was set up on July 1, 2012 with a total volume of 40 million euros.

Granting of help and support services

Regardless of the sponsorship of the home institution, the fund's offers are aimed at former GDR children who were housed in a permanent home for infants and young children or in a youth welfare home between 1949 and 1990 and who suffered injustice and suffering Consequential damage they still suffer today. The Fund's assistance system should complement existing social security systems, but not replace them.

Compensation payments are granted if no contributions to the social security of the GDR were paid for work performed during the stay in the home or contributions made were not recognized by the pension insurance and therefore there is a reduction in pension entitlements. There is no legal entitlement to benefits from the fund.

The regional contact and advice centers for the fund provide information, advice and accept applications for help and support services. The regional contact and advice center in the respective federal states in whose catchment area a person concerned has his current place of residence is responsible. The applications and documents submitted were forwarded to the Federal Office for Family and Civil Society Tasks ( BAFza ) and checked for completeness and consistency. In addition, this office then provides the financial resources and pays them out.

Due to the high number of former children in care, the fund was already exhausted at the beginning of 2014 and was subsequently topped up again with federal and state funds. New applications for benefits from the fund could be submitted until September 30, 2014. In the period July 2012 and the end of September 2014, around 27,500 affected people reported. The term of the fund ended on December 31, 2018.

According to the current legal situation, the deadline for rhehabilitation applications from victims due to the GDR's arbitrariness expires on December 31, 2019 . Former children in care are also affected. a. Have experienced child sexual abuse in the facilities. The Federal Minister of Justice Katarina Barley ( SPD ) plans to facilitate compensation and to remove the application deadlines. The initiative is not currently legislative.

In August 2019, the final report of the Home Education Fund and the Federal Government's statement were published. The goals of those who set up the funds were ambitious and in the conclusion of the Federal Government's statement: “The funds have not fully met these high requirements in every individual case. But the broad satisfaction of those affected shows impressively that the financial and immaterial effort was worth it. The decisive factor for the success of the funds was, not least, the willingness of the installers, together with the representatives of those affected, to break new ground in implementing the funds, to try out possible solutions and to correct the decisions made if it was necessary in the interests of affected-friendly practice . This has made it possible to achieve the overarching goals of the funds and to make a contribution to social reappraisal and reconciliation with a dark chapter in recent German history. "

Personalities who lived in permanent homes

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ordinance on the tasks and organizations of day nurseries and nurseries as health care facilities of August 6, 1953, Journal of Laws No. 91.
  2. ↑ Sections 1 to 3 of the Ordinance on the Instruction and Admission of Infants and Small Children in Day Care Centers and Long-Term Homes v. 1973 - Journal 1973, 181.
  3. ^ F. Wapler: Legal issues of home education in the GDR. In: Processing of home education in the GDR .
  4. ↑ no. 2.2 and 2.3 of the joint instruction on the cooperation between the youth welfare organs and the health and social services organs to prevent and eliminate the social undesirable development or other endangerment of children up to three years of age, their upbringing, development or health under the responsibility of Parents are not guaranteed from April 3, 1969, VuM No. 13, 79.
  5. ↑ See Staude 1970, p. 266.
  6. ↑ Order of SMAD No. 225 of July 26, 1946 and No. 156 of July 20, 1947.
  7. ↑ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DX / 45051.
  8. ↑ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DQ 1/84.
  9. ↑ Bundesarchiv Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DY 30 / JIV 2/3 - 084
  10. ^ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR SAPMO 96 C / 292 a-2.
  11. ↑ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DC 20 I / 3417.
  12. ^ Law on Mother and Child Protection and Women's Rights , GDR, October 1, 1950.
  13. ↑ Bundesarchiv Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DQ 1/1374.
  14. ↑ Bundesarchiv Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DQ 1/1374.
  15. ^ Ordinance of the government of the GDR on the establishment of pre-school education in after-school care centers. GDR, September 18, 1952.
  16. ^ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DC 20 / I / 3/417
  17. ^ Law on Education §3, GDR
  18. ^ Journal for Medical Training in the GDR 1957, 21/22, pp. 895ff. / 1958,7, p. 307ff. / 1959,22, pp. 1443ff. / 1960,21, p. 1220ff. etc.
  19. ↑ Schmidt-Kolmer, E .: Phenomena of psychological hospitalism and their prevention. In: Journal for medical training 1957, 21/22, p. 895ff.
  20. ^ Bothmer, C. v .: Report on the meeting of doctors and directors of permanent homes in the GDR. In: Journal for medical training 1958, 7, p. 307ff.
  21. ↑ a b Statistical Yearbook of the GDR 1955–1989.
  22. ↑ Kern, K .: Explanations on the law on mother and child protection and women's rights. In: Work and Social Welfare 1954, 8, pp. 17ff.
  23. ↑ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DQ 1/13585
  24. ↑ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DQ 1/13585.
  25. ↑ Niebsch, G .: International Symposium "Problems of cribs". In: Die Heilberufe 1967, 4, p. 157 ff.
  26. ↑ Ordinance on the instruction and admission of infants and young children in day nurseries and permanent homes. Law Gazette Part I No. 20, Berlin April 30, 1973.
  27. ↑ Order on the tasks and working methods of day nurseries and permanent homes for infants and toddlers . Law Gazette Part I No. 36, Berlin August 13, 1973.
  28. ^ Result minutes of the consultation of the Pre-School Education Commission 1983, p. 3.
  29. ↑ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DQ 1/12182.
  30. ^ The health system of the GDR. Berlin 1965–1990.
  31. ↑ Fund for home education in the GDR from 1949 to 1990 . Agreements on aid from the fund
  32. ↑ Fund "Home Education in the Federal Republic of Germany in the Years 1949 to 1975" / Fund "Home Education in the GDR in the Years 1949 to 1990".
  33. ↑ More money for children in the GDR. The federal government February 24, 2015.
  34. ↑ Increase in the “Home Education in the GDR” fund. BMFSFJ February 25, 2015.
  35. ↑ Barley wants to make it easier for GDR children in homes, Ostsee-Zeitung.de, 03/15/19
  36. ^ Final report of the Fund for Home Education and a statement by the Federal Government