Gunther Leupolt

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Gunther Leupolt (* 10. May 1922 in Reichenau in Saxony ; † 27. February 2017 in Bautzen ) was a German educator , teacher and author homeland historical literature of the Oberlausitz . He was the director with the longest term (1950-1970) of the elementary, middle and polytechnic high school (POS) " Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi " in the city of Neusalza-Spremberg , today the district of Görlitz .

Live and act

Gunther Leupolt was born during the Weimar Republic as the son of the headmaster Oskar Leupolt (1891-1936) and his wife Helene. The roots of the well-off bourgeois family in the Upper Lusatian town of Reichenau go back to 1530. More than 1000 names are represented in their family tree. The family circumstances enabled Leupolt to have a profound education. From 1932 to 1941 he attended the Realgymnasium in Zittau and the Oberschule in Löbau and obtained his Abitur. Two years after the beginning of the Second World War , in 1941, the high school graduate was drafted into the Navy and as a sailor came first on a barrier breaker , later on a minesweeper , which was stationed in the French naval port of Brest , which was then occupied by the Wehrmacht .

After the war ended, the Polish army drove the long-established Germans, including the extended Leupolts family, out of Reichenau on June 22, 1945, which has now become Polish. That year Gunther Leupolt was captured by the English with his ship in the Scottish port of Edinburgh . Immediately released from internment, the 23-year-old finally reached relatives in Cunewalde in his home region of Upper Lusatia via Westphalia in the British Occupation Zone (BBZ) . The former seaman had to completely reorient himself in what was then the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) and build up a professional life.

Formative educational work

Since new teachers were needed for the democratic education of young people in post-war Germany , especially in the Soviet Zone, he decided, like his father once did, to become a teacher. That is why Gunter Leupolt applied to the home school for new teachers founded on January 1, 1946 in the Upper Lusatian community of Lauba near Löbau and qualified for teaching in educational courses lasting several months. He was then employed as a new teacher in neighboring Lawalde and Cunewalde. After the founding of the GDR on October 7, 1949 and the socialist structures built up in the context of this, including in education policy, Gunther Leupolt was given a leading educational position. The school board of the then Löbau district appointed the new teacher at the beginning of the school year 1949/50 on September 1, 1950 as head or director of the elementary and middle school, later POS "Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi" of the city of Neusalza-Spremberg. In doing so, he took over a large and modern school for the time, a new building from 1928. His administration lasted from 1950 to 1970. During these twenty years, Gunther Leupolt, as the school director, had a decisive influence on the local education system. At the same time during this time he performed the honorary work of a city councilor in Neusalza-Spremberg. For his tireless educational work, he was awarded the Pestalozzi Medal for faithful service in silver in 1970 and the honorary title of "Studienrat" (StR). Gunther Leupolt was then appointed director of the Central School of the Ministry for Glass and Ceramics Industry of the GDR (MfGuK) in Neusalza-Spremberg, district of Neuspremberg , which he held until he retired at the end of 1988. The central school was directly under the management and education department of this ministry under Minister Werner Greiner-Petter .

Local historian and local historian

In addition to his responsible activities in business and society, he was committed to further research into the local history of Neusalza-Spremberg and the regional history of Upper Lusatia. In April 1984 he took over the orphaned office of chairman of the Kultur- und Heimatfreunde Neusalza-Spremberg of the Kulturbund , later Kultur- und Heimatfreunde e. V., which he also followed actively and creatively for twenty years (until May 2004). At the same time he became one of the initiators for the re-establishment of the traditional Upper Lusatian home association "Lusatia" from 1905 on October 21, 1995 in Zittau . Gunther Leupolt's pen has produced numerous and noteworthy contributions to the customs, history and historical personalities of Upper Lusatia, which are reflected in various publications in the region.

Gunther Leupolt lived and lived with his wife Elise in the Spreestadt Neusalza-Spremberg since 1950. On August 16, 2013 both celebrated the " Iron Wedding ". The marriage had three children. Since the death of his wife in February 2015, he has spent the rest of his life in the senior citizens' residential complex “Am Spreepark” in Neusalza-Spremberg. He was honorary chairman of Kultur- und Heimatfreunde Neusalza-Spremberg e. V. and the Lusatia Association e. V., Zittau. He died on February 27, 2017 at the age of almost 95 in a nursing home in Bautzen. He found his resting place in the Lindenberg mountain cemetery in Neusalza-Spremberg.

