German administration for popular education

Extension of the former Prussian Ministry of Culture in Berlin's Wilhelmstrasse, from 1945 headquarters of the DVV

The German Administration for People's Education ( DVV , official name "German Central Administration for People's Education") was an authority founded in 1945 in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ), which was supposed to reorganize the education system in eastern Germany according to the Soviet model after the Second World War . Their main task was to purge the teaching staff of National Socialists and the rapid training of new, socialist teachers at schools and universities. When the GDR was founded in 1949, the DVV was absorbed into the Ministry of National Education . The seat of the authority was Wilhelmstrasse 68 in Berlin .

Emergence

The DVV was formed in August 1945 by order No. 17 of the SMAD of July 27, 1945. The DVV was thus the counterpart of the national education department of the SMAD under Pyotr Wassiljewitsch Solotuchin . The official name was German Central Administration for National Education (DZfV); in practice, however, the name "German administration for popular education" was used.

The president of the DVV was Paul Wandel ( KPD ). Erwin Marquardt ( SPD ) was appointed by the SMAD as deputy to the president . The only representative of a bourgeois party, Emil Menke-Glückert , ( LDP ) was nominally second deputy of the president, but worked just as little in the DVV as the nominally third deputy Johannes R. Becher from the Kulturbund .

The DVV acted as the central propaganda, media and popular education authority: Since December 21, 1945, the entire broadcasting of the Soviet occupation zone has been under the control of the DVV. In addition, I was responsible for film production. It was a censorship authority: The "Department for Publishing" in the DVV had the task of censoring in the same way as the printing approval process and the approval of publishers, which was later carried out by the publishing and book trade headquarters in the Ministry of Culture . Above all, however, the core task was school policy. This included teacher training, which was particularly important due to the massive induction of new teachers , and the control of school policy via guidelines and curricula. The DVV was thus an important instrument for the introduction of the standard school in the Soviet Zone.

Conflicts with the education authorities of the federal states

Formally, the federal states had the competencies for school policy. In practice, however, the tendencies towards centralization became more and more popular.

Due to the law passed by the SMAD on the democratization of German schools , the DVV was responsible for creating central curricula . She was also able to control the school inspectorate through guidelines. Ultimately, however, the federal states (or the organization of the SMAD at the federal state level) were responsible. The Soviets did not comply with the DVV's wish to have formal authority to issue instructions to the state authorities.

On April 23, 1947, the "Agreement on Cooperation between the DVV and the State and Provincial Administrations" was concluded between the DVV and the federal states. The DVV was given the right to appeal against state decisions and committed itself to informing the states about central decisions of the SMAD.

Control of the SED over the education system

The Soviet occupying power saw the education department as a key department in creating a socialist state. For this reason, both the head of the DVV and that of the state education ministries were consisted of KPD representatives. These were Fritz Rücker in Brandenburg, Gottfried Grünberg in Mecklenburg, Wilhelm Schneller in Saxony, Walter Wolf in Thuringia and Otto Halle in Saxony-Anhalt.

The employees were also specifically selected based on party affiliation. In autumn 1946 the DVV had 261 employees, 129 of whom belonged to the SED. Of the 24 department heads or their deputies, 20 were members of the SED. This remained similar in the following years. On December 1, 1948, 436 of the 844 employees were SED members.

organization

Main office	Departments	ladder
General popular education	Office for Publishing and Press Office for Adult Education Office for Folk Culture Office for Youth and Women	Wilhelm Heise (SPD / SED)
Science and Research	Office for Research Office for Scientific Teaching	Theodor Brugsch (independent)
School system	Office for teacher training Office for elementary, middle and special schools Office for higher schools Office for vocational and technical schools Office for extracurricular education	Ernst Hadermann (KPD / SED)
Art and literature	Office for Fine Arts and Museums Office for Theater, Film, Music and Cabaret Office for Literature	Herbert Volkmann (KPD / SED)
General Administration		Paul Reichwaldt (SPD / SED)
Personnel office		Ernst Hoffmann (KPD / SED)
From October 1945:
School system	General education schools Vocational and technical schools Teacher training Extra-curricular education	Wilhelm Heise (SPD / SED) until December 1946 Ernst Hadermann (KPD / SED) until December 1948 Hans Siebert (KPD / SED)
College and Science	Faculties of medicine, veterinary medicine and agriculture. Faculties of philosophy, theology and law. Scientific archives and museums. Student affairs. General scientific affairs	Theodor Brugsch (independent) until 1946 Robert Rompe (KPD / SED)
Cultural education	Press and own publications Broadcasting Publishing Public education for adults Folk art and cultural leisure activities Image propaganda (until 1947) Central youth committee (until 1947) Women's committees (until 1947)	Wilhelm Girnus (KPD / SED) until 1946 Hans Mahle (KPD / SED)
General art and literature	Theater, music and cabaret Visual arts, museums and monument preservation Film literature	Herbert Volkmann (KPD / SED) Herbert Gute (KPD / SED) Erich Weinert (KPD / SED)

literature

• Helga A. Welsh: German Central Administration for National Education. In: Martin Broszat , Hermann Weber (eds.): SBZ manual: State administrations, parties, social organizations and their executives in the Soviet zone of occupation. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 1993, ISBN 978-3-486-55262-1 , p. 229 ff.
• Gert Geißler: History of the school system in the Soviet zone of occupation and in the German Democratic Republic 1945 to 1962. Frankfurt am Main (among others) 2000, ISBN 3-631-36445-8 , pp. 65–77, 144–149.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SBZ manual, page 230
2. ↑ SBZ manual, page 235
3. ↑ SBZ manual, page 232
4. ^ Geissler: History of the school system ..., pp. 72–73.