Walkemühle rural education home

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The Walkemühle rural education center was built in Adelshausen (Melsungen) from 1921 on by the teacher and reform pedagogue Ludwig Wunder . After he left the facility in 1924, the rural education home began operating under the direction of Minna Specht , whose educational concept was shaped by Leonard Nelson's philosophy .

The German years

The foundation of the Walkemühle rural education home

In 1921 Ludwig Wunder bought the fulling mill in Adelshausen (Melsungen) in order to build a country education home there. Before that, Wunder was an employee of Hermann Lietz . First as a teacher at Bieberstein Castle (Hesse) and after Lietz's death as the head of the educational home in Haubinda . There he met the teacher Minna Specht , through whom he came into contact with Leonard Nelson . World icon

At the University of Göttingen, Wunder attended lectures by the philosopher Nelson and identified himself strongly with his theories. Nelson himself also had the idea of ​​founding a school, which should primarily promote the training work of the "International Youth Association (IJB)" he initiated. To finance this school, the "Society of Friends of the Philosophical-Political Academy" (GFA) was founded on December 1, 1918, without a school or academy being founded as a result.

The philosophical-political agreement between Wunder and Nelson and his ability to provide funds for the further expansion of the fulling mill led to a collaboration in 1922, and at the end of the year the first supporters of Nelson arrived in the fulling mill to do some preparatory work Work to be carried out up to the planned opening of the Walkemühle Landerziehungsheim in spring 1924.

In 1923 a "teaching permit" was issued for Wunder and for the teacher Julie Pohlmann. This was followed in March 1924 by the application to the district school council in Melsungen to issue a further permit for the senior teacher Specht and at the same time to grant permission to teach school-age children. Instead, on April 23, an order from the district school council arrived in Walkemühle, prohibiting the applicant from teaching with pupils of school age. Wunder then turned to the Prussian Minister for Science, Art and Education in Berlin and received from there in August 1924 permission to start school operations. After the permit was granted, Wunder and Nelson quarreled. Wunder then left the fulling mill in November 1924. From then on, Minna Specht was the head of the rural education home.

From then on, the fulling mill was a two-tier facility: there was the adult department, the Philosophical-Political Academy, which ran the ISK's official training, and there was the children's department. Although these two schools were under one roof, they were governed by different principles. Each school had its purpose and there was no study group between them. Nielsen assumes that the children's section was overshadowed by the adult section.

Adult education in the fulling mill

The adult section of the fulling mill was a cadre school of the International Socialist Combat League and the IJB.

“In preparation for the founding of a“ Party of Reason ”, the IJB had to do primarily political educational work. It took place through the training of a small selected group of people who had to submit to strict rules (renouncing alcohol and nicotine, obliging themselves to vegetarianism and leaving the church). These conditions were considered necessary as a prerequisite for the development of character strength and intellectual independence, but with regard to the demands for abstinence they were also linked to traditions of the youth movement. The vegetarian rule was derived directly from Nelson's ethics, which also viewed animals as legal subjects and forbade them to be degraded for human consumption. With the obligation to leave the church, the churches' claim to authority and their influence on politics should be combated. "

The already strict rules, which also included the hierarchization of the members in an inner and an outer circle and, associated with this, the constant status check, became even more rigid from 1923/24.

“Membership was further restricted, and the celibacy demand was added for the inner circle of functionaries. The order-like structures that came to light were quite desirable by Nelson, they underlined the character as a “community of education and convictions” to the outside world. Files were made about the suitability of the members and detailed reports and minutes were drawn up on the discussions at courses and conferences. "

What sounds like asceticism and total submission here was integrated into a pedagogical concept that should enable the pupils to “think logically independently in a community. The teacher was not allowed to intervene with his own judgment. ”The basis for this was the Socratic method, rediscovered and further developed by Nelson, which was the most important method for teaching the adult course participants in the fulling mill.

“The Socratic method is based on trust in people's reason, in their ability to recognize philosophical and mathematical truths through intensive joint reflection. This method is implemented in discussions in which one first comes to joint judgments about individual cases and then traces these judgments back to their requirements (the regressive method of abstraction). "

On the basis of these ideas, the functionaries of the ISK should be trained as political leaders in the fulling mill. The target group were young people between 17 and 20 years of age who were to be trained in three-year courses. Her training in willpower and the development of her organizational skills went hand in hand with participation in the practical work in the workshops and in house and gardening that is necessary to operate the fulling mill. There were also excursions into the world of work. In the autumn of 1931, when the fulling mill's adult department was closed, around 30 students had completed this training after the school had existed for seven and a half years. They now moved to Berlin together with the teachers in order to devote themselves to building a united front against the National Socialists. The children's department remained in the fulling mill.

