Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium (Berlin)

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Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin, 1866
Ruins of the People's Court (former Wilhelms-Gymnasium)

The Königliche Wilhelms-Gymnasium was a high school in Berlin from 1858 to 1924.

history

The school was located at Bellevuestraße 15 in today's Tiergarten district and developed from the Royal Progymnasium in front of Potsdamer Tor, which opened on May 17, 1858 .

On March 21, 1861, the king and later German Emperor Wilhelm I took over the patronage, gave the institution the rights of a royal high school and gave it the name Wilhelms-Gymnasium. The first Abitur examination was taken at Michaelis in 1863. In view of the strong population growth in this part of the city (" Privy Council District "), which is inhabited by senior officials, officers and wealthy merchants , a new building and expansion was urgently needed. On June 8, 1863, the foundation stone was laid for a new school building in the presence of King Wilhelm I, and parts of the building could already be occupied by Easter 1865. The architect was the building advisor Adolf Lohse (1807–1867), the execution of the front building was in the hands of Hubert Göbbels . Structural extensions were also made later, such as the construction of a gymnasium and a house for the director in 1870/1871. The main building was located inside an elongated property extending from Bellevuestrasse 15, which was near the Hotel Esplanade (Bellevuestrasse 17-18a). At times there was access from Viktoriastraße.

On May 26, 1881, graduates of the grammar school founded the Berlin student union Guilelmia .

The grammar school was very popular and achieved the highest number of pupils in the years before the turn of the century with almost 1000 pupils from predominantly Protestant and Jewish families. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the number of pupils fell slightly, despite the continued increase in Berlin's population, as further high schools were opened in the immediate vicinity.

At the beginning of the Weimar Republic the addition "royal" was lost. By order of the Ministry of Culture from December 1923, the closure of the Wilhelms-Gymnasium was ordered at Easter 1924. The classes of the lower and upper prima could be continued through free lessons of retired teachers at the French State High School (Collège Français) . The remaining classes were merged with those of the French Gymnasium.

As early as 1921, the property had become the property of the Reich Treasury; structural changes were made for the later use of the school building by the Provisional Reich Economic Council . In 1926 the gymnasium was demolished and the former director's house was converted into a service villa. In 1935 the People's Court moved in . The building was hit in the heavy air raid of February 3, 1945 by the USAAF ; the President of the People's Court, Roland Freisler, was killed. The ruin was demolished in the 1950s.

Today the Sony Center stands on most of the elongated property . The new Potsdamer Strasse runs over the southern part .

Directors

  • Founding rector: Julius Krause († 1860)
  • 1863–1904: Otto Kübler (1827–1912), interim conductor since 1860
  • 1904–1908: Gottlieb Leuchtenberger (1839–1914)
  • 1908–1922: (1923–1929: Prinz-Heinrich-Gymnasium in Schöneberg) Gustav Sorof (1863–1935)

Prominent teachers

Known students

literature

  • Helmut Bräutigam, Gabriele Silbereisen: People's Court, formerly the Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium, Bellevuestraße 15 . In: Helmut Engel , Stefi Jersch-Wenzel , Wilhelm Treue (eds.): Geschistorlandschaft Berlin. Places and Events, Volume 2: Tiergarten, Part 1: From the Brandenburg Gate to the Zoo , Berlin 1989, pp. 220–229.
  • Emil Schmiele: The Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium from 1858 to 1908 , commemorative publication on May 17, 1908, Berlin 1908.
  • In memory of Otto Kübler. Speech given at the memorial service on March 22, 1912 by Professor Dr. [Gustav] Sorof, director , Berlin 1913 (= supplement to the annual report of the Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin) - also contains information on the founding phase of the gymnasium.
  • The higher education system in Prussia. Historical-statistical representation , started by Ludwig Wiese. Fourth volume covering the period from 1874–1901, edited on behalf of the Minister of Clergy, Teaching and Medical Affairs. v. Bernhard Irmer, Berlin 1902, p. 207 (with references to contemporary literature).

swell

  • Annual reports or so-called programs of the Königlichen Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin , Berlin 1.1860 / 61 (1861) –5.1864 / 65 (1865) ( digitized version ); 6.1865 / 66 (1866) –1914/15 (1915) - this contains not only the school news but also scientific articles (later without year count).
  • Archive documents Hans-Thorald Michaelis

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Programs of the cours du Collège Français (State Reform High School). Report historique et statistique de l'année scolaire 1924–1925. Annexe: Report on the upper and lower prima classes of the dissolved Wilhelms-Gymnasium , Berlin 1925, pp. 18-20.
  2. ↑ On the memory of Otto Kübler. Speech given at the memorial service on March 22, 1912 by Professor Dr. [Gustav] Sorof, director , Berlin 1913, p. 10.

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 38 ″  N , 13 ° 22 ′ 23 ″  E