Youth consecration

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Youth celebration of the Humanist Association in Berlin 2011
Youth celebration in Hanover 2012
Festival for youth consecration participants in Sonneberg , 1958
Certificate for the youth consecration of the working group Jugendweihe in North Rhine-Westphalia
Ceremony of a youth consecration in March 1989 in Berlin-Lichtenberg

Jugendweihe (also youth celebration ) is the term coined in 1852 by the German theologian Eduard Baltzer for a festive initiation which is intended to mark the transition from youth to adulthood and was widely used in the GDR as a substitute for church celebrations.

Historical development in Germany

Free religious roots

The term Jugendweihe first appeared in 1852 and goes back to a suggestion by Eduard Baltzer, who wanted to express that the departure from the churches should also be reflected in the terminology. At first, terms from the Christian tradition (confirmation) were used for non-church celebrations or their substitute character was emphasized. For example, on April 9, 1846, a Breslau daily newspaper used the word confirmation replacement party . The new form of the initiation rite was developed by free religious communities . In opposition to the churches, they organized moral lessons for their children based on cultural history. The final youth consecration was primarily a celebration of leaving school , so it was received at the age of 14. Their shape had largely been fixed since the 1890s. The youth teacher gave a lecture on the free-spirited worldview , there were souvenir sheets, a vow and a memorial book. The celebration was framed by chants and recitations .

The free religious and free thinking tradition was later adopted by the labor movement . The later chairman of the KPD Ernst Thälmann took part in a youth consecration in 1900, the communist writer Erich Weinert in 1904 and the later chairman of the GDR State Council Walter Ulbricht in 1907.

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic (1918–1933) was the "heyday" of youth consecrations. Above all, the youth consecrations of the proletarian freethinkers 'associations of the workers' parties SPD and KPD , the trade unions, the anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists established themselves . Overall, however, the youth consecration remained a marginal social phenomenon during the Weimar Republic. More than 95% of the young people still celebrated the feast of confirmation or confirmation .

time of the nationalsocialism

After the seizure of power by the NSDAP these parties were with their associations, but also banned the freethinker movements and many free religious communities, thus the Jugendweihen offered by these communities. However, there was no general ban on youth consecrations, as only some of the free religious communities were forbidden. The National Socialists developed their own forms of consecrations and celebrations. The “school leaving ceremony” was introduced as well as admission rituals in the Hitler Youth and BDM . These three elements were then combined in 1940 in opposition to the confirmation and confirmation of the "National Socialist Youth Consecration", the "Obligation of Youth". Confirmation and confirmation of the churches were not forbidden. In 1944, a case against a Protestant pastor was brought before the People's Court , who was accused of disregarding the "youth consecration of the NSDAP".

Youth consecration after the Second World War

After the Second World War , the free religious communities and the associations of freethinkers resumed the tradition of youth consecration. However, the development and celebration culture was different in the two German states.

Although communities and associations that were banned during the Nazi era were able to operate again - initially also in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR - they were largely unable to achieve their old importance and size. Later, the youth consecration in the GDR took on a political significance.

In the Federal Republic and West Berlin , the youth consecration ritual is largely unknown to the present day. Only among free thinkers did it remain a kind of admission ceremony to the free-spirited associations.

Political instrumentalization in the GDR

background

Universe earth man


Program of a GDR youth dedication ceremony from 1989

In the first years of the Soviet Zone / GDR , the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED initially avoided open confrontation with the churches and clearly rejected the participation of the party, the trade unions and the FDJ in youth consecrations in the spirit of the earlier freethinkers' associations .