Works (selection)

  • Gunther Leupolt among others: Development of the city of Neusalza-Spremberg. Historical timetable . Neusalza-Spremberg: M. Voigt 1992.
  • From the Lusatia Association's Book of Honor. Lecture on the occasion of the re-establishment of the Lusatia Association on October 21, 1995 in Zittau . In: Lusatia-Hefte, Bautzen / Neusalza-Spremberg, Heft 1/1997, pp. 6-12.
  • Promoter of local literature. The publishing house of the "Oberlausitzer Heimatzeitung" in Reichenau . In: Oberlausitzer Hausbuch (OLH), Bautzen: Lusatia-Verlag 1998, pp. 147–150.
  • with Dankmar Kaden and Uwe Knappe: Historical outline of the Pestalozzi School Neusalza-Spremberg (1928–1998) . Publication on the occasion of the 70th school anniversary in July 1998 by Pestalozzi School and Neusalza-Spremberg city administration. Neusalza-Spremberg: M. Voigt 1998.
  • History of the riding house in Neusalza-Spremberg . In: Ebda, Issue 3/1999, pp. 4–12.
  • Memories of Lusatia chairman Curt Heinke on the 70th anniversary of his death in Easter 2004 . In: Library journal of the Christian-Weise-Bibliothek Zittau, issue 30/2003, pp. 16-19.
  • History and stories from Neusalza-Spremberg . Ed .: Kultur- und Heimatfreunde Neusalza-Spremberg e. V., Volumes 1-3. Processing u. Compilation: Gunther Leupolt. Neusalza-Spremberg: M. Voigt 1/1999, 2/2004, 3/2007.
  • Start and highlights of the 70th anniversary of the Pestalozzi School in Neusalza-Spremberg . In: History and stories from Neusalza-Spremberg, Volume, 2 (2004), pp. 75–78.
  • 25 years of the “Mittellausitzer Berglandtour” . In: Lusatia booklets, issue 9/2005, pp. 15-18.
  • The Reichenau Leupolts . In: Oberlausitzer Heimatblätter (OHB), issue 7/2005, pp. 12-16.
  • The respected tribune of a displaced village . In: Ebda, issue 26/2010, pp. 40–42.
  • Jizera Mountains walks . In: History and stories from Neusalza-Spremberg, Volume 4. Ed. U. edit by Günter Hensel, Kultur- und Heimatfreunde Neusalza-Spremberg e. V. and interest group "Ortsgeschichte" (IGO), Neusalza-Spremberg 2011, pp. 94-102.
  • Border relationships. The German-Czech border after World War II . In: Ebda, pp. 103-108.

Literature (selection)

  • Jana Ulbich: Lusatian family stories . The Leupolts: More than 1000 names in the family tree. In: Sächsische Zeitung Dresden, Löbauer Zeitung, edition of October 14, 2008, p. 7.
  • Günter Hensel: Honor for Gunther Leupolt. In: History and stories from Neusalza-Spremberg, Volume 2, Neusalza-Spremberg: M. Voigt 2004, pp. 109–112.
  • Günter Hensel: Upper Lusatia in the heart - on the 85th birthday of Gunther Leupolt - an "Upper Lusatian institution". In: Lusatia-Hefte, Bautzen / Neusalza-Spremberg, Heft 11/2007, pp. 24-26.
  • Günter Hensel: Congratulations for Gunther Leupolt on his 90th birthday. In: Official journal of the administrative association for the city of Neusalza-Spremberg with the district Friedersdorf and the communities Dürrhennersdorf and Schönbach. 17/2012/5, p. 7.
  • Günter Hensel / Günter Paulik / Matthias Lehmann: A restless heart has stopped beating - obituary for Gunther Leupolt (May 10, 1922 - February 27, 2017) . In: Official Journal of the Administrative Association for the City of Neusalza-Spremberg with the Friedersdorf district and the communities Dürrhennersdorf and Schönbach, vol. 22 (2017), no. 4 (April), pp. 6-7, 1 portrait; Abridged version by Frank Nürnberger in: Oberlausitzer Familien-Kalenderbuch 2018, Oberlausitzer Verlag Spitzkunnersdorf 2017, p. 9
  • (n.v.): teacher, researcher and chronicler. With Gunther Leupolt, Neusalza-Spremberg loses a formative personality . In: Sächsische Zeitung, Löbauer Zeitung, issue of March 28, 2017, p. 14, 1 portrait

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary notice
  2. ↑ Leupolt was a teacher, researcher and chronicler. In: Sächsische Zeitung , March 27, 2017, accessed on July 12, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Leupolt, Gunther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pedagogue, teacher and author of local history literature of Upper Lusatia
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Reichenau in Saxony , Zittau administration
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 2017
Place of death Bautzen