Herzberg (educational institution)

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The Herzberg (formerly Volksbildungsheim Herzberg ) is an educational institution in Densbüren in the Swiss canton of Aargau , on the southern slope of the Herzberg mountain of the same name . It was opened in 1936 as one of the first folk high schools in Switzerland based on the example of the Danish educator Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig .

history

The founder of adult education in Switzerland, Fritz Wartenweiler , founded the first Swiss folk high school Nussbaum in Frauenfeld in 1919 after an internship at Ryslinge Folkehøjskole in Denmark . He also made a significant contribution to the development of the Herzberg , where he conducted courses for young men from 1936 to 1939.

From 1938 until the post-war period, emigrants and political refugees were accommodated on the Herzberg. During the Second World War , the course activity was interrupted by the billeting of the military. In active service from 1939 to 1945, Wartenweiler held over 6,000 lectures in the context of intellectual national defense for the Army and House Section of the Swiss Army .

In the post-war period, in addition to longer farmer training courses and Bach music weeks, the Herzberg introduced a folk high school with weekend conferences and study weeks on current topics and pressing human issues, which were also attended by foreign educators and heads of folk high schools.

From 1950 to 1951 Elsbeth Kasser headed the Herzberg adult education center. In the early 1960s, the Herzberg was managed by Helga and Sammi Wieser . In 1954, a farm was added to the education center for maximum self-sufficiency in the home. The home should be lonely and far from the hustle and bustle, but not detached from the people and their settlements. The idea was that over time a whole village with workshops of all kinds should emerge from it.

In 1951, the Friends of Swiss People's Education Homes Herzberg were founding members of the Swiss Association for Adult Education (today the Swiss Association for Further Education (SVEB)).

In the autumn of 1958, the alumni of Heim Neukirch an der Thur on the Herzberg discussed the pressing question of nuclear armament and how to counter the "unnerving atomic panic" and the "misleading atomic madness".

At the 1961 taking place in Herzberg meeting The image of man in the 20th century refereed Willi Vogt , Jef Last , Fritz Jöde , Paul Trautvetter , Fritz Wartenweiler, Rudolf ram , Paul Portmann , Hermann Levin Goldschmidt , Emil Weitenauer , Elisabeth Rotten , 1967, the Herzberg Foundation established.

The 1978 Herzberg Seminar dealt with questions of international cooperation, in particular with the possibilities of the still young UN and why wars and torture continued despite human rights.

In 2006 the international harp summer college took place for the first time . Today the Herzberg course program focuses on music, dance, personality development and the environment.

In June 2013, a cross-border research colloquium was held on the Herzberg by the Universities of Kassel , Wuppertal and Zurich .

Commitment and mission

The Herzberg is the center of the work of Fritz Wartenweiler and his group, the Friends of Swiss National Education Centers , from which important impulses for adult education initiatives, humanitarian engagement and international understanding in Switzerland and Europe have repeatedly emerged. There was close cooperation with the Peace Service Service Civil International , which carried out work assignments on the Herzberg every year.

Public education and lifelong learning

Wartenweiler's approach to adult education was to embed the professional in what people shared. Just as important to him as a good professional was that the young men grew up to be good husbands, fathers, sons, comrades, citizens and fellow men.

The spread of the ideas of the Danish folk high school by Wartenweiler and his role model, the "Nussbaum" adult education center from 1919 in Frauenfeld, led to the establishment of further adult education centers in Switzerland. In 1925, Didi Blumer , inspired by an article by Wartenweiler in the Neue Schweizer Zeitung , founded the Volksbildungsheim Neukirch an der Thur to train young women in housekeeping and in their personality. On the initiative of Leonhard Ragaz , the Casoja adult education center for young women in Lenzerheide opened in 1926 . The Association of Friends of Swiss People's Education Centers , founded in 1926 by Wartenweiler and his circle, was able to open the People's Education Center on the Herzberg in 1935, where Wartenweiler held courses for young men from 1936 to 1939.

In order to reach broad circles of the people, Wartenweiler gave lectures all over Switzerland and published countless newspaper articles and publications in which he repeatedly referred to models from Swiss history. As a people's educator, he knew how important positive role models ( learning from a model ) are, especially for the healthy intellectual development of young people, and he wrote a number of biographies of outstanding human personalities for the Swiss Youth Writings Association (SJW) . In 1951, the Friends of Swiss People's Education Centers in Herzberg helped found the Swiss Association for Adult Education (now the Swiss Association for Further Education SVEB), the Swiss umbrella organization for adult education, which also plays an important role in dual vocational training in Switzerland.

