Edward Flanagan

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Edward J. Flanagan

Edward Joseph Flanagan (born July 13, 1886 in County Roscommon , Ireland ; died May 15, 1948 in Berlin ) was an American Catholic clergyman .

Father Flanagan was the founder of the Boys Town organization , one of the best-known American youth welfare organizations. The place of foundation and seat of the facility is the place Boys Town , a suburb of Omaha in the American state Nebraska and a center for needy children and adolescents.

Life

Flanagan was born in County Roscommon, Ireland in 1886, came to the United States in 1904, and was naturalized in 1919. He attended Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg , Maryland , where he graduated in 1908. He then continued his studies at St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, Southeast Yonkers ( New York State ), and then studied at the Canisianum in Innsbruck and in Italy . His first pastor was in the town of O'Neill , Nebraska, in the St. Patrick’s Ward . He then moved to Omaha, the largest city in Nebraska, where he first served in another St. Patrick’s church and then headed the St. Philomen’s congregation .

In 1917 he founded a 'shelter for homeless boys' in Omaha. Since the premises in the city center turned out to be unsuitable, four years later, in 1921, he founded the "boys town" Boys Town 16 km west of the city limits of Omaha. Under his leadership, Boys Town grew into a large community with its own underage mayor, schools, a chapel, post office, farms, sports complex, and other facilities where boys aged 10-16 could receive classes and learn a craft.

1938 was titled Boys Town (dt Title:. Teufelskerle ) a movie about the life of Edward Flanagan with the actors Spencer Tracy in the role of the priest (he received an Oscar ) and the then 17-year-old Mickey Rooney . A sequel called Men of Boys Town was made in 1941.

Edward Flanagan has received many honors for his work with youth in need. He worked in several charities and wrote several press articles on the subject. Honored internationally, Flanagan traveled to Japan and Korea in 1947 to study local youth welfare problems. The following year he undertook a similar trip to Austria and Germany, where he died of a heart attack on May 15, 1948 in Berlin. His grave is in the Dowd Chapel in Boys Town .

In 1965, Flanagan was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame as the fourth citizen of his state . In 1986 a US postage stamp was issued commemorating Edward J. Flanagan.

To Flanagan's reception in Germany

The effects and influences of Flanagan's Boys Town approach in Germany have not yet been systematically investigated. Nevertheless, it can be said that immediately after the Second World War there were various attempts to transfer Flanagan's idea of ​​a youth welfare organization to Germany. The initiative for this usually came from the American occupation forces, which sometimes led to reservations on the German side. The most advanced attempt at transmission is the boys' town of Buchhof , which was founded near Starnberg in 1947 , but was closed in the mid-1950s for financial reasons.

Another verifiable attempt to implement the “Boys Town” approach in Germany was undertaken in 1969 with the establishment of the Bökenförde youth village, which has been continued since 1971 under the name of Jugendwerk Rietberg . Inspired by Flanagan's concept, a so-called “boys' council” was introduced in this reformatory and further ideas from the Boys Town concept were incorporated.

There is also an Eduard Flanagan School in Babenhausen (Hessen) , which - although the first name is somewhat Germanized - is named in honor of Edward J. Flanagan, and a Flanaganstrasse in the Berlin district of Dahlem .

In a sports pedagogical study from 1967, Flanagan's preventive upbringing was named along with that of the Italian Giovanni Bosco and the Russian Anton Semjonowitsch Makarenko . Together, in addition to a preventive method, the intention of physical education was recognized in a special way. Flanagan explained: “The advantage of guided play lies in the fact that it directs the unconscious driving forces in a wholesome direction./..../A healthy body is an active capital for everyone. Physical health promotes mental health. "

Works

  • Do I understand my boy and am I raising him properly? English: Understanding your boy . 2nd Edition. Herder, Freiburg i. B. et al. 1960.

literature

  • Willy Hane: Edward Josef Flanagan. A pioneer of modern experiential education? Neubauer, Lüneburg 1987, ISBN 3-88456-038-7 .
  • Wolfgang Brezinka : Education as a way of life . Österreichischer Bundesverlag f. Teaching, sc. u. Kunst, Vienna 1961 (2nd edition), pp. 213–219
  • Wilhelm Hünermann : The city of a thousand boys - Father Flanagan's Boys-Town . FH Kerle Verlag, Heidelberg 1966.
  • Friedrich Fetz : EJ Flanagan (1886-1948) . In: Ders./ Horst Ueberhorst / Hans Wieland: Exemplary educators and physical education , Limpert, Frankfurt / M. 1967
  • Johannes-Martin Kamp: Children's Republics. History, practice and theory of radical self-government in children's and youth homes. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1995 (dissertation University of Essen 1994), ISBN 3-8100-1357-9 , chap. 21., pp. 545-556, Flanagan in Boys Town .
  • Jörg Martens: Boys Town. An illustration of Father Edward J. Flanagan's pedagogy. Dissertation printing, University of Göttingen 1998.
  • Hugh Reilly, Kevin Warneke: Father Flanagan of Boys Town. A man of vision. Boys Town Press, Boys Town 2008, ISBN 978-1-889322-99-5 .
  • Georg Wagner: Father Flanagan and his boy town . Austria Edition, Vienna 1957.

Web links

Commons : Edward J. Flanagan  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Remarks

  1. ^ Edward Flanagan in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  2. ^ Nebraska State Historical Society: Nebraska Hall of Fame Members ; Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  3. ^ Johannes-Martin Kamp: Children's Republics. Opladen 1995; online (PDF): 2nd edition 2006 (Bildungsserver paed.com), p.597 .
  4. ↑ jungstadt-buchhof.de , page of a research project on the boy town Buchhof; Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  5. ↑ boekenfoerde.de (KLJB): Youth group donates 800 DM to youth village  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.boekenfoerde.de   ; Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  6. ^ Jugendwerk Riedberg: History ; Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  7. ↑ flanaganschule.de , the pages of the Eduard Flanagan School in Babenhausen; Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  8. ↑ Quotation from Fetz / Ueberhorst / Wieland: Exemplary educators and physical education , p. 68
personal data
SURNAME Flanagan, Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flanagan, Edward Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Catholic clergyman of Irish descent and founder of Boys Town
DATE OF BIRTH July 13, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH County Roscommon
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1948
Place of death Berlin