High school Adolfinum Moers

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Adolfinum high school
Old building of the Adolfinum in Moers
type of school high school
School number 166005
founding 1582
address

Wilhelm-Schroeder-Strasse 4

place Moers
country North Rhine-Westphalia
Country Germany
Coordinates 51 ° 27 '12 "  N , 6 ° 37' 46"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 27 '12 "  N , 6 ° 37' 46"  E
student 1151 (as of September 2018)
management Hans van Stephoudt
Website www.adolfinum.de
Wiki School wiki WikiFinum

The school Adolfinum (shorter: Adolfinum ) is located in downtown Moers in North Rhine-Westphalia and currently has 1,151 students. The focus of the formerly classical grammar school, which was founded in 1582 as schola illustris , is foreign languages and the mathematical and natural sciences .

School program

The school program of the Adolfinum was drawn up between 1999 and 2001 and revised in 2007/08. The new school program has a modular structure (guiding principles, individualization, individual concepts). It defines the school's focus on foreign languages, taking into account the tradition of a humanistic, old-language grammar school and going back to the focus of the formerly integrated advanced grammar school on natural sciences as the educational requirement of a school that is oriented towards the modern demands of contemporary teaching.

In addition to the usual guiding principles for education and pedagogical upbringing, the promotion of particularly talented students is a core element. Here, in an expansion project, selected pupils in the lower secondary level are offered support in the processing of additional projects, some of which are carried out in parallel with lessons. Upper secondary school students have the opportunity to attend lectures at the university parallel to their lessons . In this project, the school worked together with the project for the promotion of gifted students at the University of Nijmegen , the Stedelijk Gymnasium Nijmegen and the regional school advice center in Duisburg . In grade 5, a special independent work class based on Maria Montessori was set up, which is continued up to grade 8.

The school program and the educational concepts are updated in working groups. There are working groups on the subjects of the school program, school development, advanced level, intermediate level, multimedia, gifted education, free work and Latin plus . Pupils and parents are also involved in the working groups supported by the teaching staff. Contacts with the Nijmegen grammar school were used, in particular, on questions of promoting talent.

Memorial to former Jewish students

Memorial plaque for the former Jewish students of the Adolfinum (general view)

Since the mid-1990s, the school administration at the time began to commemorate the former Jewish students of the Adolfinum, the last of whom was expelled from school in 1939, in a special way. On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, the Association of Former Adolfins (VeA) published a publication in 1998 entitled “Gymnasium Adolfinum 1988–1998”. In an essay "Jewish students at the Adolfinum in the period 1900–1939" (see bibliography), the names of 45 students were listed, who could be identified with the religious affiliation "Israelite" based on the luckily preserved student index. In 1999, the school history of the Nazi era was processed and documented in several project day working groups and in an international history teaching project with students in grade 12.

As a result of this work, a memorial plaque was most recently created for the Jewish students who, in a school celebration on November 27, 2000 in the presence of representatives of the upper school authorities and the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , Paul Spiegel , who died in 2006 , on the grounds of the school yard as Memorial was solemnly unveiled. Paul Spiegel emphasized in his speech: "It is not we Jews who need this memorial, but you as a school community in order to keep memories of the Holocaust permanently alive."

Dealing with the Holocaust continues to be an important issue for the school community, on which various projects exist at the initiative of individual teachers and students. Among other things, 98 schoolchildren in grade 10 visited the former Auschwitz concentration camp for the first time in June 2010 . Since then, the one-week "Poland trip" to Auschwitz and Krakow has been carried out at the end of each school year with the entire 10th grade. Pupils from previous trips, some of them already students, support the accompanying teachers of the respective year as trained teamers and accompany the students in their memory and mourning work.

Foreign contacts

As part of the French lessons, interested 9th grade students travel to Moers' twin town of Bapaume , which is located in the Pas-de-Calais department . Individual stays abroad are particularly encouraged, which are mostly spent in grade 11 over a period of up to one year. In 2010 a school partnership began with the Lycée François Couperin in Fontainebleau .

In the past few years the school has participated in the Comenius program , which is funded by the EU for international school cooperation. The cross-school individual projects and mutual visits by teacher delegations took place with partner schools in Madrid (Collegio Vilcavaro primary school), in Iași (Colegiul National Gymnasium, located in northern Romania ) and in Eger (Szilágyi Erzsébet Gimnázium - Hungary ).

Working groups

Traditionally, a large number of working groups are offered at the Adolfinum in addition to regular lessons. In the 2013/14 school year there are working groups in the following areas:

  • Artistic field: wind group; School band; Lower, middle and upper school choirs; “Adolfonium” pre-orchestra; Theater-AG (a cooperation agreement with the Schlosstheater Moers has existed for more than ten years )
  • Mathematics and natural sciences: Chemie-AG; Science-teaching-AG (stAG); “Olympinum” for young researchers; Robot workshop; EMR team (Engineering and Mathematical Research)
  • Social sciences: Online-Zeitungs-AG ("viewpoint @ GAM")
  • Sport: soccer; volleyball
  • Bootsbau-AG
  • Website / WikiFinum AG
  • MUT-AG (commitment to human rights and tolerance)
  • The School Medical Service (SSD) emerged from a project from the 2006 Project Days. It consists of a group of pupils from grades 8 to 12 who look after injured classmates and provide first aid during the morning school hours or at special events.

Friends and sponsors of the school

As early as the 17th century, the citizens of Moers made a substantial contribution to the inventory and furnishings of the Adolfinum with donations. Outstanding is the Peter Hartzingh Foundation from 1680, which even after a very eventful history of the school in 2000 had a fortune of approx. € 20,000 and some basic assets.