Kindergarten and school

The children's department of the Walkemühle had a kindergarten group led by Lieselotte Wettig and several groups of school-age children, which were initially led by Julie Pohlmann, Hans Lewinski and others, and later also by Minna Specht herself.

What was characteristic of the school - as it was of the adult department - was the primacy of a simple life, which was just as true for the educators as it was for the pupils. This was not only adhered to for financial reasons, but also for pedagogical and principled reasons:

“Children should learn early on that it is difficult to make a living. Children were accepted regardless of race, class, or nationality, both girls and boys, and unlike some other private schools, Nelson and Minna Specht made it important to not only take in children from wealthy parents, but also workers' children. The special economic conditions of the school and the economical way of life made this possible. "

The main educational goal of the school was the endeavor to give the children the opportunity to freely develop their moral, intellectual and aesthetic powers. This should be done by avoiding any kind of paternalism. Gustav Heckmann , who went into Danish exile with Minna Specht and some of the children in 1933, retrospectively described Nelson’s educational conceptions in 1981:

“It [the school] should be a sanctuary in which the rational forces originally present in humans should be protected against influences from our class society that damage these forces. People would then keep what they bring with them as unspoiled children: Belief in the truth, self-confidence and a sense of justice, as expressed in courage and perseverance in defending their own convictions. "

Gustav Heckmann

Heckmann explicitly points out that these principles governed both the fulling mill and the two successor institutions. They go back to Nelson's ties to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Jakob Friedrich Fries and, in their efforts to educate people for sensible self-determination while at the same time insisting on fixed ethical norms, set themselves apart from other contemporary educational currents, especially from AS Neill . In 1936, Minna Specht countered him, to whom she insinuated that moral norms were negated and that the free development of a child alone was a prerequisite for becoming a useful member of society:

"Those however, who do not share this optimistic belief are faced with the task of finding a new ethical foundation and a new education built upon this, free from authority. I am one of those who have chosen this way, facing all the difficulties which are involved. "

The theoretical superstructure is one thing, the practical everyday school life is another. That life in the fulling mill was also exciting and entertaining for the children is proven by the many experience reports that Rudolf Giesselmann has compiled. It also documents in great detail - based on reports from former students and their teachers as well as a large number of documents and pictures - the daily routines in the fulling mill and the course of the lessons. Comparably rich in material, Nielsen documents everyday school life for the years in Denmark and thus shows the continuity of the educational work, which was not interrupted by the exile.

After Nielsen, Minna Specht decided in autumn 1932 to reduce her political work for the ISK and its affiliated institutions and to devote herself more to educational work. In view of the rising National Socialism, she was faced with the choice of either remaining a politician or a teacher. Both seemed impossible to her at the same time, and she also advocated not endangering pedagogical work through political work - a principle that she largely upheld in exile. The existence of the school should not be jeopardized by political activities. This did not rule out that ISK activists would occasionally visit school in Denmark later (especially since some of their children lived here), but at no time was the school a kind of command center for the illegal work of the ISK in Germany, or a place of retreat for persecuted ISK activists. Conversely, this did not mean that the school had become apolitical through the emphasis on the primacy of pedagogy. As Gutstav Heckmann put it in retrospect, she had a political stance without being politically active:

“The school was not an auxiliary station in the service of illegal resistance work in Germany, but it was, according to Nelson's conviction and the conviction of the teachers of the school, connected to the struggle of the workers for socialism - socialism here understood as a society without the exploitation of a class another."

End of the Walkemühle rural education home

On January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor; on March 3rd the first house search took place in the fulling mill. The children were then sent back to their parents or, if that was not possible as soon as possible, temporarily housed outside the fulling mill. The second house search took place on March 14th, and on the same day the Melsung district administrator applied to the district president in Kassel to close the fulling mill. This took place two weeks later, on March 29, 1933, by decree of the Prussian Minister for Science, Art and Education in Berlin. After that, the Walkemühle was expropriated twice without compensation: a de facto one by the SA shortly after the closure and a legally approved one in April 1934. From then on, the Walkemühle was an office administrator and SA leadership school in the NSDAP district of Kurhessen . Giesselmann cites numerous reports that show that numerous "protective prisoners" from the Melsungen area were locked up, mistreated and tortured in the basements of the Walkemühle.

There were also three tombs on the grounds of the fulling mill: that of Leonard Nelson, that of his father Heinrich Nelson and that of Erich Graupe.

