Home education in the German Democratic Republic

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Building complex of the closed youth work yard Torgau
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-19489-0001, Cottbus, Infant Home March 18, 1955 Photo: Schutt, Erich

The home education in the German Democratic Republic include the foster care in homes in the era 1947-1990.

history

The orders of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) formed the legal basis for the establishment of the homes . Since 1951 a distinction has been made between the basic types of normal and special children's homes. With the youth welfare reform from April 1965, the youth work centers were also integrated into the system of special homes that had existed since 1951 . They were subordinate to the Ministry of Popular Education and its subordinate bodies.

Normal homes were used to raise children who were orphaned and children at risk of development. These included:

  • Preschool homes
  • Children's homes
  • Auxiliary school homes
  • Youth residences and
  • Youth residences for auxiliary school leavers

The permanent homes for babies and toddlers in the GDR had a special position among the normal homes . In addition to orphaned children, healthy infants and toddlers aged between a few weeks and 3 years of age were admitted and permanently housed, whose mothers were single parents or whose parents worked in shift systems. These facilities were medically supervised and from 1951 were under the supervision of the responsible health service department of the council of the rural or urban district. The expansion of the permanent homes was accelerated until the late 1950s.

Parentless children or social orphans who did not have the opportunity to adopt were transferred to secondary homes after they reached the age of 3. In the years 1959 to 1961 the number of permanent home places reached its highest level with approx. 11,000. This development did not go unchecked. In the late 1950s, strong reservations among pediatricians about this form of young childcare were loudly and supported by comparative studies. In the period that followed, the number of children in care fell continuously until 1980 and increased again to over 4,000 registered children in the late 1980s. The permanent homes for infants and toddlers were dissolved in the course of German reunification or converted into children's homes and other social institutions.

The special homes system included:

  • Transit shelters and wards for the short-term accommodation of children and adolescents, mainly for referral to special homes
  • Special homes
    • Special children's homes Oberschule for re-educating difficult-to-educate pupils in grades 1–10 of the POS
    • Special children's homes Auxiliary school for re-educating difficult-to-educate auxiliary students
    • Jugendwerkhöfe for POS graduates to re-educate difficult-to-educate youngsters
    • Jugendwerkhöfe for those leaving the auxiliary school to re-educate difficult-to-educate youngsters
  • Special homes
  • Disciplinary Institution

Work-up

Much injustice happened in the homes of the Soviet occupation zone and in the GDR until the fall of the Wall in November 1989.

Reasons for the admission to a home of the system of special homes on the part of the youth welfare service came not only from serious upbringing problems and behavioral disorders but also from political and ideological misconduct (see Education for a Socialist Personality ). From the system of special homes (e.g. youth work centers , especially the closed youth work center Torgau) it is known that abusive methods were used with the aim of re-education . People who have been in a special or special home can therefore apply for rehabilitation and receive compensation payments. The Torgau closed youth work center memorial was established in 1998 . A permanent exhibition in the lower rooms of the memorial shows everyday life in the GJWH using documents and contemporary witness reports. Can be visited u. a. the dark detention cells as well as the original inner courtyard and remains of the outer walls.

On July 1, 2012, the Fund for Home Education in the GDR was set up between 1949 and 1990 . Due to the high number of former children in care, the fund was exhausted at the beginning of 2014. The fund was topped up with funds from the federal and state governments. The fund is scheduled to run until the end of June 2017. A deadline regulation is new. Only applications submitted by September 30, 2014 were considered. The acceptance of the application was ensured via the contact and advice centers for former children in the GDR.

Manfred Kappeler expressed criticism of the way in which the injustice was dealt with and the implementation of the home fund for the former children affected . He dealt scientifically and journalistically with the fate of the former home children.

According to the current legal situation, the deadline for rhehabilitation applications from victims due to the GDR's arbitrariness expires on December 31, 2019 . Former children in care are also affected. a. Have experienced child sexual abuse in the facilities. The Federal Minister of Justice Katarina Barley ( SPD ) plans to facilitate compensation and to delete the application deadlines. The initiative is not currently legislative.

The final report of the Home Education Fund and the Federal Government's position paper will be published in August 2019. The goals of those who set up the funds were ambitious and in the conclusion of the Federal Government's statement it says: "The funds have not fully met these high requirements in every single case. But the broad satisfaction of those affected as a whole impressively shows that the financial The decisive factor for the success of the funds was, not least, the willingness of the constructors to break new ground with the representatives of those affected when implementing the funds, to try out possible solutions and to correct the decisions made if there were any In the sense of an affected-friendly practice was necessary. Thus it was possible to achieve the overarching goals of the funds and to make a contribution to social reappraisal and reconciliation with a dark chapter of recent German history. "

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Order of SMAD No. 225 of July 26, 1946 and No. 156 of July 20, 1947
  2. ↑ Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DX / 45051
  3. ^ Mannschatz, E .: Home education. Berlin 1984
  4. ↑ Sachse, Christian: The final touch. Youth welfare / home education in the GDR as an instrument of discipline (1945-1989). Ed .: The State Commissioner for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR, Schwerin 2011.
  5. ^ "Law on Mother and Child Protection and Women's Rights" GDR, October 1, 1950
  6. ^ "Ordinance on the institutions of pre-school education and after-school care", GDR September 18, 1952
  7. ↑ Ordinance on the tasks and organizations of day nurseries and nurseries as health care facilities of August 6, 1953, Journal of Laws No. 91
  8. ↑ Kern, K .: Explanations on the law on mother and child protection and women's rights. In: Work and Social Welfare 1954, 8, pp. 17ff.
  9. ↑ Statistical Yearbook of the GDR 1955 - 1989
  10. ↑ Journal for Medical Training in the GDR 1957, 21/22, p. 895 ff. / 1958, 7, p. 307 ff. / 1959, 22, p. 1443 ff. / 1960, 21, p. 1220 ff. And . a. m.
  11. ^ The health system of the GDR Berlin 1965-1990
  12. ↑ Plückhahn, Jens: Permanent homes for infants and toddlers in the GDR from the perspective of attachment theory . Diploma thesis FH Potsdam, Potsdam 2012, p. 50ff. ; Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde - Ministry of Health of the GDR BArch DQ 1/13585; BArch DY 30 / JIV 2 / 3-084; BArch DQ 1/1374; BArch DC 20 / I / 3/417 u. a. m.
  13. ^ Order on special youth welfare homes of April 22, 1965. Journal of the GDR II No. 53 of May 17, 1965, p. 368.
  14. ↑ www.fonds-heimerendung.de: 'Working on home education in the GDR', 2012, PDF, 203 pages
  15. ↑ Information on services provided by the Home Education Fund in the GDR from 1949 to 1990
  16. ^ Victims of home education: Interview with Prof. Kappeler. The first in 2018
  17. ↑ Barley wants to make it easier for GDR children in homes, Ostsee-Zeitung.de, 03/15/19
  18. ^ Final report of the Fund for Home Education and a statement by the Federal Government