The Association of former Adolfiner e. V. , which, in addition to communication among alumni, also aims to promote school operations. The parents of the students are mainly in the company of friends and sponsors of the Gymnasium Adolfinum e. V. active. In particular, the clubs enable the school to be well equipped in the field of multimedia and internet (including a self-study center), but also with musical and scientific equipment. The Friends' Association also manages the assets of the Wilhelmine Heiming Foundation , into which a former teacher contributed almost all of her assets.

Because all-day operations were partially introduced at the beginning of the 2008/09 school year, the school canteen was leased to a commercial caterer for the provision of hot and cold meals . Until then, the “Cafeteria-Verein des Gymnasium Adolfinum e. V. "regularly offers a healthy breakfast break as well as buffets at parent-teacher days and other school events such as theater performances. The cafeteria association is known as the “Parents Association of Gymnasium Adolfinum e. V. ”and provides catering outside of the caterer offer.

history

The foundation

Count Adolf zu Neuenahr and Moers

The origin of the Adolfinum goes back to Count Hermann von Neuenahr -Moers (1520–1578), who had introduced the Reformation in the county since 1560 . After lengthy disputes, he dissolved the Carmelite monastery in Moers in 1573 and then looked for a legal justification for taking over the monastery property in order to have at least a formal basis for rejecting recourse claims against the Archbishop of Cologne and the Carmelite Provincial. To this end, he sought the advice of the scholar Heinrich Castritius Geldorp, who had moved from Landfermann-Gymnasium in Duisburg to Homberg in the Moerser Grafschaft in 1572 . Shortly before his death (December 4, 1578), he commissioned Geldorp to prepare an expert report in which both the question of the dissolution of monastic property and the establishment of a schola illustris were dealt with. But there was no more reporting to Count Hermann. His brother-in-law and heir, Count Adolf , then demanded in 1579 that the report, which was probably largely completed, was issued for Count Hermann and only addressed to Adolf as an addendum.

Cover page of the report on the establishment of the Adolfinum from 1580

Geldorp stated in the report written in Latin that the Moers Count Friedrich had made the requirement of a true Christian lifestyle when the monastery was built in 1446. Otherwise the assets should revert to the counts. Since disputes about the Protestant teachings had now broken out in the monastery, the monks had destroyed their asylum and the count had the right to take back the property. All the more so as the assets are not confiscated for personal gain, but for the good of the community, namely to found a school. Suitable church servants should be used as teachers and the monastery’s previous income from weddings, baptisms and funerals should be used for the school. Because the establishment of a school is part of the duty of every government, which fulfills its duty to preach the Gospel in a timely manner, also to the needy (pauperes), here the citizens. The founding deed, matriculation and the first school laws of the Adolfinum were lost - probably during the city fire of 1605. Since 1574 there was a Latin school in the Calvinist spirit , which was already housed in the rooms of the former monastery. Here the talented boys in the county of Moers u. a. learn the biblical languages. The school still offers Hebrew as a foreign language in addition to Latin and Greek . The Latin school consisted of five classes. The establishment of the two-class upper level and thus the beginning of the schola illustris in 1582 is evidenced by the employment of Johannes Sniekelius Reidanus, a doctor of law, as rector and, with Johannes Piscator as vice rector, even a professor of philosophy. They gave lectures in preparation for university. Subjects were formal logic, speeches by Cicero and the interpretation of Romans by Piscator. However, the two experienced and prominent educators left the city as early as 1584/1585 because of the unrest caused by the Truchsessian War .

Dutch heyday

From 1586 to 1597, the city of Moers was occupied by Spain during the Eighty Years War , schools were closed and only resumed in 1603 after the city was taken by the Dutch in 1601. However, it is questionable whether this happened again in the form of a Latin school.

City view of Moers with town hall, town church and Adolfinum around 1850

At first there were again conflicts with the Carmelites, who had taken possession of the monastery again during the Spanish period. Moritz von Oranien put Count Hermann's Protestant church regulations from 1560 back into force in 1603, but wanted to come to an amicable agreement with the Carmelites. On April 16, 1614, with the approval of the Pope, the monastery and the associated land were purchased for 22,000 guilders. The school was in the hands of the city and the citizens supported the business in the 17th century with donations to a considerable extent. A still-preserved “Fundamentals booklet of the schools started in Moers in honor of God” reports on this. In 1634 in particular, so much money was raised through a special collection that the schola illustris was fully functional again, no school fees even had to be raised for financing and some scholarships could be distributed. The annual support of 500 guilders set up by Prince Friedrich Heinrich von Nassau-Oranien also contributed to financial stability .

The year 1634 was also important for the school because a basic school statute was created at the instigation of the Dutch. The highest governing body was the "senatus scholasticus" to which the respective governor, the city magistrate (if Protestant), the clergy, the professors and the rector belonged. The day-to-day business was conducted every two years by newly elected scholars. Topics in the upper level were institutions of Roman law, theoretical philosophy, mathematics and physics, practical philosophy consisting of ethics, politics and economics as well as logic and higher eloquence. One of the professors at that time was Wiricus Scriba, who taught physics and Hebrew in Moers, and who was appointed professor of medicine and oriental languages when the University of Duisburg was founded.

Classes at the grammar school at that time were almost exclusively geared towards the ancient languages ​​Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Latin alone took up 30 hours per week, so that little room was left for the rest of the material. The reason for this distribution was that the grammar school was largely viewed as a preliminary stage in the training of pastors.