It was decided in Moscow that the youth consecration would become a state socialist festival. In May 1953, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union passed a resolution on "Measures for the recovery of the political situation in the GDR", which also provided for a socialist alternative to confirmation. With tremendous pressure, the formally structured youth consecration was established as an ostensible alternative to the evangelical confirmation and the Catholic confirmation due to its proximity to Easter and Pentecost and its pseudo-sacral content . However, adolescents with religious affiliations should also take part in the youth consecration celebrations (parallel to confirmation / confirmation). It was intended to compete with confirmation and was an instrument for educating the youth in the sense of the Marxist-Leninist worldview of the SED ideology. On March 27, 1955, the first youth consecration took place in East Berlin . From 1958 the youth consecration became practically a compulsory event due to the measures implemented by Walter Ulbricht's government . Thousands of young people had to accept severe disadvantages: Those who did not take part in the youth consecration had to reckon with poorer apprenticeships, denied admission to the extended secondary school (EOS), bans on studying and other repression; The parents were also under pressure. The GDR State Security played an essential role in the enforcement of the youth consecration against the confirmation.

procedure

Before the actual youth consecration, the young people, mostly in class, attended so-called youth hours every month for a year , which mostly consisted of company tours, lectures on sexuality and politics , dance lessons or similar social afternoons. Visits to concentration camp memorials were also common.

The relatives were invited to the ceremony, which usually took place in a larger hall or theater in the town. After a few official speeches and the vow in which the young people were supposed to commit themselves to the socialist state, they were then usually given flowers by young pioneers . The vow itself was drafted in the "you" or "your" form. After taking the pledge, the youth at the age of 14 were addressed as “you” . "We heard your pledge." They also received a certificate and a book. Until 1974 this was the anthology Weltall Erde Mensch , which, in addition to ideological omissions, mainly contained general knowledge . After 1974 this book was replaced by the pure propaganda work Socialism, Your World . From 1983 until the reunification of Germany , people used the book From the meaning of our life , published by the New Life Berlin publishing house .

As standard book gifts from the state, the participants of the GDR youth consecration were given:

  • 1954–1960: Universe Earth Man
  • 1961: Our world of tomorrow
  • 1962–1974: Universe Earth Man
  • 1975–1982: Socialism, your world
  • 1983–1989: The meaning of our life

as well as supplementary

  • 1960: program of the young generation for the victory of socialism
  • 1963: The Book of Freedom - Voices of the Peoples and Nations from Four Millennia by Anna Siemsen and Julius Zerfaß

After the solemn act in public, the honorees spent the rest of the day with their families or with the families of their classmates.

Pledge

Youth consecration certificate with pledge from 1986

The Jugendweihlinge had to vow: “Are you ready, as young citizens of our German Democratic Republic, to work and fight with us together, true to the constitution, for the great and noble cause of socialism and to honor the revolutionary legacy of the people, the answer is: YES, WE PROMISE! "

The obligation to work for the workers 'and peasants' state had to be affirmed in three further sections . Furthermore, the young people had to vow to fight for the happiness of the people, to deepen the friendship between peoples with the Soviet Union and to “defend socialism against any imperialist attack”.

Current practice

Youth consecrations are traditionally carried out by free religious communities, humanistic organizations and special youth consecration associations. The events of the Humanist Association of Germany are called youth celebrations .

Youth consecration

The largest provider of youth consecrations in terms of numbers is Jugendweihe Deutschland eV, which was founded in 1990 under the name "Interest Association Jugendweihe eV" and is divided into several regional associations. At the turn of the millennium, up to 40 percent of young people in East Germany, depending on the region, took part in youth consecrations. In 2009 around 25,000 young people across Germany took part in youth consecrations. This was around a quarter of the number of participants ten years earlier.

Youth celebration

The term youth celebration has been used since the fall of the Wall in order to set itself apart from the youth consecration tradition of the GDR . In addition, one does not want to "consecrate young people, but rather make the symbolic step into adult life unforgettable."

The youth celebration is preceded by a preparatory program lasting several months. It includes “a wide range of offers that deal with the most diverse facets of growing up and offer opportunities to discover new things, meet other people or get to know yourself better, develop skills and critically question familiar things”. A total of 7,500 young people took part in the youth celebrations of the Humanist Association in Berlin and Brandenburg in 2013, around ten percent of the age group.

