Erich Jänisch

Erich Jänisch (born January 19, 1885 in Hamburg ; † July 4, 1945 there ) was a German teacher and headmaster .

Live and act

Erich Jänisch was the son of a bank officer. From 1891 to 1894 he attended the preschool of two higher middle schools, then for three years the Matthias-Claudius-Gymnasium and the learned school of the Johanneum . After successfully completing his school leaving examination in 1904, he studied German, English and history at the University of Göttingen , the University of Munich and the University of Berlin until 1913 . After the state examination he also studied art and music history and natural sciences. During the First World War , Jänisch had to do military service from 1914, during which he was injured in the thigh.

In 1918 Jänisch got a position as senior teacher at the Realschule Winterhude, which developed into the Lichtwarkschule . The educational reform concept of the institution envisaged joint teaching for boys and girls with only minimal barriers between students and teachers. In 1924, Jänisch took over the management of the school as the elected headmaster. During his service time, the school building built according to plans by Fritz Schumacher was opened on April 20, 1925 .

In 1926 Jänisch moved to Wohldorf with his wife and four children . In the same year he took over the management of the secondary school for the forest villages . Based on the impressions gathered at the Lichtwark School, Jänisch planned to set up an optimized reform school in Volksdorf. High school supervisor Wilhelm Oberdörffer supported Jänisch and released him from classes for several weeks in 1927. Jänisch went on a study trip during which he visited 19 schools in England, Holland and Germany. The pedagogue hoped to be able to get ideas for building a school and insights into modern teaching practices. On his return he wrote a twelve-page report on this. In it he stated that although the schools looked modern on the outside, the requirements of reform pedagogy were only insufficiently implemented in practice. Based on these findings, he developed a concept for a new school building. Jänisch designed a flat, spacious and light building that was unique for that time.

Jänisch, who was re-elected headmaster of the now nationalized secondary school in 1928, put together his future teaching staff according to his ideas. He chose Heino Hayungs as his deputy, who came from a reform-oriented advanced school and from the Jänisch recruited additional teachers. He also recruited teachers from the Lichtwark School. Together they made up more than half of the college. On April 10, 1930, the Walddörferschule , built according to plans by Fritz Schumacher, was opened. Jänisch implemented a concept there that should enable students to get physical, mental and musical training. He included the families of the teachers in his idea of ​​a school community .

In 1933, under National Socialism , the Hamburg Senate replaced the headmasters in Hamburg's schools with people loyal to the regime. Jänisch, who did not sympathize with the National Socialists, resigned from the position of headmaster, but did not change to a headmaster position at another institution, but continued to work as a teacher at the Walddörferschule. He played a key role in ensuring that the school continued to have a friendly atmosphere. In 1940, the government banned boys and girls from going to school together and ordered the school to be divided. Jänisch took over the post of head of the girls' school three years later. When the head of the boys' school, Heino Hayungs, was absent for a long time due to illness, Jänisch also took over his duties on a temporary basis. The school was completely undamaged during Operation Gomorrah , so Jänisch chaired the first teachers' conference after the bombing.

Erich Jänisch died as a result of a traffic accident. He did not live to see the reopening of the school, which had been used as an emergency hospital since January 30, 1945. The students said goodbye to the former headmaster two weeks later during a ceremony in the school auditorium.

literature

• Uwe Schmidt: Jänisch, Erich . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 169-170 .