The foundation of the former Moers pupil and Brunswick-Lüneburg mountain council of Clausthal , Peter Hartzingh, on April 20, 1680, in which half of his assets, predominantly consisting of Kuxen , brought into the so-called Hartzingh-Klausthal Foundation. The purpose of this foundation was to enable destitute Protestant children in the city to attend school and, if they were able to study, to give them a “piece of money”. Many pupils benefited from these foundation assets up into the 20th century.

Downgrading and financial problems under Prussia

Friedrich Adolf Krummacher, portrait of Wilhelm von Kügelgen

The transition of the county of Moers in 1702 by way of succession to Prussia also marked a fundamental turning point for the school . Although the situation was legally clear, the Dutch refused to release the city, so that an interregnum was created for ten years in which the annual grant of 500 guilders was canceled. In 1724 Prussia subordinated Moers administratively to the War and Domain Chamber in Kleve . Various submissions show that Berlin paid little attention to the distant school. In the 18th century the school still had an average of 15 to 16 admissions per year, the number has now been halved. During the Seven Years' War , Moers was occupied by the French in 1757 and the school became a barn. After a brief boom, the city fell into French hands again in 1794. The school was repurposed again. The headmaster Friedrich Adolf Krummacher complained: “Actus and exams could not be held because the grammar school has been transformed into a military barn, and because the superiors of the city and the grammar school do not understand German, Greek or Latin, even the slightest thing about the grammar school and take care of the schools ”. In addition to Krummacher, who switched to the university in Duisburg as a theologian in 1801, almost all external students left the school, so that an essential foundation for the income was missing. At least two veteran teachers stayed and at least kept the Latin school going.

After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Moers returned to Prussia. After the Stein-Hardenberg reforms and Humboldt's educational reform , the Prussian school landscape changed. Moers' application to set up a grammar school again was rejected in favor of Duisburg, where the university had been closed. Instead, the Adolfinum received the status of a Progymnasium in 1821 . This means that training was only available up to secondary level and afterwards the students had to attend a full high school for the transition to university. In particular, visits from foreign students, for whom this solution was not very attractive, no longer assumed the scope of earlier times. The school was thus deprived of a substantial part of its funding. The rural population of Moers as well as the craftsmen and merchants were also more interested in converting the school into a higher city school, in which the increasingly modern "real sciences" and English were given preference. The school management tried to take this into account by letting the pupils choose before leaving secondary school whether they wanted to study or pursue a practical job after school. Modern languages ​​(English and French) and natural sciences were taught to a greater extent for these students in the secondary school. In 1828 there was an attempt to integrate the Progymnasium with an elementary school. When this endangered the status of the Progymnasium, the merger was abandoned in 1833.

In 1820 the teachers' college in Moers was founded by Adolph Diesterweg . From 1822 to 1824, he also worked as a sideline teacher at the Adolfinum. After Diesterweg had no more time due to the rapidly growing seminar, a teacher of the seminar was also constantly working at the Progymnasium. In return, religious instruction and music instruction at the seminar were partly held by teachers from the Adolfinum.

Oskar Jäger, Rector of the Adolfinum 1862–1865

For Prussia the Adolfinum was an urban affair, so that it had no state funds to finance it. Without the Hartzingh-Klaustalsche Foundation, from which at least the rector's salary was financed, the small town of Moers would not have been able to maintain the four- to five-grade school. Even with these funds, the main focus of the scholarchate was on ensuring that the school ran smoothly. Because of the low salaries that could only be paid, there was very frequent fluctuation in the teaching staff when the teachers found a more attractive position as a pastor or at another school.

In 1837, school running was introduced under teacher Adolf Ludwig Hanckwitz . On this basis, Hanckwitz founded the gymnasium gymnastics club "Turner 1845" in 1845, with which he a. a. organized public gymnastics or took part in competitions and gymnastics festivals in neighboring cities. From the school year 1852/53, swimming lessons were also part of the boys' physical training, and Hanckwitz gave them together with his colleague Ludwig Rhein.

A fundamental change in school policy came about with the appointment of Oskar Jäger as rector of the Adolfinum in 1862. Jäger tightened the well-torn discipline among both students and teachers and aroused the idea of ​​turning the Progymnasium into a full high school again . Catholic religious instruction was also given for the first time under Jäger. After a short time, with the changed spirit in the school, he achieved a doubling of the number of enrollments and clear support for his plans for the scholarchat. Compared to 62 students in 1861, the number rose to 102 in 1862. There was again an increase in donations from citizens and a changed assessment by the school supervisory authority with regard to the expandability of the school. Jäger left the Adolfinum again in 1865 to become rector in Cologne, but the changed school policy situation was initiated.

New full high school and nationalization

Johannes Zahn, director of the Adolfinum 1870–1900
School building of the Adolfinum until 1895
Adolfinum building on Homberger Strasse until 1925

When Johannes Zahn , who came to the school with Jäger, took over the management of the Adolfinum for the next 30 years in 1870, a new era began. On January 10, 1871, the city council decided to grant an initial grant of 2,600 thalers in the event that it was converted into a full high school. Zahn spoke personally to the Minister of Education, Adalbert Falk , in 1872 and by ministerial decree of March 13, 1874, the Progymnasium became a full-fledged grammar school again. The first high school graduates were released on August 15, 1874.