Similar occasions in other countries and religions

General

Celebrations of the transition from childhood to the adult world exist in many cultures and traditions around the world. The bar mitzvah is celebrated in Judaism . Corresponding festivals for the needs of non-religious people for rites of passage have often developed in Christian societies based on Christian (Protestant) confirmation , but also in the tradition of the workers' movement in the 19th and 20th centuries as school graduation celebrations. Nevertheless, not only in countries like the Netherlands , but also in the Anglo-Saxon-speaking area, comparable celebrations by people without religious affiliation are largely unknown.

Northern and Western Europe

There are similar celebrations in Norway , Sweden , Iceland and other northern European countries. Humanist associations in Norway and Sweden call the celebrations for the young people "Humanist Confirmation". In Norway in 2012 almost 10,000 young people, around 16% of the 14-year-olds, took part in the celebrations.

Austria and Switzerland

In most western Austrian and Swiss municipalities, it is customary to invite all young citizens (i.e. everyone who has just turned 18) to a secular celebration, the young citizens' celebration . The purpose is to introduce young people to the political community. In addition, the participants usually receive the Federal Constitution and a booklet with the most important information on the political and cultural situation in the canton or in the federal state (Vorarlberg only) or in the city in advance of or during the celebration.

Youth consecration in Gera with Walter Ulbricht , 1958

literature

  • Bo Hallberg: The youth consecration : on the German youth consecration tradition , 2nd edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1979, ISBN 3-525-55359-5 (also dissertation at the University of Lund (Sweden), 1977).
  • Manfred Isemeyer , Klaus Sühl (Hrsg.): Festivities of the labor movement - 100 years of youth consecration . Elefanten-Press, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-88520-296-4
  • Helmuth Sturmhoebel, Helga Kutz-Bauer, Konny G. Neumann, Kurt T. Neumann (eds.): What is man - what should man? 100 years of Hamburg youth consecration . A historical overview and appendix with texts. In cooperation with the Foundation intellectual freedom Hamburg, Heinevetter, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-87474-852-9 .
  • Andreas Meier: Jugendweihe - youth celebration. A German nostalgic festival before and after 1990 . Munich 1998, ISBN 3-423-30595-9 .
  • Albrecht Döhnert: Youth consecration between family, politics and religion . Studies on the continuation of the youth consecration after 1989 and the confirmation practice of the churches. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2000, ISBN 3-374-01818-1 .
  • Joachim Chowanski, Rolf Dreier: The youth consecration. A cultural history since 1852 . Edition Ost, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-932180-56-9 .
  • Andreas Meier: Structure and history of youth consecrations / youth celebrations (PDF; 148 kB), St. Augustin, 2001
  • Thomas Gandow: Jugendweihe - Humanistic youth celebration . Munich 2002, ISBN 3-583-50661-8 .
  • Torsten Morche: Universe without God, Earth without Church, Man without Faith: to portray religion, church and “scientific worldview” in “Universe, Earth, Man” between 1954 and 1974 in relation to the state-church relationship and the development of Youth consecration in the GDR. Edition Kirchhof & Franke, Leipzig / Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-933816-33-7 .
  • Konny G. Neumann (ed.): Free view - questions about our time / answers for the youth . Hamburg 2007 (born from 1990).
  • Markus Anhalt: Breaking the power of the churches. The participation of the State Security in enforcing the youth consecration in the GDR . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-525-35121-5 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Jugendweihe  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Jugendweihe  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bo Hallberg: The youth consecration: for the German youth consecration stadium, 2nd edition, Göttingen 1979.
  2. ↑ Cf. chapter "Organized anti-clericalism and atheism - the anarcho-syndicalist faction in the free thinker movement", in: Hartmut Rübner: Freiheit und Brot. The Free Workers' Union of Germany. A Study of the History of Anarcho-Syndicalism. Libertad Verlag, Berlin / Cologne, ISBN 3-922226-21-3 , pp. 236-254.