“After '33 it was unbearable for the Nazis that there were still two Jews so close to their fulling mill, albeit dead and buried, as well as“ a communist ”in the third grave. That left them no peace. They soon changed this situation and spoke of "reburial", but then they didn't take it too seriously. The urn and the gravestone of Erich Graupe, "the communist", was found by Willi Schaper, a former helper of the Walkemühle, "in the muck of the rubble from Adelshausen". There was a persistent rumor that a participant broke out the gold teeth of the skeletons of the two Nelsons during the “reburial”, for which he received a journey of strength through joy. Nobody knows exactly where the skeletons are today, they were officially taken to the Jewish cemetery in Melsungen. The only thing that is certain is that the tombstones of Leonard and Heinrich Nelson were moved there. "

Parts of the facility were set on fire by the Nazis on April 1, 1945 when American troops were advancing. As early as May 1945, the former ISK member Heinrich Meyer obtained a trusteeship for the fulling mill from the American military administration in Melsungen and was able to rebuild it with the support of the Swiss Workers' Relief Organization (SAH) . From October 1945 it served as a home for children whose parents had been persecuted or murdered by the Nazis before it was rededicated in May 1947 as a conference center for the educational work of the socialist youth, Die Falken . Minna Specht, who had returned from emigration, also took part in the opening ceremony for this new facility on May 12, 1947. At the end of 1948, however, the era of the “falcons” ended again and the fulling mill was first used for recreational stays by returnees from Soviet captivity and immediately afterwards as a rest home for Berlin children. This chapter in the history of the fulling mill ended at the end of 1950. It was closed and sold to a manufacturer in May 1952.

Exile in Denmark

New establishment in Möllevangen

During the house searches by the SA in March 1933, the children asked what would happen to them if their school were taken away from them. Two years later, Minna Specht described her spontaneous reaction to this question as follows:

"It just occurred to me when the children asked their questions that we might go to Denmark. It was the mere desire to help the children who were troubled. But the excitement and enthusiasm of the children turned this desire into a purpose, and I made up my mind to build up a new world for them if the old one should crumble away. "

Even if there was no concrete plan behind it and Denmark did not come into focus as a country of exile for political reasons: the implementation of the project was tackled immediately. Heckmann, who had previously taught in the adult department of the Walkemühle and had meanwhile returned to the Prussian school service, had contacted Hermann Roos in the early summer of 1933, who had already supported the construction of the Walkemnühle financially. From Roos and a Swiss circle of friends the assurance of financial support came again, and based on this, Heckmann, who had traveled to Denmark during the summer vacation in 1933, applied to the Danish Ministry of Justice on July 22, 1933, to use the fulling mill as a school in Denmark with three Teachers and around 20 children.

After Nielsen, the most important preparatory work for the school's move was carried out by Minna Specht's old friend Maria Saran , who had emigrated to London at the beginning of 1933, but went to Denmark in May to clarify and promote the possibilities for the school to continue. She benefited from the fact that she mastered the Danish language herself. In agreement with Heckmann, she rented a summer house in Möllevangen near Fredriksvaerk. Minna Specht came to Denmark in August and by the time Maria Saran left in October, the two women did a lot of practical work to prepare for school operations. Minna Specht learned Danish and, when she was 54, learned to ride a bike. World icon

Liselotte Wettig, who had already worked as a teacher in the children's department at the fulling mill and has since gone to study in Vienna, was asked by Minna Specht to work in Denmark. She agreed and traveled via Zurich, where she picked up eight former Fulling Mill children and took them to Denmark. What was missing was approval from the Danish authorities. This was issued on February 10, 1934 after many personal interventions and evidence of references. The Ministry of Justice granted permission for the employment of three German teachers, two helpers and for the acceptance of around 20 students. It was expressly stated in the permit that the children could not expect a permanent residence in Denmark and that they were not allowed to take up employment after leaving school.

Charlotte Sonntag was born in 1909 and married Gustav Heckmann in 1945. At the end of 1934, she attended school with her brother. She did not have an ISK background and came to Möllevangen for educational reasons. Your memories of this visit give a good insight into the atmosphere at the school:

"A school? Eight children and three adults were seated around a table in the living room of the low house. The first thing I noticed was the older woman. Red headscarf, glasses on his nose, apparently busy knitting a stocking. Then there was a younger woman - she sewed - and a young man - he had an open book in front of him, two children were sitting close by him. He read the Odyssey aloud [...]. A short, friendly greeting followed and the invitation to sit down and listen. I liked the tense, intense, and very lively interest of the children and the noticeably friendly participation of the adults. I also noticed how closely I was being scrutinized by Minna, the knitter in the headscarf; but it didn't bother me. The cheerful, concentrated atmosphere caught me. For the first time I experienced a 'chapel'. "

Stopover in Aarslev

The children who came to Möllevangen from Switzerland with Liselotte Wettig were the youngest children of the fulling mill. The older children and Julie Pohlmann stayed in Germany for the time being. But there was not enough space in Möllevangen to allow them to follow suit. For this reason, and also because the lease for the house in Möllevangen ended in July 1934, a new location had to be found for the school. Minna Specht decided on the manor farm Östrupgaard (Håstrup Sogn) that was offered to her north of Faaborg on the island of Funen.World icon