At that time, Moers was a small rural town with 3,000 inhabitants without a railway connection, in which the night watchmen still called out the time and the postilons did their duty. As a district town, it had a certain importance for the area. In addition to the “Gesellschaft Societät”, where the city's dignitaries met, the mixed choir and the citizens' rifle associations, the Adolfinum was the most important cultural institution. As the headmaster of the city, Zahn had a corresponding amount of attention, especially since he was the son of Ludwig Zahn , who was the long-time, nationally recognized head of the Moers teachers' college .

Coming from the Reformed tradition, Zahn was a committed advocate of the humanistic grammar school, which was said to have spoken Latin as well as German. In contrast to the real science schools, he saw the aim of the Adolfinum in providing high-quality humanistic education. Accordingly, he complained when in the 1880s Latin lessons were cut from 9 to 8 hours in the upper level and from 10 to 9 hours in the lower level. At that time it was quite common to translate sentences dictated from German into Latin in the so-called “extemporale” ( impromptu ). Another exercise was translating the comment from the Kölnische Zeitung and writing a critical comment on it in Latin.

There were a number of complaints from the population about the high level of demands at the school. Zahn remained very restrictive on this point, advocated strict selection of students at the time of admission and declined to expand the school by increasing the number of students. The spirit of the school was also shaped by national pride and patriotic thoughts. In the foreground of the upbringing were duty, decency, diligence and piety towards the fatherland and the church.

During the 300th anniversary in 1882, a fund was set up for a new school building. The number of students had increased significantly to around 180 and there were also a number of external students. The school building, which consisted of six classrooms, was now clearly too small. The Martinsstift in Fild was opened for 14 of the so-called alumni on April 2, 1885. In 1890 the Johanneum on Uerdinger Strasse was added, where the sons of missionaries from the Rhenish Mission Society of Barmen who visited the Adolfinum were housed. However, the available means and the possibilities of the city were not sufficient for a new building and the continuation of the school on a larger scale. So it was decided to enter into negotiations with the school authorities about the nationalization of the school, as had also been carried out elsewhere. Zahn, supported by the pastors of the evangelical community, did not agree with this path because he feared the church's influence on the selection of teachers and the teaching content would be lost, but Mayor Gustav Kautz and the representatives of the city's magistrate in the scholarchate prevailed .

After several years of negotiations, the Adolfinum was passed on to the Prussian state in 1893 following a grant from the city. During the negotiations it was possible to maintain the evangelical character of the school. The new building was started immediately. Until 1896, the Adolfinum grammar school was housed in the building of the former Carmelite monastery, after which it moved into the newly built school building on Homberger Strasse. On the one hand due to the growing industrialization, on the other hand due to the lower influence of the citizens as a result of the nationalization, the Adolfinum had lost its importance for the city, but gained stability due to the secure financial situation.

The school in the 20th century

Until the end of the Weimar Republic

The reports from the beginning of the 20th century bear witness to everyday school life that was little disrupted by external influences. Headmaster Caesar was, however, at a critical distance from the efforts of the school reform movement and complained about the introduction of short lessons, which meant that the students would have lost a whole year over the nine years of high school.

The beginning of the First World War was received with enthusiasm, which soon gave way to disillusionment. One student reported:

“The speech was given by Professor Dr. Hofius. After a few sentences he wept bitterly and left the desk. Direx Hoerle (reserve officer) marched to the desk and ended the devotion 'zack, zack' purely militarily. Many of us apologized to good Prof. Hofius after the terrible World War. In 1914 we didn't want to understand him. "

In 1919 Friedrich Heinz took over the school management for the next 25 years. He taught history, ancient languages ​​and evangelical religion and adapted well to the church-conservative tradition of the Adolfinum. He was a member of the DVP , where he temporarily headed the committee for school issues in the Düsseldorf district. The distant relationship of the DVP to the new republic was also reflected in the views of the headmaster, an officer of the First World War, who in a memorandum on the occasion of "the liberation of the County of Moers from enemy occupation" (end of the Ruhr occupation) on the Skageraktag 1916 as one of the proudest days and after an eulogy for the persons of passive resistance against the occupation came to the following conclusion:

“Rather, as the highest goal of a nation, we will have to seek the connection between the two: the vanished creativity, which as the genius, but also the tragedy of Germanness, has always lain in us, with that conscious, forward-looking and summarizing statehood, of who was first given us the concept and possession through Prussia and which was the backbone of our nationality in our modern history. "

Heinz, who was a highly respected and respected person in Moers, showed here that for him and many like-minded people the transition to the Weimar Republic had not taken place in thought (cf. Klein-Reesink, 145).

Due to the growth of the city in the course of industrialization and the expansion of the mining industry, the number of students at the Adolfinum also grew considerably. In 1924 a secondary school was founded in Moers , which was under the joint direction of Heinz for the first four years. In 1925 it became known that the teachers' seminar in Moers was to be closed. The city and with it Heinz endeavored to compensate for the affiliation of an upper school to the Adolfinum. The main point of discussion among the population was denominational ties. In addition, representatives of the working class feared that the secondary school could lead to the death of the secondary school, thereby depriving the miners' children of an important educational path. From the Catholic side, instead of a denominational solution, the expansion of the Realschule up to the Abitur was demanded.