  3. ^ Keyword turn of life celebration , in: Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vocabulary of National Socialism . 2nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2007, p. 383f.
  4. ^ Structure and history of youth consecrations / youth celebrations. (PDF; 148 kB) Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V., accessed September 4, 2009 .
  5. ↑ a b Christiane Hübscher: Youth consecration in the east. The substitute religion. Mirror online.
  6. ^ Matthias Rogg: Army of the People? Military and Society in the GDR . Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86153-478-5 , p. 190 .
  7. ↑ Holger Kremser: The legal status of the Protestant churches in the GDR and the new unit , p. 164.
  8. ↑ In 1958 the Thuringian regional bishop Moritz Mitzenheim wrote to Otto Grotewohl : “The argument that flared up again and again in this matter is not due to the fact that these two opposing views (dialectical materialism and Christian belief) exist. Rather, it comes from the fact that the representatives of the youth consecration can make use of the state apparatus for their propaganda and the implementation of their views. The concern of our Christian population comes from the fact that the youth consecration is enforced with threats and coercion. ”Quoted from Horst Dähn: Confrontation or cooperation? The relationship between state and church in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945–1980. Opladen 1982.
  9. ^ Youth consecration: Ideological club against the churches ( Memento from December 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ http://www.pnn.de/potsdam/14179/
  11. ↑ Ehrhart Neubert : Opposition in the GDR 1949–1989 , p. 119 .
  12. ↑ U. Schwarz and W. Bickerich: SPIEGEL conversation: "We are an independent authority of trust" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 21 , 1987 ( online ).
  13. ^ The youth consecration in the GDR ( Memento from August 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv
  14. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from November 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ http://www.familie-und-tipps.de/Kinder/Jugendweihe.html
  16. ↑ Markus Anhalt: Breaking the power of the churches. The participation of the Ministry for State Security in the enforcement of the youth consecration in the GDR. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-525-35121-5
  17. ↑ Chowanski / Dreier: Die Jugendweihe, p. 104
  18. ↑ Stefan Wolle: Departure into stagnation - The GDR in the sixties . 1st edition. Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 2005, ISBN 3-89331-588-8 .
  19. ↑ With a foreword "zur Jugendweihe" by Horst Schumann , 1st Secretary of the Central Council of the FDJ, from March 1960. Published by the Central Council of the FDJ via Verlag Junge Welt, Berlin 1960 (450 / ZR 936/1159 - Ag 209/60), Format approx. 20 cm × 20 cm, 48 pages, with 21 full-page illustrations by Ernst Jazdzewski
  20. ^ Gutenberg Book Guild (1963)
  21. ^ Peter Maser: Churches in the GDR . Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-89331-401-6 , p. 115.
  22. ↑ Statista : Number of participants in youth consecration in Germany from 1991 to 2009 , accessed on May 9, 2013
  23. ^ Website of the Berlin youth celebration
  24. ^ HVD Berlin: Preparatory Program , accessed on July 2, 2013
  25. ↑ HVD Bayern: Youth Celebration Program , accessed on July 2, 2013
  26. ^ Die Humanisten Baden-Württemberg: Humanist Youth Celebration ( Memento from November 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 2, 2013
  27. ^ Young Humanists Hanover: Information on the youth celebration , accessed on July 2, 2013
  28. ^ Young humanists Magdeburg: Information for young people , accessed on July 3, 2013
  29. ↑ Margrit Witzke: Finding your own way: Humanistic youth work and youth celebration , in: Humanism is the future. Festschrift 100 Years of the Humanist Association Berlin. Berlin 2006
  30. ↑ Press release of April 8, 2013 ( Memento of May 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 9, 2013
  31. ^ Human-Etisk Forbund (Norway): Website zur Humanistisk konfirmasjon
  32. ↑ Humanisterna (Sweden): Website for Humanistisk Confirmation
  33. ↑ Siðmennt (Iceland): Borgaraleg ferming ( Memento from August 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  34. ↑ human.no: Statistics on Humanistisk Konfirmasjon in Norway ( Memento from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive )