Folk high school in Falkenstein

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The Heimvolkshochschule Falkenstein - Institute for Social and Political Education - operated an adult education institution between 1961 and 1977 , which offered its educational events mainly in the form of courses lasting several days or several weeks with shared accommodation and meals ( boarding school ) - like the other Heimvolkshochschulen (HVHS). In order to ensure a "learning-enhancing distance from the stresses of professional and private everyday life", folk high schools are, in contrast to the local adult education centers, often located in rural areas away from the big cities. That is why HVHS Falkenstein advertised that its building was 430 m high away from all thoroughfares in the climatic health resort of Falkenstein . It organized one-week basic courses, several weeks of advanced training courses, weekend seminars on individual issues and educational camps. Guest conferences were also held.

Purpose, aim and self-image of the institution

According to its self-formulated mandate, the Heimvolkshochschule saw itself as follows: The Heimvolkshochschule Falkenstein would like to raise awareness of the respective social location of the participants and the thought patterns and perspectives they shaped in their historical and social mediations and interdependencies with political events. The aim is to arouse understanding for the compromise character of democracy in a conflict-ridden pluralistic society and to convey the knowledge that opposition and protest can arise from civic virtues as well as participation in ruling parties and state-supporting associations.

Assignment of tasks according to the Adult Education Act 1970

The Falkenstein Heimvolkshochschule of the Adolf Reichwein Foundation had the task of “providing the participants in its events with the acquisition of knowledge and skills for life, work and social activities as of May 15, 1970, the day the Adult Education Act in Hesse came into force enable. Their educational offer is aimed at all adults and adolescents who want to expand their knowledge and education and strive to constantly deal with changes in all areas of social life through further learning ”(purpose according to § 1 Volkshochschulgesetz-VHG.

Sponsorship: Adolf Reichwein Foundation

The sponsor was the Adolf Reichwein Foundation , a non-denominational and non-partisan non-profit foundation under private law . The foundation's board of directors consisted of six members. It included: the Hessian minister of education and two other members named by him, as well as the first chairman of the Hessian teachers' association. V. and the two deputy chairmen. The foundation's partners were the State of Hesse and the Hessian State Association for Adult Education. V.

Head of the folk high school

  • 1961–1962 Albrecht Kaden,
  • 1962–1963 Gerhard Schlott,
  • 1963–1965 Horst Ruprecht,
  • 1965–1969 / 77 Dietrich Sperling ( member of the Bundestag from 1969 )
  • 1969–1977 provisional Walter Buschmann

work schedule

The work plan of the folk high school included:

1. Contemporary educational issues
Tasks and problems of our education system, questions of time and culture
2. Political-historical issues
Issues of state, social and legal systems, the intellectual and ideological forces of the 19th and 20th centuries, contemporary history and problems of the present, foreign studies
3. Economic and social issues
Questions of economic systems, problems of state and international economic and social policy
4. Knowledge of Germany for foreigners.
5. Special programs tailored to the interests of foreign visitors in cooperation with educational institutions in the respective home countries.

The topics were worked out in presentations, discussions and working groups. The Club of Working Women met in Falkenstein in 1964 and NCOs dealt with National Socialism. In the years from 1967 to 1969 there were also accompanying events, in particular the final colloquia for the Funk-Kolleg to understand modern society and the examinations for acquiring a scientific opinion based on special achievements in the individual semesters of the first Funk-Kolleg (a prerequisite for admission to the gifted test for admission to university studies without a secondary school leaving certificate ). “What tricks do teachers use?” Was the name of a seminar for students in 1973.

Group of participants

Anyone over 16 years old could take part in the freely advertised events. Registrations were made via the local adult education centers in Hesse. The folk high school or the respective organizer invited to closed courses. The programs were designed by the full-time teachers of the folk high school and guest speakers.

Political quarrels

Left management school?

In 1975, the Heimvolkshochschule became part of the political dispute in the Hessian state parliament due to an incident. The CDU member of parliament Walter Korn (* 1937, † 2005; MdL 1970-1999), member of the Advisory Board of Adolf-Reichwein Foundation, had the window of a call for donations of Socialist offices in Offenbach on a newsstand (Headline: "zoom" ) objected to in the folk high school. At the meeting of the Foundation Advisory Board on October 6, 1975, the display of this leaflet in the rooms of the Heimvolkshochschule was expressly approved by the head of the house, Dieter Sperling, Member of the Bundestag (SPD). MdL Korn and his colleague MdL Wolfgang Throll and the CDU parliamentary group made this the subject of a major inquiry in the Hessian state parliament .

The minutes of the advisory board meeting of October 6, 1975, signed by its chairman, the SPD member of the state parliament Rudi Rohlmann (* 1928, † 2004; MdL from 1958 to 1962 and 1965 to 1982), contain the following wording: Advisory board member Korn asks a call for donations for Portugal in the 'display', which came from 'Offenbach' and contained critical passages on constitutional reality. Mr. Korn quoted these 'passages' and asked if this material had been interpreted with the approval of the folk high school administration. Mr. Sperling explained: "We do not exercise any censorship on material displayed there. Participants are allowed to interpret what they think is right, unless it is criminal or clearly unconstitutional or anti-constitutional texts. Display and reference to material brought by participants are useful in order to relieve the class from the wishes of the participants, to present and discuss current problems that they consider important - The state government has nothing to add to these statements by Dr. Sperling, Member of the Bundestag.