With the vote of the mayor, the council finally came to a decision in favor of the establishment of a non-denominational advanced school as part of the Adolfinum from 1926 with 16 to 15 votes. (Klein-Reesink, 150ff.) For the Adolfinum this meant an appreciation, but also in structural changes in several respects. Catholic teachers were now also represented in the common college. From the outset, the advanced school was oriented towards the natural sciences and run co-educational . At the same time, the social structure of the students changed. There were only a few miners' children at the Adolfinum. The postgraduate students, on the other hand, came predominantly from the lower classes, in which the school decision for a higher school was initially out of the question, but for whom a continuation of school education was an option after completing primary school due to good performance. The advanced school was thus an important step with regard to the permeability of the school offer in Moers. In 1928 the grammar school moved into the completely rebuilt teachers' seminar building on the Ostring as a double institution and thus found adequate accommodation with separate natural science rooms and its own modernized gymnasium for the growing demands on space requirements. Over time, the number of students rose to over 600.

In October 1932, the 350th anniversary was celebrated on a grand scale with church services and ceremonial speeches in front of high school officials and important representatives from churches and universities. After a torchlight procession to Neumarkt, the final point was a patriotic address by Heinz with cheers for President Hindenburg and the Deutschlandlied .

In National Socialism

Towards the end of the Weimar Republic, both National Socialist and Communist student associations were banned by the school authorities. Heinz enforced this consistently - even if not with excessive penalties. In 1932, three students were also punished for their anti-Jewish behavior outside of school. But from mid-1932, more and more young people took part in Nazi activities. Soon after January 10, 1933, the majority of the students belonged to National Socialist organizations.

Apart from a few clear external signs, everyday school life changed little at first. Pictures of Hitler were hung up in the classes, there was the compulsion to give a Hitler salute at the beginning of the class and flags on commemorative days. Many national issues, which had already been viewed positively, have now been taken over by the Nazi regime. Hardly anyone had problems with this. The decrees that changed the content of the lesson, such as B. on heredity and race theory or through selection of pupils in higher schools. German classes were particularly affected, in which speeches by Nazi leaders had to be dealt with due to decrees. During this time, Director Heinz paid attention to the consistent implementation of the external requirements and - as has been positively confirmed by many sides - achieved that the cohesion in the staff as well as with the students was maintained internally and any extensive external intervention was avoided. Reluctance from the teaching staff was met with the decree to subsequently transfer students who had not been promoted and who had been involved in National Socialism before 1933. Most of the requests were implemented, however. In addition to exemptions for Nazi events, training camps were often held for schoolchildren and teachers, in which national sentiments and sportiness were practiced.

Only a few teachers were directly active in the party, such as the student councilors Rendenbach (senior) as a propaganda leader ("cultural consultant"), Spahr from 1932 the party's shop steward for the Adolfinum or Abendroth, who received the gold party badge as a member since 1928. Just as few - the later director Marx is repeatedly mentioned - showed an open distance from the rulers. For himself and thus for almost all other colleagues, Marx stated in retrospect:

“Everyone knew  enough about the practices of the NSDAP - at least since June 30, 1934 - to consider 'good behavior' to be advisable, and if one day the individual felt indignation with the feeling 'how do I actually get to submit to them ? ', the thought of the destruction of the Versailles Treaty was strong enough to restore a good conscience for such obedience. This applies in particular to places like Moers, which after the First World War were often neglected by the foreign occupation. It took a clear mind, an intrepid morality, not to be confused by a “Versailles trauma” in your judgment on National Socialism. I know from myself that the incorporation of Austria impressed me very much - 'you can't be against it'. There were others, even if not very many, who could be against it because they were able to more clearly distinguish between beautiful goals and reprehensible means - the picture only became clearer again to the rest of us in March 1939.
What ran through these years was the willingness to exist in the passive voice, while actively simulating - the reverse principle of the sour grapes, so to speak. What one got to eat was called 'sweet', or in other words: one did or 'swallowed' a thing without real, i.e. H. To have reasons based on the matter. They did it for the sake of external security: in order not to lose identity with oneself, one did what one was forced to do, as if one wanted to do it. The basic human need to be in harmony with oneself was just as exploited by the NSDAP as the almost unanimous rejection of the Versailles system by the German population. The criterion for whether or not to say something was not whether it was right or wrong, but whether it was acceptable to the regime or not - desirable, although not required, that it was also correct. "

Memorial plaque for the former Jewish students of the Adolfinum (main plaque). The Hebrew verse quotes Ps 147.2  EU

A serious material change for the still humanistic Adolfinum came with the reorganization of the school system in 1937/38. The Adolfinum was now a high school for boys, which meant that there was only English and no longer Latin in the beginning classes. Greek as a subject was completely eliminated and only existed in the classes that were being discontinued. The students could now choose between a mathematical-scientific and a linguistic branch for the top three classes. Above all, the time at school was shortened to eight years, which resulted in a significant reduction in the requirements for the Abitur. The advanced school, however, remained largely unaffected. Even the school days remained unchanged, with the entry-level class now starting with the lower-tier instead of the upper prima that was no longer available for aesthetic reasons. The last Jewish student, Günther Bähr , the son of the doctor Hermann Bähr, was de-registered from school in 1938. In 1940 he graduated from the "Private Public School of the Jewish Community Berlin". On April 19, 1943 he was deported to Auschwitz-Buna and died on February 21, 1945 on a death march of prisoners from Auschwitz to the west.