Internationalism, pacifism and humanitarian action

The preservation of peace is a central concern of the Herzbergkreis, which was also reflected in Wartenweiler's literary work. In 1937, the Friends of Swiss National Education Centers in Herzberg and 13 other aid organizations founded the working group for Spanish children (Ayuda Suiza, SAS) . Actions for the Spanish refugee children were started from the Herzberg.

Wartenweiler used his military service to educate the young men and soldiers civically and mentally. He brought them closer to the cultural and political achievements of Switzerland so that they knew what to defend and to impregnate them against totalitarian propaganda. The lectures organized by the army and house throughout Switzerland at the army, the civilian population and in the refugee camps were among the most important contributions to preserving the intellectual independence of culture in Switzerland in the face of the threat posed by National Socialist Germany and its Nazi propaganda .

In 1946, the employees met in the war-torn countries on the Herzberg to give a shattered Europe a view of all of humanity. The guests came from Aosta, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, Austria and Germany.

Wartenweiler's books from 1949 and 1955 reflect the dispute between the Herzbergkreis and the international organizations of FAO , WHO and UNESCO . At the FAO, the Swiss Friedrich Traugott Wahlen made an important contribution as director. In 1955 Wartenweiler was on the patronage committee of the newly founded "Swiss Aid Organization for Non-European Areas" (SHAG), which later became Helvetas .

Publications

  • Blätter vom Herzberg: Bulletin of the Friends of Swiss National Education Centers 1936-1938 (magazine)
  • Friends of Swiss People's Education Homes / People's Education Home Herzberg (Ed.): Herzberg Adult Education. Swiss magazine for adult education. Association Herzberg (Asp) 1980-.
  • Informations / Herzberg, House for Education and Encounters , was published every six months from 1995 to 2006. (Journal)
  • Annual report / Herzberg, House for Education and Encounters / Volksbildungsheim Herzberg , 1993 to 2006

literature

  • Fritz Wartenweiler: Young men on the Herzberg. Without year.
  • Fritz Wartenweiler: Me cha nüt mache, me cha öppis mache. Homeland week on the Herzberg , 1941.
  • Fritz Wartenweiler: The Herzberg, place of education for adults. Friends of Swiss National Education Centers, 1953.
  • Fritz Wartenweiler: Herzberg, positive results? The storm of time poses tasks , 1963.
  • 50 years of Herzberg: 1936 - 1986. Asp: Herzberg, 1986.
  • Helga Wieser, Sammi Wieser: Education of the head - heart and hand: Adult education in Switzerland. Journal article, 1991.
  • The Herzberg (AG): 50 years in the service of popular education. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , No. 118, May 26, 1986, p. 19
  • Franz Josef Graab: Fritz Wartenweiler and adult education in Switzerland . Rotapfel Verlag, Zurich 1975, ISBN 978-3-858670762 .
  • André Schläfli, Irena Sgier: Portrait Further Education Switzerland . A book series by the German Institute for Adult Education (DIE). Bertelsmann publishing house, Bielefeld; December 2007, ISBN 3763919481 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In 1923 and 1925 the two folk high schools for young women in Neukirch an der Thur and Casoja in Lenzerheide were founded
  2. a b The story of the Herzberg; a few dates ... , information page on the Herzberg website, accessed on January 18, 2014
  3. ^ Antonia Schmidlin: Kasser, Elsbeth. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  4. ^ Pro Juventute , Volume 42, 1961, p. 472.
  5. ^ Fritz Wartenweiler: A nineties is looking for. Rotapfel Verlag AG, Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-85867-098-7
  6. The courses at Herzberg ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Information page on the Herzberg website, accessed on January 18, 2014  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.herzberg.org
  7. ^ Historical educational research online. Pedagogy specialist portal: Cross-border research colloquium of the Universities of Kassel, Wuppertal and Zurich on the Herzberg / Switzerland, June 19-21, 2013
  8. ^ Fritz Wartenweiler: Courage. A bunch of lectures and articles . Rotapfel-Verlag, Zurich 1959


Coordinates: 47 ° 26 '14 "  N , 8 ° 2' 52.5"  E ; CH1903:  645 962  /  254225