In the period that followed, discussions were held at the political level about the reorientation of the institution.

Battle of two educational giants

Biography research in social and educational sciences saw the two state parliament members Korn (CDU) and Rohlmann (SPD) as two central leaders in adult education and wanted to make the interactions between the person and social structures more transparent in order to determine how individual biographies have changed parts of educational reality and how they contributed to the creation but also to the abolition of institutional structures.

“If you look at the life span of Rohlmann and Korn from middle adulthood to death, you get the - at first seem trivial - insight that the actors exerted a lasting influence on the educational policy of the country in different ways, and that they have deep impact on education policy have left behind in the continuing education landscape and, in their professional biographical generativity, have even set milestones for a desirable continuing education policy of the future. "

Successor institutions

Downfall of the Heimvolkshochschule 1977 and HEF

The Adolf Reichwein Foundation dissolved in 1977. The new sponsor of the facility was the State of Hesse ( Hessian Adult Education Center Falkenstein - HEF ). Discussions about the reorientation of the facility continued, and politicians called for its closure.

Pedagogical institute until the house was closed in 2001

In 1997, as part of the reorganization of various institutes (teacher training, educational planning and school development, state picture office), six educational institutes were founded, one of which was the educational institute in Falkenstein (part of the Hessian state institute for education - HeLP ). In 2000 the facility was renovated again, but closed at the end of 2001.

Location, accommodation and building

location

The institute was located on the slope of the Reichenbach valley and offered an unobstructed view of the Taunus mountain tops . The 16 single and 16 double rooms of the house, a large day room, several work rooms, an auditorium with a film projection system and a well-equipped library offered all the prerequisites for successful work as well as relaxation and recreation.

building

The foundation stone for the building was laid on the then national holiday, June 17, 1959, after the pioneers of the Bundeswehr had leveled the site; On November 28, 1960, the Heimvolkshochschule was founded as an educational facility of the Adolf Reichwein Foundation and inaugurated on April 26, 1961 by the Hessian Minister for Education and Popular Education Ernst Schütte .

In 1986 the facility celebrates its 25th anniversary. The house was expanded and rebuilt. In 1990 the house was renovated again. The state of Hesse used considerable funds (in 1994, for example, a state grant of around DM 1.5 million).

Vacancy from 2001 and development plan 2014

The site and building still belong to the State of Hesse, the building has been empty since 2001 - the facility celebrated its 40th anniversary this year - and the site was also not used. As early as 2005, the city council of Königstein im Taunus passed the resolution for a development plan; In February 2014, the resolution on the disclosure of the development plan for the rear part of the Falkensteiner Reichenbachweg located near the forest. On the basis of the plan, the site of the former home folk high school and the future educational institute is also to become a villa area. It is to be divided into eight plots, each of which can be built with two residential units (villas with separate apartments); The minimum size of the plots should be 1200 m². In the meantime the property has grown in and damaged by vandalism.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Printed matter 8/2166 (to Drucks. 8/1774) of the Hessian Landtag - 8th electoral period - from January 23, 1976: Answer to the major question of the Abg. Korn, Throll (CDU) and parliamentary group regarding the educational mandate of the Falkenstein Folk High School - Drucks. 8/1774 -, p. 2
  2. ↑ a b Law on Adult Education Centers (GVBl. II 73-1) of May 12, 1970 . In: The Hessian Minister of Culture (Hrsg.): Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse . 1970 No. 23 , p. 341 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 2.6 MB ]).
  3. ↑ Dietrich Sperling (* 1933; Member of the Bundestag from 1969 to 1994; Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Minister for Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development from 1978 to 1982), http://www.fes.de/archiv/adsd_neu/inhalt/nachlass/nachlass_s/sperling -di.htm
  4. ↑ Villas instead of Kaderschmiede Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - FAZ - from March 1, 2014 (No. 51) p. 47
  5. ↑ Villas instead of Kaderschmiede Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - FAZ - from March 1, 2014 (No. 51) p. 47
  6. ↑ Printed matter 8/2166 (to Drucks. 8/1774) of the Hessian Landtag - 8th electoral period - from January 23, 1976: Answer to the major question of the Abg. Korn, Throll (CDU) and parliamentary group regarding educational mandate of the Falkenstein Folk High School - printed 8/1774 -
  7. ↑ Dieter Nittel Biography-theoretical approaches in adult education in: Rudolf Tippelt, Aiga von Hippel (Ed.) Handbook Adult Education / Continuing Education 5th edition, Wiesbaden (VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden) 2011, p. 105 ff .; ISBN 978-3-531-18428-9
  8. ↑ Dieter Nittel / Alan Sievers On the trail of the “subjective factor” - The history of adult education in the mirror of professional biographical generativity in: DIE (German Institute for Adult Education) Report 1/2011, Bonn, pp. 61–73
  9. ↑ Dieter Nittel / Alan Sievers On the trail of the “subjective factor” - The history of adult education in the mirror of professional biographical generativity in: DIE (German Institute for Adult Education) Report 1/2011, Bonn, p. 68
  10. ↑ From a school flyer, distributed in 1968
  11. ↑ http://www.alk-koenigstein.de/PaedagogInstitut2.htm
  12. ↑ Villas instead of Kaderschmiede Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - FAZ - from March 1, 2014 (No. 51) p. 47
  13. ↑ Heimvolkshochschule Falkenstein Taunus (Pedagogical Institute) Urbex. In: Travelfish. July 20, 2017, accessed on August 18, 2020 (German).