However, a direct move to Östrupgaard in July 1934 was not possible because of the polio there. Minna Specht therefore resorted to the offer of the Busk family, who had offered her accommodation in their horticultural school in Aarslev . This interim solution lasted until October 1934 because of the persistent polio in the Östrupgaard area. In the meantime Grete Hermann had also come to Denmark and organized the repair work in Östrupgaard together with Minna Specht. In August, three more children from Paris joined the children who remained in Aarslev with Liselotte Wettig and Gustav Hermann. World icon

Oestrupgaard

The move to Östrupgaard towards the end of October 1934 was followed in December by a “Constitution of the Östrupgaard School Home” presented to the Danish authorities. It expressly stipulated the apolitical and non-party status of the school and its orientation towards the philosophical and educational principles of Leonard Nelson. Gustav Heckmann acted as the official headmaster, but was assisted by a school board who had to be consulted on important issues. The chairman of the board was Minna Specht, with other members Grete Hermann and Marie Benedicte Gregersen

Östrupgaard around 1900

In November 1934 helpers came from Germany, including Hedwig Urbann, who had been the economic manager of the fulling mill. And Charlotte Sonntag, who had visited Möllevangen in 1934, was part of the staff from May 1935. She was given responsibility for the kindergarten. As a former teacher at the fulling mill, Hans Lewinski came to Östrupgaard in 1937 as the last teacher. The group of teachers was complete with Minna Specht, Gustav Heckmann, Liselotte Wettig, Carlotte Sonntag and Hans Lewinski. In addition, there were some only temporary teachers, from 1936 to 1937 for example Martha Friedländer , and also temporarily Danish teachers, such as the teacher Karl Lund (born 1913, from 1935 to 1937 in Östrupgaard). Minna Specht did not teach regularly, however, as she often visited political friends in England and France and attended conventions.

In the summer of 1935, seven kindergarten children joined the eight children who were already there in Möllevangen and the three who joined in Aarslev. Two years later, in March 1937, the school had 27 children, including Bertolt Brecht's daughter Barbara for a year . There were two Hungarian children and at times some Danish children, but the majority of the children had German parents, many of them Jewish. Many parents were ISK supporters, some of them were active underground in Germany or had already emigrated or even in prison.

Oestrupgaard is one of the oldest Danish mansions. Its existence can be traced back to the 13th century. It was also the residence of Karen Brahe, a noblewoman and book collector, in the early 18th century. She inherited and expanded a large library, which she later donated to the noble virgin monastery in Odense, which she founded in 1701. The book collection is the only surviving aristocratic book library in Denmark from around 1700. The collection contains around 3400 titles, several of which are rare and unique.

At the time Minna Specht rented the property, it was not in a comfortable condition. The owner at the time, the architect Arne Ludvigsen, who owned the estate from 1933 to 1968, described it as an old robber's castle. For Minna Specht it must have been like in the early years in the Walkemühle: no electric light, no running water, no central heating, an “outhouse” that needs to be emptied regularly instead of a normal toilet. But the resulting Spartan-Puritan way of life was part of the school's concept: Rejection of comfort and luxury, independence from material goods. The diet was vegetarian and the products required were largely produced on the company's own premises. Even the clothing was self-made. Teachers, learners and helpers lived in a socialist collective, and of course teachers and helpers did not receive a salary either, only free board and lodging. Possibly existing private assets were paid into a "luxury fund", which was reserved for special expenses. Children and adults created the weekly plan together, which regulated who had to do which tasks (cooking, taking care of the kitchen, washing clothes).

An old pedagogical principle, which had already applied in the fulling mill, was also revived: the lessons should be based on the closest and concrete. In practice, this meant that everything interesting within a five-kilometer radius had to be explored and described. This principle was implemented differently for the different age groups. The lessons were based on the children's initiatives, their questions and problems. According to the “Socratic method”, the teacher should guide the children's conversations, but not influence them through his own knowledge and judgment; he was the organizer of a good research atmosphere. The spirit of Leonard Nelson was still present.

Time out in Copenhagen

Nielsen quotes a student who said in a newspaper interview:

“I don't mind working the ground, but I don't think you can live for that alone. I hope that we can move to the vicinity of Copenhagen later so that we can get to know city life and all that technical a little better. You have to see a lot and think a lot to be clear about what you want. "

It was similar considerations that prompted Gustav Heckmann at the end of September 1936 to move to Copenhagen with the seven oldest children, who were 12 to 13 years old. Getting to know city life and the port were defined goals. He was accompanied by Grete Hermann, and the group could live in a house right on the harbor. The port exploration and the examination of its diverse functions was actually a focus of the learning work. Another focus was the study of Albert Schweitzer , about whose work a self-written play was created and performed. They sent the money collected from the visitors to Albert Schweitzer. In addition, Danish lessons were on the curriculum, but also contacts to and events with personalities from cultural life.

In April 1937 the group returned to Östrupgaard. Before that, just before Christmas 1936, almost all of the children had diphtheria and had to spend a long time in hospital.

Farewell to Denmark

On September 1, 1937, Oestrupgaard was so badly damaged by fire that the school could no longer stay there. This resulted in a division: the younger schoolchildren and the kindergarten children moved to Falsled (also Faldsled) with Charlotte Sonntag and Liselotte Wettig , the older pupils and the rest of the adults stayed at a forester's farm in Hanneslund, half an hour away by bike. This meant greater organizational effort to maintain contact between the two institutions, and because of its location near the sea and a nearby country road, the house in Falsled required more restrictions in everyday life in order to avoid endangering the children. For the first time there was electric light, running water and a water closet. World icon

The fire and the ever increasing danger of war formed the outer framework for the decision to move from Denmark to Great Britain. According to Hansen-Schaberg, however, there are much deeper reasons for this step. In the first place, she states that during the whole time in Denmark it has not been possible to break the isolation of the school. For the Danes, it has always remained a school for German émigré children, an isolated institution in rural areas without any contact with the labor movement. Breaking this isolation was a central motive for the time out in Copenhagen outlined above, but Minna Specht remained skeptical about a fundamental change in the situation. Your concern:

“We have to avoid the danger of becoming a well-respected, progressive school in which liberal citizens ('citizens'!) Enroll their children. Access to the world should be that of the working class, or at least that of people with a radical attitude. It is not enough to become a Danish 'Odenwaldshule'. "

Against this background, a note from Birgit S. Nielsen is of interest: "For a while Minna Specht had thought of joining a Jewish school in England, where Hedwig Urbann and Martha Friedländer worked for a while." At this school, Minna Specht's longtime companions had gone, it was the Carmelcourt School in Birchington-on-Sea . Camelcourt was the country estate of Herbert Bentwich , who chose this name for his property in reference to Mount Carmel . His daughter Naomi, sister of Norman Bentwich and married Birnberg, founded a school here in 1936: “In 1936, now the mother of two young boys, she became aware of her ambition to teach and started her childhood holiday home in Birchington, near the North Kent coast, the Carmelcourt School, a vegetarian primary school. School leavers remember Naomi as an eccentric but inspiring teacher who gave eurythmy lessons barefoot in the garden or read passages from Mein Kampf to the children under an apple tree 'to better understand the enemy' . "

Minna Specht, who did not want her school to become a “Danish Odenwald School”, apparently recognized the danger of becoming an “English Odenwald School ” in association with the Camelcourt School . She decided against the stately home in Kent and in favor of the proletarian milieu in Wales , probably in the hope of being able to break through the feared isolation there sooner. Because of her diverse, international contacts, she got to know the Quaker Peter Scott and, through him, the Subsistence Production Society, a self-help project for unemployed miners. Marie Jahoda researched this cooperative as part of a follow-up study to the study she carried out together with Paul Lazarsfeld and Hans Zeisel , The Unemployed of Marienthal . Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack taught art and crafts there. In this environment, she saw the opportunity to build a progressive school within the labor movement in conjunction with her own students and the Welsh cooperative children. To explore this, Charlotte Sonntag and Gustav Heckmann traveled to Wales in July 1937 and found suitable houses for the school.

In this respect, Feidel-Mertz is right when she claims that after the fire in Östrupgaard there was no longer any serious intention to look for permanent quarters in Denmark, and refers in this connection to "contacts that have already been initiated with English Quaker friends". Nielsen mentions a visit from Peter Scott only in connection with a letter from a schoolgirl dated June 23, 1938. At that time, however, the Falsled children (the “little ones”) and their carers were already in Great Britain. Liselotte Wettig left for Wales with four children in early February 1938, followed by Charlotte Sonntag with the rest of the children in early April 1938.

For the older children who stayed behind in Hanneslund a serious problem arose in February 1938. Seven of them had turned 14 or would be in the course of the year and were no longer required to attend school. There were three alternatives that initially arose for her: leave school, return to Germany or stay in Denmark as an emigrant. Gustav Heckmann tried to buy time and argued to the authorities that schooling was not finished until Easter 1939. At the same time he pointed out the risk to the children if they had to return to Germany. The Ministry of Education approved this interim solution. But what should happen after that seems to have been unclear even on the part of the school. Nielsen reports on a letter from Heckmann to Willi Eichler dated October 4, 1938, in which, in view of the political situation in Europe, he also considered moving to the USA. But just a few days later, at the beginning of November 1938, Gustav Heckmann, Minna Specht, Hans Lewinski and Hedwig Urbann left Denmark with eleven children for Wales. The journey took place on bicycles through Funen and Jutland to Esbjerg and from Harwich via London, from where it went on to Wales.

