Evangelical German teacher training institute Werner

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The Evangelical-German teacher training institute Werner , popularly known as the Werner School or Central School , was founded in Sarata in Bessarabia in 1844 . It was the first teacher training institute in the Russian Empire . The school served the training of German school teachers in southern Russia and existed until the Bessarabian Germans were resettled in 1940. The school is named after its founder, the German businessman Christian Friedrich Werner .

Prehistory in Germany

The school was founded by the businessman Christian Friedrich Werner, who ran a textile shop in Giengen an der Brenz with his business partner Gottlieb Veygel at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries . Werner was a believer who held pietistic Bible studies in his house . In 1819 he met the Catholic priest and representative of the revival movement Ignaz Lindl . When Lindl lost his pastor and had plans to emigrate to Russia with his followers, Werner supported him as a wealthy businessman. Werner organized the emigration in 1820 and 1821 and followed in 1823 with Gottlieb Veygel. The emigrants had meanwhile founded the settlement of Sarata in Bessarabia. A few months after his arrival, Werner died on September 23, 1823 at the age of 63.

School establishment

Before his death in 1823, Werner wrote a will . In it, he determined that his fortune would be 25,000 rubles in silver

"[...] for the good and good of the Sarata community ,
but mostly for the missionary matter or the
expansion of the kingdom of Christ "

should be used. His former business partner and executor Gottlieb Veygel sent the will to Werner's daughter Friederike Barbara Werner in Germany, who challenged it. It was only declared legally binding twelve years after Werner's death in 1835.

Afterwards, there were long discussions between the executor Gottlieb Veygel, who was now mayor of Sarata, and the Russian government about the direction of the school to be founded. In the spirit of the founder, Veygel wanted a Christian-oriented school that trains teachers for the German church schools. The government insisted on a scientifically practical institution that teaches natural sciences and brings the Russian language closer to the German settlers.

The entire time between the death of the founder Werner Tod and the start of construction, the capital was secured by the Russian government. It prohibited the establishment of a mission institution, because the Orthodox state church no proselytizing allowed. Instead, the government proposed using the money to set up a German teacher training facility for the German settlements in southern Russia .

In 1844 the first school building was built for 3,100 rubles. It consisted of a classroom and a dormitory for ten students and apartments for two teachers. The school was inaugurated on June 25, 1844 on the birthday of Tsar Nicholas I.

School operations and school building

In the beginning, the school gave preference to male orphans who had a free boarding school stay there for four years. It served as a secondary and higher school after elementary school . The school leavers and trained teachers were obliged to work as teachers for 10 years at low wages. The maintenance of the school was financed only from the interest on the foundation's assets. At the school, which was initially free of charge, school fees were introduced in 1887 because maintenance could no longer be paid.

When the school was declared a central school in 1868 , the catchment area of ​​which extended to German settlements throughout southern Russia. The premises were no longer sufficient for 4 years. In 1879 a new school building with 3 classrooms, a staff room, a library, a hall and a large hallway for school breaks in bad weather was built for 11,000 rubles. The first old school building from 1844 was demolished in 1889. In its place, a residential building for teachers was built for 13.00 rubles. Further building extensions were added in 1904 and 1914.

In 1880 the foundation's assets were 77,000 gold rubles. Due to the political changes in Bessarabia in 1918 with the detachment from Russia and the annexation to Romania, the entire foundation assets were lost. The Russian state initially withheld the money and later paid it out to the Romanian state, which withheld it. Girls were admitted to school for the first time in 1917.

In 1939 a third school building was built, financed by donations. In 1940 , the year the Bessarabian Germans were resettled , the school had 10 classes with 200 students. The school was abandoned with the resettlement, as almost all residents of German descent joined it.

In 2001 the school was demolished and its building materials were used to build other buildings. There was a public movement against the demolition, which resulted in the preservation of the building facade. It became dilapidated over time, so that rebuilding is not possible.

School structure

For the first 35 years the school only had one year class . New admissions were only made every 4 years. With the expansion of the building in 1879, a second class was added so that new admissions could be made every 2 years. In 1904 the school was divided into four classes and new students could be accepted every year.

In 1910 the school had a two-tier structure through an educational course with two classes . With the establishment of two classes as a training school for teachers in 1936, the Werner School had three levels.

The school structure in 1936 consisted of:

  • Elementary school
  • 4 classes substructure as a grammar school
  • 4 class superstructure as a teachers' seminar
  • 2 classes teacher training school

School meaning

The Evangelical German Teachers' Training College Werner was attended by around 2,200 students, including around 200 girls, during its 96th anniversary. The graduates became school teachers , sexton teachers , village clerks or achieved the prerequisites for taking up a degree. The school raised the educational level of the Bessarabian German schoolchildren with its well-trained teaching staff. She also trained a teaching staff who were part of the spiritual authority within the peasant society of the Bessarabian Germans.

Known students

principal

  • 1844–1847 Mayor Gottlieb Veygel
  • 1847–1852 Oberschulz Knauer
  • 1852 1875 Pastor Georg Behning
  • 1875–1880 Pastor Ludwig Katterfeld
  • 1882–1889 Pastor Alfons Meyer
  • 1889–1907 Emiljan Bodnikewitsch
  • 1907–1909 Wilhelm Mutschall
  • 1909–1937 Albert Mauch
  • 1937–1940 Otto Matt

literature

  • Ute Schmidt: Bessarabia - German colonists on the Black Sea. Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-936168-20-4 .
  • Albert Kern: Heimatbuch der Bessarabiendeutschen. Ev.-Luth. Church, Hanover 1964.
  • Hugo Häfner: Bessarabian German School History. In: Yearbook of Germans from Bessarabia, home calendar 1993. Hanover 1993.