Catholic School of Our Lady
| Catholic School of Our Lady | |
|---|---|
Entrance area of the Catholic School Liebfrauen in Berlin
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| Entrance area of the Catholic School of Our Lady | |
| type of school | high school |
| School number | 04P04 / |
| founding | 1926 |
| address |
Ahornallee 33 |
| place | Berlin-Westend |
| country | Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
| Coordinates | 52 ° 30 ′ 41 ″ N , 13 ° 16 ′ 30 ″ E |
| carrier | Archdiocese of Berlin |
| student | 711 |
| Teachers | approx. 75 |
| management | Markus Keitsch (Deputy: Susanne Gerstmeyer) |
| Website | www.ksliebfrauen.de |
The state-recognized high school Katholische Schule Liebfrauen has been located in the Westend district of Berlin since 1945 .
The school is privately owned by the Archdiocese of Berlin and grants the same educational qualifications as state high schools. It is based on the framework plans for the State of Berlin; in addition, the Christian view of man determines what is done at the school. In the 2019/20 school year, around 75 teachers taught over 700 students (385 of them girls and 326 boys) from the 5th grade to the Abitur. Catholic religious studies is a regular subject and can be chosen as an advanced course in the upper level. In the school year 2009/10 a profile branch was set up at the school. From year 5 onwards, around 20 students are taught in a profile class with a special educational concept. The profile classes are aimed at motivated, highly skilled and gifted children - also with accompanying problems - and have an integrative character.
history
First years
In 1926 the development of the Berlin Liebfrauenschule began. It owes its existence to prelate Bernhard Lichtenberg , who was pastor of the Charlottenburg Sacred Heart congregation at the time . The Lyzeum Muche, which had emerged from the first Catholic private school for girls founded in 1895 , also belonged to his district . When the headmistress, Mrs. Muche, was unable to continue the school in Schlueterstrasse for reasons of age, Prelate Lichtenberg worked tirelessly to ensure that it continued to exist. It was important to him that this institution for girls should be taken over by a religious community.
After he had already received a few rejections, he made a trip to the mother house of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Mulhouse-Oedt on the Lower Rhine. Here he learned that the Superior General was currently in the Netherlands . Prelate Lichtenberg followed her and received confirmation that the order would take over the Lyceum. In April 1926 the first sisters came to Berlin with - as the annals say - "mixed feelings".
In the following year, classes were moved to Königsweg 23. The building on Lietzensee had been acquired by the sister community from the Russian manufacturer Marjans. Today it is the seat of the Archbishop's Ordinariate. Prelate Lichtenberg insisted on inaugurating the house and the chapel. He also remained closely associated with the Liebfrauenschule. He worked there as a religion teacher. He also campaigned for their financial support.
time of the nationalsocialism
Catholic institutions were "a thorn in the side" of the National Socialists . In August 1936, a ministerial decree decreed the gradual dismantling of the “Liebfrauen Oberlyzeum with women's school because a need for them could no longer be recognized” (quote).
It was finally closed in 1941. Up until this point in time, the sisters had repeatedly managed to give young persecuted Jewish people refuge and protection from the National Socialists. To commemorate this refuge for Jewish children, a memorial plaque is attached to the former sister house.
In spite of the chaos of the war, many former students continued to meet for religious training and church services; they never let the contact with the nuns be severed.
When the building on Lietzensee was badly destroyed in a bomb attack in 1944 , the headmistress, Sister Maria Coelestis, wrote to her former students: "The Liebfrauenhaus has now become a heap of ruins, a place of horror, but the Liebfrauenschule will live on." Her hope should come true.
Reconstruction after 1945
In 1945, Sister Maria Coelestis began building the Liebfrauenschule in the villa on Ahornallee . Within the first year, the number of female pupils grew from 16 to 100. Many initial difficulties had to be overcome: lack of space, books and teachers, shortage of money and light. In 1948, Sister Coelestis managed to allow the Liebfrauenschule to take part in the school lunch .
After it was finally established that the old destroyed house on Lietzensee could not be used as a school again, construction of an emergency building on Hölderlinstrasse began. The elongated, only temporarily approved wooden building with twelve classes was called "garden school" or "barracks". It would then take seven years until the new school building on the additionally acquired property between Soorstrasse and Ahornallee was completed and inaugurated by the then Bishop Julius Cardinal Döpfner .
Ten years later, the school was happy about the construction of a gymnasium and festival hall on the premises of the temporary garden school. Sister Maria Borgia had already succeeded Sister Coelestis at this point. She directed the school for 26 years. Far-reaching decisions were made during this time: For financial and personal reasons, the school was taken over by the diocese of Berlin at the request of the order . A little later, as part of a change in the school organization, the dismantling of the primary school and the establishment of the secondary school began.
Recent developments
- After another change in the organization and the dismantling of the Realschule , the school is now a pure grammar school. Over 700 girls and boys visit this traditional school in Berlin today. On September 8, 2010, the school celebrated the addition of new classrooms, course rooms and the cafeteria as part of the school's patronage festival.
- In the years 2016–2019 the student body was expanded to include a welcome class with twelve students.
- For the 90th anniversary of the school, the entrance area of the grammar school was redesigned with modern elements.
- The district mayor of the Berlin district of Spandau , Helmut Kleebank , was a former teacher at the school.
- Picture gallery of the Catholic School of Our Lady
Entrance area
Prayer room
Schoolyard
career
