Union youth training center Berlin-Konradshöhe

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The trade union youth training center in Berlin-Konradshöhe was a seminar house for trade union educational work from 1960 to 2017 . It was opened in March 1960 as the »Meeting Place House of DAG-Jugend Konradshöhe eV«. In the course of the merger of the German Employees ' Union (DAG) with the four DGB unions, the Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union (ÖTV), Trade, Banks and Insurance (HBV), IG Medien - Print and Paper, Journalism and Art (IG Medien ) and Deutsche Postgewerkschaft (DPG) became the United Service Union (Verdi) from 2001 until its closure in 2017 as ver.di Jugendbildungsstätte Berlin-Konradshöhe e. V. continues to operate. It was located in the Konradshöhe district in the Reinickendorf district of Berlin .

history

The 1960s: foundation and development

In the mid-1950s, the State Youth Association of the German Employees' Union (DAG) in Berlin (West) complained that it had too few opportunities for youth encounters and union youth education. Peter Ulrich (1928–2011), then DAG regional youth leader and later interior senator, worked together with DAG regional leader Siegfried Aufhäuser and DAG chairman Fritz Rettig for the construction of a DAG youth center, which was used as an accommodation for youth groups from West Germany, but also as Should serve as a meeting place with young people from the GDR. On June 26, 1957, the DAG bought from a private community of heirs a plot of land in Berlin-Konradshöhe consisting of several adjacent parcels in Stößerstraße 18-23, Rohrweihstraße 7 and 9 and two meadows on the Havel. On June 17, 1959, the then governing mayor of Berlin (West), Willy Brandt , laid the foundation stone for the new building. In March 1960, the ›House of DAG-Jugend Konradshöhe eV meeting place‹ was opened. However, the construction of the Berlin Wall 18 months later, on August 13, 1961, thwarted the original aim of promoting dialogue between West Berliners and young people from the GDR. The DAG began to set up regular seminars that were primarily geared towards the needs of young people. In the first year of work, 1960, the participant statistics recorded around 2000 young visitors.

New beginnings in the 1970s and 1980s

In 1967 and 1968 the students in West Berlin rebelled . In 1969 a social liberal coalition was formed in Bonn , and Willy Brandt became Federal Chancellor. An important milestone in social democratic reform policy for the work of the Berlin-Konradshöhe youth education center was the passing of the first Berlin Educational Leave Act , which was specifically aimed at young employees and trainees. The "Law to Promote Participation in Educational Events" came into force in 1970. For the first time, there was a legal regulation that gave employees paid leave from work up to the age of 21 to participate in recognized events on political or vocational training. Six years later, the age limit was raised to 25, allowing more young people to take educational leave.

In the 1970s, youth education work moved even more into focus in Konradshöhe . In the 80s, especially with young migrants. International work also played an important role. Youth exchanges were organized through trade union contacts, for example with the French CGT-FO , but also with the TUC in Great Britain and the unions in Eastern Europe.

The seminars were carried out by the young union secretaries of the DAG regional youth leadership and freelance teamers from the educational institution - as a rule, they were students with a union connection. Weekly seminars on career orientation were held with the final classes of the secondary schools, recruitment tests were simulated and trained, and seminars were held for new trainees.

In the 1980s, the structural expansion of the educational facility also fell, which had become necessary due to the increased demand in the course of the Youth Education Leave Act, especially from the mid-1970s. The expansion was financed by a partial sale of land. After the modernization, the educational establishment now had 20 rooms in which up to 64 people could stay overnight. As one of a total of eight recognized youth education centers in West Berlin, Konradshöhe was attractive not only because of its content and didactic profile, but also because of its facilities and location: people cooked in their own kitchen, and the property located directly on the Havel offered many leisure and leisure facilities Recreational opportunities.

Problems after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

The big topic of the 1990s for the youth education center was rampant youth unemployment . The discussion about racism and right-wing extremism also took up a lot of space. Political and cultural changes emerged visibly in the 90s, which were to cause enormous problems for youth education work and trade union activities after the turn of the millennium. It became increasingly difficult to attract young people to the unions. Financing also became more difficult. The “Special Berlin Plan” - an additional funding from the Federal Youth Plan - was deleted without replacement after the unification. In the mid-1990s, the four DGB unions, ÖTV, HBV, IG Medien and the previously independent DAG, set a course for a merger in view of falling membership numbers. Each of the origin unions brought their own educational institutions and it was clear that there would and had to be closings.

Under the umbrella of ver.di: struggle for survival and closure

The decade and a half of the Konradshöhe youth education center under the umbrella of the United Service Union have been characterized by increasingly difficult framework conditions and dwindling support in the union. When ver.di was founded, the financial situation had fundamentally deteriorated. If Konradshöhe was still a fully financed trade union training facility as the »House of DAG Youth«, ver.di no longer gave any grants for the operational business, but only granted the sponsoring association freedom of rent. Personnel and operating costs had to be met from the ongoing income of the seminar or by subletting. At the same time, the trend towards reducing public funding in the field of youth welfare , which began after the turn of the millennium, continued.

Basically, Konradshöhe remained true to the approach of giving young trainees and employees help to orientate themselves in life. For example, for young people who had not received a dual training position in the company and who were learning in inter-company training centers, contacts were made with the ver.di trade department in order to organize internships and provide insights into day-to-day operations.

Under the increasing financial pressure, pay for the staff based on union standards was no longer possible. In 2014 there was a conflict with the team ends.

After another major modernization investment of around 400,000 euros was only made in 2012/2013, the first rumors of gunfire arose internally in 2014. In March 2017, the ver.di (IVG / VVG) supervisory board decided that the educational facility was finally closed and demolished shortly afterwards. The property is currently fallow (as of June 2019).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meeting place 'Haus der DAG-Jugend Konradshöhe'. - DAG forum. Retrieved June 16, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Senate Department for Labor, Integration, and Women: The Berlin Educational Leave Act. Retrieved June 16, 2019 .
  3. ↑ ver.di youth education center in Berlin Konradshöhe A place of socio-political educational work - PDF. Retrieved June 16, 2019 .
  4. ^ Landesjugendring Berlin: Youth Education Centers of the State of Berlin. 2007, accessed June 16, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Ver.di - Goodbye (youth) educational institutions? goodbye! Retrieved June 16, 2019 .
  6. ↑ fle: Is it over for ver.di youth education center? - Reinickendorfer Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved June 16, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Anna Lehmann: Freelancer on muck: mass dismissal at Ver.di . In: The daily newspaper: taz . August 12, 2014, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed June 16, 2019]).
  8. ↑ All or none! September 29, 2014, accessed June 16, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Ulrich Dalibor: Many lose! Who wins? Out for ver.di youth education center Berlin-Konradshöhe. In: https://senioren-berlin.verdi.de . March 6, 2017, accessed June 16, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Jörn Boewe: Seductive bubble (new Germany). Retrieved June 16, 2019 .