New beginning and end in Great Britain

Cwmavon is a mining town in south Wales. Here the Quakers had initiated a self-help project for unemployed miners, which Minna Specht had chosen as a suitable political and educational environment for the continuation of school. World icon

View of Cwmavon

The school was also located in two locations in Wales. On their trip in July 1937, Charlotte Sonntag and Gustav Heckmann found a house for the smaller children in Llanfoist near Abergavenny . "The White House" in Cwmavon had been rented for the older students who, according to Minna Specht's ideas, should come into contact with the cooperative children. The pupils published the magazine “Our friends” and by Easter 1939 some of them had finished school. Some began vocational training, but were able to stay in "The White House". Minna Specht reflects on this incision:World icon

“In exile, the children had to realize that we did not have the means to give them proper professional training and, more importantly, we had to help them train to be a carpenter, cook, farm worker, or factory worker understand what they were simultaneously doing for their own development. On the other hand, they also had to understand that devotion to intellectual work and respect for it are not just a matter for the school, but are general tasks that must be continued in the future. "

Ten older children were then still in school and were tutored by Minna Specht and Gustav Heckmann. In Llanfoist at the same time (April 1939) 14 children between the ages of five and nine were cared for by Charlotte Sonntag and Liselotte Wettig. But then the Quaker project was stopped for financial reasons, which shattered Minna Specht's hopes of integrating the school more closely into the miners' social life. However, their development had not previously gone as hoped: as in Denmark, in Wales there was also little willingness on the part of local parents to send their children to an emigrant school, and the relationship between German children and the few English children was also there not been tension-free. The school continued to run after the Quaker project ended, but Minna Specht and the other staff that Martha Friedländer had joined were already developing the plan to found an "International School". The school was to be located at Butcombe Court , near Bristol . April 1940 the move took place there. According to Feidel-Mertz, Butcombe Court was a friendly place, ideally located for a country school, and well equipped. The children supported the decision to move. World icon

The end came surprisingly quickly. After Minna Specht had already been interrogated in November 1939 after the German invasion of France, she was interned on the Isle of Man together with other German teachers as enemy aliens shortly after moving to Butcombe Court . The children were placed with Quaker families, socialist friends and also in homes. The history of the Walkemühle Landerziehungsheim came to an end. Butcombe Court was placed at the disposal of the Quakers by Minna Specht in 1945 on behalf of the foundation responsible for the school, who placed Jewish and half-Jewish children from Theresienstadt here .

Butcomb Court today

literature

  • Hildegard Feidel-Mertz (Hrsg.): Schools in exile. Repressed pedagogy after 1933 . rororo, Reinbek, 1983, ISBN 3-499-17789-7
  • Hildegard Feidel-Mertz : Education in exile after 1933. Education for survival. Pictures at an exhibition . dipa publishing house, Frankfurt am Main, 1990, ISBN 3-7638-0520-6
  • Rudolf Giesselmann: Stories from the Walkemühle , Zwiebel-Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-9805120-1-0 . The book can be viewed and downloaded from: Stories from the Fulling Mill
  • Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for self-confidence. A socialist school experiment in exile in Denmark 1933-1938 . Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal, 1985, ISBN 3-87294-265-4
  • Birgit S. Nielsen: A socialist experimental school in exile. Minna Specht and Gustav Heckmann , in: Willy Dähnhardt ; Birgit S. Nielsen (Ed.): Exile in Denmark: German-speaking scientists, artists and writers in Danish exile after 1933 , Heide: Westholsteinische Verlagsanstalt Boyens, 1993 ISBN 3-8042-0569-0 , pp. 265–286
  • Inge Hansen-Schaberg : Minna Specht. A socialist in the rural education movement (1918-1951) . Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, ISBN 3-631-44250-5
  • Jürgen Ziechmann: Theory and practice of education with Leonard Nelson and his association. Julius Klinkhardt Publishing House, Bad Heilbrunn, 1970