With the outbreak of the war, lessons were increasingly restricted, even if one tried to keep everyday life as normal as possible. Many teachers had to join the military, including Heinz, who was a colonel in the War Ministry in Berlin until 1944. There were replacements by a number of younger teachers. The auditorium, gymnasium and some other rooms were occupied by military relief services. From 1943 on there were repeated air raids by the Allies. Many high school students served as air force assistants with flak batteries and were taught by the teachers in the afternoons. From 1944 night watches were set up in the basement of the school so that fire fighting work could be carried out immediately if the school was damaged after a bomb attack. The first major damage occurred in the summer of 1944. Because of the endangerment, normal school operations had ceased in October 1944. The Adolfinum was finally completely destroyed in a bombing raid on November 8, 1944. Only the outer walls remained. Fortunately, essential parts of the teachers' library have been saved. However, important files on the school history were lost. In December 1944 there were concrete plans to relocate the entire school to Podebrad in the then Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia east of Prague , but this was finally abandoned due to the developments in the war. Lessons, which were only provisional until the liberation on March 4, 1945, were given in small groups in private and public bunkers.

After the Second World War

The resumption of school operations was quite laborious. Since the school building was not available due to the destruction, classes initially took place in the Martinsstift dormitory from October 1945. Heinz was permanently ill and so Marx had to temporarily organize the rebuilding. In addition to the normal age groups, half-year and year-round special courses were created for soldiers who participated in the war so that they could catch up on their Abitur. In this way there was a very high number of 690 students in 24 classes at Easter 1946. Only 15 cramped classrooms were available for this, so that classes had to be taught in shifts in the morning and afternoon. From 1948, the former courtyard building, the former training school of the teachers' college, which had been converted into a building for science classes in 1928, could be used again for current lessons. In 1951 the main building was ready for use again, which normalized the school situation. In 1954 the auditorium was finally put back into operation.

Most of the teaching staff were soon available again; some delayed due to captivity, some delayed due to denazification . Two teachers were not allowed to teach again due to their Nazi past. One who came back later was Karl Rendenbach, who made many contributions to the cultural education of the Adolfiner as the founder of Gruppe 45, a literary circle, as chairman of the youth film club and, above all, as the director of a large number of high-quality theater performances at the school. He was one of the few who openly admitted to their Nazi past: “Yes, I was in the party. And when the war was lost, I realized that I was apparently the only one. Since then I keep asking myself how Hitler and I managed all this on our own. ”(Felbinger, in: Adolfinum 1982, 158).

The high number of refugees from the GDR who came to Moers meant that at the advanced school in 1956 and 1961 there was a class in Russian instead of Latin . Due to the high birth rate and a changed attitude towards schooling, the number of pupils increased enormously, although further high schools ( Kamp-Lintfort , Rheinkamp and Rumeln ) were built in the original catchment area of ​​the Adolfinum . When the number of pupils exceeded 900 in 1963, five teaching pavilions (barracks with two classrooms each) were built on the school premises. The school reached its highest level in 1969 with 1,383 students, including 569 postgraduate students, and 63 teachers. As a consequence, a third grammar school, the grammar school in den Filder Benden , was built in Moers in 1971, the base of which was made up of students and teachers through the transition from the advanced grammar school to this school.

The 1970s

The 1970s brought some changes in school politics. From 1973 in the Latin sixths and from 1977 in the English sixths, teaching was carried out co-educational. In 1974 the school was returned to the responsibility of the city. The third, probably the most serious change was the reform of the upper level. Due to the so-called “de-typification”, the Adolfinum lost its status as an old-language grammar school. The choices of the students in the course system of the upper level brought a considerable expansion of the school subjects relevant for the Abitur. Through cooperation with the former Aufbaugymnasium and the Grafschafter Gymnasium (former lyceum ), it was possible to meet the expanded requirements and to offer advanced courses in the often less frequented natural science subjects chemistry and physics in line with demand .

Site plan of the Adolfinum buildings around 2000

While the number of pupils fell drastically to 675 when the advanced high school moved out, it rose continuously in the following years, not least due to co-education and the introduction of English as the starting language. The problem of lack of space soon arose again, especially since the structural condition was extremely problematic. The barracks and the courtyard building in particular were in a precarious state. When the city took over the school, however, it had won the state's approval to finance a new building. After lengthy, sometimes difficult negotiations, the new building was finally completed in 1979. Since then, the school has had modern space that is adequate for 1,100 students. There is extensive and contemporary equipment, especially for the natural sciences. In 1981, a triple gymnasium was added to the rear of the site, which also allows larger events and, thanks to its multi-purpose equipment, enables the school infrastructure to be integrated into the city's cultural life.

The 1980s

Unrest at the Moers high schools arose in the early 1980s when the city began to expand the educational offer to include an integrated comprehensive school . There were considerations in the council that the Adolfinum “provides favorable conditions thanks to its optimal location in the city center and also spatially.” Immediately after its 400th anniversary in 1982, the Adolfinum school community fiercely and successfully defended itself against the conversion with public relations work and signature campaigns in a comprehensive school. In the course of time, three comprehensive schools were set up in Moers, which did not affect the existence of the Moers grammar schools.

21st century

At the turn of the millennium, at the instruction of the Ministry of Education in Düsseldorf - as at other schools in North Rhine-Westphalia - an extensive school program was developed for the first time, which in its profile includes both the languages ​​(including the possibility of choosing Latin as the starting language in combination with English as Latin plus ; a conscious continuation the biblical languages Greek and Hebrew in the sense of the school founder) as well as the natural science subjects (including PhysiX in the differentiation area as a subject in which the diverse environment of physics is worked out in a practice-oriented manner ). The introduction of a free working class to Montessori was well received by the parents.

In the 2009/10 school year, Chinese was introduced in the upper secondary school. In May 2012, a school delegation visited China for the first time for 14 days in preparation for a school partnership with the “School Attached To Wuhan University”. Located at the confluence of the Yangtze and Han Rivers, Wuhan is a 5 million city in central China. In October 2014 the school receives a delegation from China for the second time.