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The following founding history of the fulling mill is largely based on chapter 5 The Beginning of the book by Rudolf Giesselmann: Stories from the Fulling Mill .
  2. ↑ a b c On the history of the IJB ( Memento from January 31, 2016 in the web archive archive.today )
  3. ↑ These funds came on the one hand from Hermann Roos (1864–1939), a businessman who was born in Frankfurt am Main and was successful in England. He was related to a friend of Leonard Nelson's and in this way came into contact with his philosophy. Further funds came from the soap manufacturer Max Wolf, the owner of the Dreiturm company, expropriated in 1934 . Max Wolf's sister-in-law was a member of the IJB. see. on this: Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , pp. 28, 163, 189
  4. ↑ Julie Pohlmann was one of the founding members of the IJB in 1917, along with Nelson and Specht. On the history of the IJB ( Memento from January 31, 2016 in the web archive archive.today )
  5. ↑ Rudolf Giesselmann: Stories from the Fulling Mill , Chapter 5: The beginning
  6. ↑ The Philosophical-Political Academy was re-established in 1949 as a non-profit organization. To this day, she regularly organizes political conferences and seminars on Socratic Discussion and philosophy didactics. Homepage of the Philosophical-Political Academy
  7. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 28
  8. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 30
  9. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 30. The Socratic method of Giesselmann is presented in detail in Section 9: Rudolf Giesselmann: Stories from the Fulling Mill
  10. ↑ Section 8 in: Rudolf Giesselmann: Stories from the Fulling Mill is quite informative about how the students approached their training
  11. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 29
  12. ↑ Lieselotte Wettig, born in 1907, later also worked at the subsequent schools in Denmark and Great Britain and, after the Second World War, as an educator for children with behavioral disorders in Hamburg. Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 191
  13. ↑ Julie Pohlmann (1886–1959), founding member of the IJB, had already come to the fulling mill under Ludwig Wunder
  14. ↑ Hans Lewinski (1911–1953) later also worked at the subsequent schools in Denmark and Great Britain. He was the half-brother of Erich Lewinski , whose son Tom also attended the two schools in Denmark and Great Britain. Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self -Confidence , p. 187. According to Inge Hansen-Schaberg , Lewinski continued to work there as a school after the closure of Butcombe Court and looked after children who had survived concentration camps. (Inge Hansen-Schaberg: Reform pedagogues in English exile ), in: Yearbook of the Research Center for German & Austrian Exile Studies , 2017, Vol. 18, p114–127
  15. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 32
  16. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 32
  17. ↑ Gustav Heckmann, quoted from Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 34
  18. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 37
  19. ↑ Minna Specht, quoted from Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self- Confidence, pp. 37–38
  20. ^ Rudolf Giesselmann: Stories from the Fulling Mill , in particular sections 10 to 19.
  21. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 40
  22. ↑ Gustav Heckmann, quoted from Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 43
  23. ↑ The closure of the fulling mill is described in detail and documented by Rudolf Giesselmann: Tales of the Fulling Mill , Section 20 (The End)
  24. ↑ The fact that Graupe was a communist is more likely due to an attribution by the National Socialists than to reality. Graupe was the author of the book “Necessity Superstition or Class Struggle?” Published in Stuttgart in 1927, in which he speaks out against the Marxist determinism of the necessary collapse of capitalism. That speaks more for a closeness to the thoughts of Eduard Bernstein than to communist doctrine. Compare: Stefan Wannenwetsch: Unorthodox Socialists: On the socialism conceptions of the group around Otto Straßer and the International Socialist Combat League in the Weimar Republic . Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-61374-0 , p. 55
  25. ↑ Rudolf Giesselmann: Stories from the Walkemühle , Section 21. The history of the graves is also documented on the website The Graves of the Nelson Family ( Memento from February 1, 2016 in the web archive archive.today )
  26. ↑ www.landerziehungsheim-walkemuehle.de
  27. ↑ The SAH was founded in 1936 by the Swiss Confederation of Trade Unions and the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland to support needy working-class families and their children at home and abroad. On the history of the SAH: The history of the Swiss workers' relief organization
  28. ↑ On this post-war story: The reconstruction of the fulling mill after 1945
  29. ↑ Minna Specht, quoted from: Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 45
  30. ↑ Heckmann suspects that this is based on ideas of a simple life that can be realized there with cheap living costs. Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for self-confidence , p. 45
  31. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 46
  32. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for self-confidence , p. 46f.
  33. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 55.
  34. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 57. The 'chapel' was an educational event already practiced in the old fulling mill: “The evenings in the chapel should be a contrast to the rest of the day, where you were given tasks, a contrast to the rational teaching and the strictness of the duties imposed: enjoyment of art - celebration - collection. ”Your processes are described in detail in Rudolf Giesselmann: Stories from the Walkemühle , Section 12.
  35. ↑ The article by CL Herzenberg provides information about her very diverse scientific qualifications, especially in quantum physics: Grete Hermann: An early contributor to quantum theory . Further literature by Grete Hermann can be found in WorldCat .
  36. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 67
  37. ↑ Many of the documents quoted by Nielsen indicate that “Schulheim Östrupgaard” was the official name of the school in Denmark.
  38. ^ Marie Benedicte Gregersen (1902–1960) was a well-known Danish kindergarten teacher. She is co-author of the book “A Child Psychosis: Its Course and Treatment”, published in 1944. A longer entry in Danish is dedicated to her in “Dansk kvindebiografisk leksikon”: Marie Benedicte Gregersen
  39. ↑ In the fulling mill it was customary to speak of three groups, the learners, the teachers and the helpers. This distinction was purely functional.
  40. ↑ Biography Martha Friedlaender . Martha Friedländer later worked on the German Educational Reconstruction Committee (GER) founded by Minna Specht in England .
  41. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 76
  42. ↑ Inventory history of the Karen Brahe Library
  43. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 78
  44. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for self-confidence , pp. 78–79
  45. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 110
  46. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for self-confidence , pp. 111–114
  47. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 115
  48. ^ Neither Nielsen nor Hildegard Feidel-Mertz, Schools in Exile. The Displaced Pedagogy after 1933 , pp. 89–90, provide conclusive information about what ultimately led to the decision to move from Denmark to Great Britain. On the subject of relocation, Nielsen has - in complete contrast to her normal way of working - neither documents nor references to minutes of meetings in which this would have been discussed.
  49. ↑ Minna Specht quoted from: Inge Hansen-Schaberg: Minna Specht. A socialist in the rural education movement. S. 87. The irony of the quote arises from the fact that Minna Specht became head of the Odenwald School in 1946. However, she also worked there to broaden the social base of the school and, what she was unable to do, to get union support. On this: Inge Hansen-Schaberg, pp. 109–129
  50. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 131. The reference that Martha Friedländer went to the Carmelcourt School can be found in Feidel-Mertz: Hildegard Feidel-Mertz (ed.): Schools in Exil , p. 237 (biography Martha Friedländer)
  51. ↑ Ariadne Birnberg: Most Beautiful Maynard , available at academia.edu. Ariadne Birnberg is the granddaughter of Naomi Birnberg. The original quote reads: “In 1936, by now a mother of two young boys, she realized her ambition to teach, and founded Carmelcourt School, a vegetarian primary school, in her childhood holiday home in Birchington, on the North Kent coast. Alumni from the school recall Naomi as an eccentric but inspiring teacher, taking Eurythmics classes barefoot in the garden, or reading to the children, under an apple tree, passages from Mein Kampf 'to better understand the enemy'. "
    Michael Trede ,     derself attended Bunce Court School , recalls in his memoirs that his mother found a job as a cook in Camelcourt about a year after Martha Friedländer . “She kept herself afloat for two months with all kinds of housework - as a cleaning lady and cook. [...] Then she got a recommendation to a small Jewish preschool called "Carmel Court" in Birchington-on-Sea. This small seaside resort is located 100 km east of London on the north coast of County Kent. The boarding school for five to 12 year olds was run by Mrs. Naomi Birmberg, who studied Moral Sciences at Cambridge. Together with her brother, the influential Sir Norman Bentwich, she volunteered in several refugee organizations and traveled a lot.
    My mother was hired as cook for the community of 24 people - and apparently did her job - with vegetarian food - quite well, judging by the testimonials that Mrs. Birmberg wrote for her. ”(Michael Trede: Derreturner . Sketchbook one Surgeons. Ecomed, Landsberg 2001, 3rd edition 2003, ISBN 3-609-16172-8 , p. 68. The text can also be viewed on the Internet: The returnees on Google Books ) Michael Trede, however, misrepresents Naomi's last name : Her name was not Birmberg, but Birnberg and died in September 1988 at the age of 97.
    Carmel Court should not be confused with Carmel College , which was founded in 1948 and where Martha Friedländer's Caputher headmaster Fridolin Friedmann found employment after the Bunce Court School ended .
  52. ↑ About Marie Jahoda ( Memento from March 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  53. ^ Inge Hansen-Schaberg: Minna Specht. A socialist in the rural education movement. P. 89
  54. ↑ Hildegard Feidel-Mertz, Schools in Exile. The Repressed Pedagogy after 1933 , pp. 89–90
  55. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 115
  56. ↑ Birgit S. Nielsen: Education for Self-Confidence , p. 123
  57. ↑ Compare the previous section "Farewell to Denmark"
  58. ↑ Minna Specht quoted from: Inge Hansen-Schaberg: Minna Specht. A socialist in the rural education movement. P. 91
  59. ↑ Minna Specht quoted from: Inge Hansen-Schaberg: Minna Specht. A socialist in the rural education movement. P. 92
  60. ↑ Hildegard Feidel-Mertz (Ed.): Schools in Exile , p. 89
  61. ↑ Hildegard Feidel-Mertz (Ed.): Schools in Exile , p. 90