The old building, in need of renovation, was rebuilt between 2004 and 2006. a. also because of stricter fire protection regulations in public buildings, fundamentally renovated and significantly expanded in the attic. In September 2007 the school celebrated its 425th anniversary with a festival week. In 2008/09 the new building was also completely renovated in accordance with fire protection regulations. The natural science wing was completely renovated in 2008 and equipped with new inventory. The break hall was also made usable as a cafeteria by serving food for the extended afternoon operations as a result of "G8" (shortened schooling and compression of the lesson tables). In a third refurbishment phase, the small gym and the auditorium were renovated in 2014.

In the central learning status surveys in 2007/08, the 8th grade students made it into the 12 best high schools in North Rhine-Westphalia in the subject of mathematics.

In February 2009, the Ministry for Schools and Further Education of North Rhine-Westphalia awarded the Adolfinum the seal of approval “Individual Support” in recognition of its many years of work.

In September 2010 the Adolfinum was accepted into the "Association of Mathematical and Scientific Excellence Centers" ( MINT-EC ). This means that the school has access to a network of excellent mathematical and scientific schools throughout Germany.

  • Old building

  • New building

  • Triple gymnastics and multi-purpose hall "Halle Adolfinum"

  • Class container (during the renovation phase 2004–2009)

principal

The information in the table below comes mainly from Otto Ottsen, Volume III, and Adolfinum 1982 (see Ref.).

Period of time from to) principal Remarks
1582-1585 Johannes Sniekelius Reidanus Johannes Piscator was his deputy
1586-1603 - The school was closed during the Spanish occupation of Moers.
1603-1619 ???
1620-1622 Jonas Olaus Norwegian, went to Krefeld as a pastor
1622-1626 Johann Timmermanns Bremen, went to Hochemmerich as a pastor
1627-1631 ???
1631-1632 Johannes Carpius
1632 Bernardus Isaacks
1633-1655 ??? no details, rector within this period: David Rismanus
1656-1661 Gerhardus a Grevenbruk possibly earlier; went to Nijmegen
1661-1668 Since then pastor in Moers
1668-1680 Snethlage then pastor in Moers
1680-1693 Hermann Crusius (also Kruse / Cruse) * 1640 in Moers, student of the Adolfinum, studied in Duisburg, 1665–1680 rector in Elberfeld (today's Wilhelm-Dörpfeld-Gymnasium ), known as a poet
1693-1698 Petrus Eenmann from Neukirchen, student of the Adolfinum, renovation of the school, expansion of classes and a lecture hall, introduced daily devotions
1698-1702 Johannes Godescalus Wulffingius (Wülfing) from Elberfeld, went to the University of Duisburg
1702-1712 vacant During the Interregnum (assumption of regency by Prussia through succession after 10 years of resistance by the Dutch), Vice-Principal Arnold Merckens heads the school.
1713-1728 Bernhard Steenhelt
1728-1735 Bernhard Pagenstecher (probably Moerser), went to Alkmar
1735-1747 Bruckmann
1747-1748 vacant
1748-1769 Johann Jacob Schmitt from Herborn
1769-1793 Conrad Heinrich Riema Schmitt's son-in-law from Bacharach, under pressure from the scholarchate, French is introduced as a school subject
1793-1801 Friedrich Adolf Krummacher went to the University of Duisburg
1801-1821 vacant During the French period (since 1794) the teachers Neumann and Limborg, from 1813 Stapelmann, keep the school going.
1821-1832 Karl Hoffmeister well-known author of a Schiller biography, went as a senior teacher at the Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium in Cologne, introduction of alternative English lessons in the two upper classes, in order to enable the completion of a high school, Adolf Diesterweg worked as a teacher (1822–1824)
1833-1861 Johann Scotti from Cologne
1862-1865 Oskar Jäger from Stuttgart, introduction of class books, a school bell, specialist conferences and a student library, beginning of the conversion into a full high school, regional politician, various publications on pedagogy and ancient history, went to the Friedrich-Wilhelm High School in Cologne as director
1865-1868 Albert Moritz Theodor Rohde from Hamburg, went to Wittenberg as director
1868-1870 Hermann Friedrich Perthes from Bonn, went to Treptow as director, through collections it was possible to prevent the conversion into a higher middle school
1870-1900 Johannes Zahn from Dresden, son of the long-time director of the Moers teacher training college Ludwig Zahn, conversion into a full high school (1873), establishment of the Martinsstift for alumni (1885), nationalization (1893), new school building on Homberger Straße (1898)
1900-1909 Hermann Caesar then went to Wetzlar
1909-1912 Bernhard Heie represented reform pedagogical approaches and advocated a Latin-free school in Moers, became a high school councilor
1912-1917 Hoerle Represented during the war by head teacher Hofius
1917-1919 Schmitt-Hartlieb
1919-1945 Friedrich Heinz Establishment of the advanced school (1926), move to the former teachers' college on Wilhelm-Schröder-Straße (1928), conversion into a secondary school for boys in the course of the Reichsschulreform (1937) with full continuation of the advanced school, destruction of the school building (1944), doctorate 1952
1945-1947 Wilhelm Marx Management only provisionally, while Heinz is permanently ill, classes begin in Martinsstift (October 15, 1945) in two shifts with over 600 students due to lack of space
1947-1949 Bruno Prehn went to the Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium in Cologne as director
1950-1972 Wilhelm Marx Strong school growth up to 1325 pupils (1969), independence of the secondary school (1971, Gymnasium Filder Benden )
1972 vacant Rendenbach is provisional director of the school
1972-1973 Hansheinz Harzem then changes to the school staff
1973 vacant Willi Frentz initially heads the school on a provisional basis
1973-1976 Willi Frentz Transfer of responsibility to the city of Moers and introduction of the reformed upper level (1974)
1976-1998 Joachim Bank Construction of the new building and the multi-purpose hall (1981).
1998-2003 Michael Schopp Development of a school program; Introduction of a free work class
2003 vacant Heinz Plonka initially heads the school on a provisional basis; Start of renovation of the old building
2004-2006 Heinz Plonka Implementation of the school program
since Feb. 2006 Hans van Stephoudt Move into the renovated old building (April 2006); first NRW central high school diploma (2007); first NRW central final exams class 10 (2007); Renovation of the new building (2008/09)

Graduates

literature

  • Which sincerely invites the students of the Progymnasium zu Meurs ... to the public examination . Essen 1825; 1827 ( digitized version )
  • Program of the Gymnasii Adolphini zu Moers . Moers 1877 ( digitized version )
  • News about the Progymnasium zu Moers . Moers 1829–1861 ( digitized version ) (years 1839–1854; 1860–1861)
  • Program of the Progymnasium in Moers . Moers 1862–1873 ( digitized version )
  • Program of the Gymnasii Adolphini zu Moers . Moers 1877 ( digitized version )
  • Annual report . Mörs 1878–1915 ( digitized version ) (years 1878–1879; supplement to 1881; 1882; 1884–1915)
  • The inauguration of the new high school building for the Königl. Protestant High School Adolfinum zu Mörs . Moers 1897 ( digitized version )
  • Wilhelm Hippenstiel: Curriculum for physical education at high school . Spaarmann, Moers 1900 ( digitized version )
  • Directory of books in the teachers' library . Spaarmann, Moers 1902 ( digitized version )
  • Book directory of the student library of the Royal Adolfinum high school in Moers . Spaarmann, Moers 1902 ( digitized version )
  • Heinrich Gebier: The recent development of the Protestant school alumni in Prussia with special consideration of the Martinstift at the grammar school in Mörs . Adolfinum Royal High School. Supplement to the annual report for the 1909/10 school year, Spaarmann, Moers 1910
  • Friedrich Heinz (Ed.): Memorial sheets for the Adolfiner , Pannen, Moers 1921; therein Hermann Boschheidgen: Founding and building history of the old Adolfinum grammar school and the former Carmelite monastery in Moers , pp. 41–86.
  • Friedrich Heinz (Ed.): Memorandum for January 31, 1926, the day of the liberation of the County of Moers from enemy occupation (dedicated by the Association of Former Adolfiner e.V.), Pannen, Moers 1926.
  • Friedrich Heinz (Ed.): Gymnasium Adolfinum. Festschrift for moving into the new home in 1928 , Pannen, Moers 1928.
  • Wilhelm Fabricius, Friedrich Heinz (Ed.): 350 years of the Adolfinum Moers high school. Festschrift of the association of former Adolfiner EV Moers . Pannen, Moers 1926
  • Wilhelm Fabricius, Karl Hofius (ed.): The Adolfinum high school in Moers on March 13, 1949 on the 75th anniversary of its re-recognition as a full institution , Pannen, Moers 1949.
  • Wilhelm Marx, Wilhelm Fabricius (Hrsg.): Festgabe des Gymnasium Adolfinum and the association of former Adolfiner e. V. for the 650th anniversary of the city of Moers on July 20, 1950 , Pannen, Moers 1950.
  • Otto Ottsen: History of the City of Moers , Volume III, Steiger, Moers 1950, reprinted with additions by Laurine Ottsen, Steiger 1977, pp. 162-198.
  • Gymnasium Adolfinum: Schola Meursensis 1582–1982 , self-published, Moers 1982.
  • Association of Former Adolfiner (Andreas Klein-Reesink): The Adolfinum Gymnasium in Moers from 1815 to 1950 , self-published, Moers 1992.
  • Association of former Adolfiner: Gymnasium Adolfinum 1988–1998 , self-published, Moers 1998.
  • Society of Friends and Supporters of the Adolfinum High School / Association of Former Adolfiners (Ed.): Dr. Wilhelm Marx. Headmaster of the Adolfinum in Moers (commemorative publication for the 100th birthday on September 30, 2006), self-published, Moers 2006, ISBN 978-3-89535-099-3 .
  • Gymnasium Adolfinum: 425 years of Gymnasium Adolfinum , self-published, Moers 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-022107-1 .

Web links

Commons : Gymnasium Adolfinum Moers  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Program for the introduction of the director Rohde at the Progymnasium zu Moers

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Adolfiner in Auschwitz .  ( 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. Rheinische Post, January 21, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rp-online.de  
  2. ↑ Poland trip. Auschwitz project Adolfinum . Facebook site
  3. ↑ Heinz 1932, p. 24
  4. ↑ from: Klein-Reesink, p. 130
  5. ↑ Memorandum 1926, p. 21
  6. ↑ Adolfinum 1982, p. 137 f.
  7. ↑ Entry: Bähr, Günter. In: Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of the Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny 1933–1945 . Federal Archives , accessed on June 11, 2013 .
  8. ^ To the teachers' library of the Adolfinum grammar school in Moers
  9. ^ Adolfinum sports hall
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 22, 2006 .