Maria Magdalenen High School

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The Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium (official name: Gymnasium zu St. Maria Magdalena ) in Breslau was one of the most traditional German-speaking high schools until the school was closed in 1945 . It was founded as a Latin school in 1267 . In 1946 a Polish liceum was opened at the same location . The "Magdalenäum" was known far beyond the borders of Silesia and had important teachers and students for many generations.

history

Founded as a Latin school in 1267

Charter of foundation in 1267 by Cardinal Guido
Seal of incorporation

In 1242, Breslau was re-established under Magdeburg city law , after the city had previously suffered severely from the Mongol storm in 1241. It took 25 years for the citizens of Wrocław to have their own Latin school, the founding charter dates back to February 12, 1267. At the request of the council and citizens of Wrocław, the creation of the school at the church of St. Maria Magdalena (around 1230 as a parish church founded) by the papal cardinal legate Guido: infra muros civitatis Vratislaviensis juxta ecclesiam sancte Maria Magdalene scole fiant ... (German: You can build a school within the Wroclaw city walls next to the church of St. Maria Magdalena ... ). The importance of this school also increased with the growth of the city's population. A second Latin school was founded at St. Elisabeth's Church as early as 1293 .

From the middle of the 15th century, humanism gained ground in the schools in Wroclaw. Reading classical authors took the place of the scholastic grammar business. The Reformation was added in the 16th century . The councilors of Breslau arbitrarily elected Johann Hess as pastor at the Magdalenenkirche. It was to him that Breslau owes the moderate process in the conflict between the two religious directions. Hess, who was in close contact with Melanchthon , was also the "reshaper" of the school system at the Maria Magdalena school. Ambrosius Moibanus became the new schoolmaster . His influence on the design of lessons was evident in all areas. From his new school regulations of 1528 it is also evident that from now on the council of the city of Wroclaw elected the rector and the teachers of the school. The Latin language continued to be the focus of the lessons. Primary and secondary school students were only allowed to speak Latin in school.

Martin Helwig: First map of Silesia (1561), excerpt

In 1552, Moibanus' successor was Martin Helwig , who came from Neisse . He was not only distinguished by a thorough knowledge of ancient languages ​​and mathematics . Helwig also published the first map of Silesia in 1561, which the Silesian historian Christian Runge called "the mother of all other Silesian Land Charts" in 1738. Petrus Vincentius wrote the new school regulations of 1570 in German by order of the city council. Contemporaries called them the best of the 16th century.

Johannes von Höckelshoven , who was rector of the Magdalen School from 1598, was particularly famous for his skills . And it was probably because of him that Martin Opitz was sent to Breslau by his parents in 1614. Under the direction of the rector Jeremias Poll (1617–1621) the good reputation of the school reached far beyond Breslau. The number of students grew to almost 800. In 1625 the school had to be closed for six months due to the plague and in 1633 for an even longer period. In 1637 Heinrich Klose took over the management of the school.

Elevated to high school in 1643

Under Klose, the school was opened in April 1643 with the approval of Emperor Ferdinand III. raised to high school. Heinrich Klose remained its director for another eight years. The number of students from 840 in 1643 increased steadily. There were public speaking exercises on topics of Christianity , antiquity and also the city's own history. The desire for dramatic representation grew in society. Corresponding public performances therefore became an important part of school operations. The heroes of the dramas performed by the Magdalenen High School belonged to world history. In a printed program the pupils and their names were also given. Johann Christian Hallmann and Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein were students at Magdalenen-Gymnasium.

... in the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium there was a famous baroque school theater, which was always in noble competition with the stage of the Elisabethgymnasium. Here the pieces by the Breslau baroque playwright Johann Christian Hallmann and some Lohenstein dramas were premiered. Lohenstein and Hallmann, who also distinguished themselves as actors, wrote many of their martyr and tyrant plays directly for the Breslau school theater. With elaborate stage technology and numerous musical interludes, Hallmann tried to realize the baroque ideal of the total work of art through his effective dramas.

From 1686 to 1706 Christian Gryphius , son of the baroque poet Andreas Gryphius , headed the grammar school. The philosopher Christian Wolff was a student of his time from 1688 to 1699 , whose biography says: Among my praeceptoribus (teachers) I owe the most thanks to Mr. Pohl ... and further: I also have something special to thank Gryphius ... and : Mr. Pohl and the inspector Mr. Kaspar Neumann made me want more and more the philosophy of Cartesius and mathematics and algebra .

Christian Stieff was a special pupil of Christian Gryphius. He came from Liegnitz , where his father was a master baker. In 1706 Christian Stieff returned to the Magdalenengymnasium as a teacher after studying in Leipzig , where he became rector in 1717 (until 1734). He conducted prehistoric studies, founded a prehistoric and scientific collection in Wroclaw and had contact with many scholars at home and abroad. The Berlin Academy appointed him a foreign member.

The Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium built in 1710 after Friedrich Bernhard Werner
Medal for the new building of the MMG 1710, obverse
Medal for the new building of the MMG 1710, back

For many years the rectors had advertised a new school building for the grammar school in the city. In 1710 it was available on the south side of the Magdalenenkirche. Even after the new curriculum adopted by the City Council in 1736, the use of the German language in the upper classes was only permitted if it was necessary for communication. In 1766 new currents and requirements were taken into account: In an affiliated secondary school , among other things, four living foreign languages, practical mathematics, geography and even agriculture and accounting were offered "in addition to the pure German language" . You could also learn glass cutting, dancing and fencing. A boarding school for foreign students was also attached. Friedrich von Gentz attended school at this time. After an initial upswing due to the innovations, there was soon disagreement among the teachers over responsibilities due to widespread lack of discipline among the students.

School development in the 19th century

In 1790 Johann Kaspar Friedrich Manso (1760–1826) from Gotha was appointed prorector at the Magdalenengymnasium. He found the school in a desolate state. In 1793 he became rector of the grammar school and directed its fortunes for 33 years - until his death. As a recognized historian , as a literary historian, translator and critical spirit of his contemporary literature ( Xenienkampf with Goethe and Schiller ) Manso enjoyed a high reputation among scholars, especially in Breslau. The influence on his disciples who adored him was significant. Mention should be made here of the philologist and secretary of Goethe Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer , the writer Karl von Holtei , the physiologist Gabriel Gustav Valentin , the painter and writer August Kopisch and the theologian August Tholuck . Manso's lessons could be compared to lectures at the university: His lessons in the field of German literary history, rhetoric and aesthetics were particularly famous to such an extent that many students at the university, which was founded here since 1806, were given permission to take part in these lessons affected. These visiting students also included the brothers Joseph and Wilhelm von Eichendorff .

St. Maria Magdalenen
painting by A. Woelfl,
the grammar school on the left in 1867

One of Manso's successors is Karl Schönborn (1803–1869), who took over the school management at the age of 31 in 1834. The 200th anniversary of the grammar school fell during his 35-year term in office. Schönborn gained the trust of his parents and the affection of his students. He also enjoyed a great reputation in public. Its success and its popularity led to an increasing number of students. In 1866 the grammar school had 1063 students in 21 classes and 33 teachers. Because the poor lighting conditions in the classrooms required this, a new school building was built next to the Maria Magdalenen Church according to plans by the City Planning Officer Carl Johann Christian Zimmermann , which could be moved into in 1869.

Among Schönborn's students were the legal scholar Oskar von Bülow , the bacteriologist Ferdinand Cohn , the founder of the immunologist Paul Ehrlich , the mathematician , physicist and astronomer Wilhelm Foerster , the mineralogist and crystallographer Carl Hintze , the mathematician Ludwig Kiepert , the admiral Curt von Prittwitz and Gaffron . Cohn, who later became an internationally recognized bacteriologist , wrote a poem at the end of his school days in which it says:

“You, my teachers, who, with noble kindness, offered
me sanctuaries
and nourishment for knowledge ,
let it germinate you into joy, into glory,
every seed that you
scatter and sprout abundantly and blossom into flowers,
rewarding labor that you dedicated to him. "

- Ferdinand Cohn

Wilhelm Foerster wrote in his “Memoirs and Hope in Life” in 1911: The soul of those high school days in Breslau was the director Schönborn together with some excellent teachers of languages ​​and mathematics. The students of the upper classes were instructed and educated with constant seriousness, but any disciplinary necessity of mutual humiliation was happily avoided.

Under the directors Otto Heine (1869-1883) and Adolf Möller (1883-1906) the high school days of the economist Eberhard Gothein , the dermatologist Albert Neisser , the neurologist Otfrid Foerster , the actor Friedrich Kayssler , the pharmacologist Oscar Troplowitz , the physicist Georg Graf fell by Arco , the politician Georg Snay and the poet Christian Morgenstern . Gothein said about Rector Heine: It's not a little what he gave me at the time ...

Rector Manso's proposal to limit the number of students per class to a maximum of thirty had already been rejected by the ministry. Now the classes in the new building were already overcrowded. That was alleviated by the opening of the Johannesgymnasium in 1872. The Magdalenengymnasium dropped almost 300 students, but in 1875 it had over 800 again. Until 1910, the number of students remained at a considerable level. The 1912 annual report, however, only recorded 433 students. It wasn't up to the teachers or the school management, it was the reorientation of the school system and the learners. In 1912 there were already two secondary schools in Breslau, one upper secondary school and three secondary schools, which were planned to be expanded into a full establishment. An attempt by the director Maximilian Consbruch to adapt the Magdalenengymnasium to this trend was rejected by the ministry in February 1914. The successor, Friedrich Staats , therefore did not take on an easy position in 1915. He was the principal who ran the school during World War I and the difficult post-war and inflationary period . He retired in 1926.

Moving and the time until the end of the war

The new building of the grammar school from 1929
The new building of the grammar school from 1929
Sports jersey patch from MMG in the 1930s

The school was still housed in the building built in 1869 next to the Magdalenenkirche. But there have been plans for a spacious new building in a green residential area of ​​Wroclaw for a long time. The headmaster Konrad Linder , who had been in office since 1926 and had been a teacher at the St. Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium from 1910 to 1924, succeeded against considerable resistance in building this modern school. The move took place in September 1929. The new MMG - the abbreviation used by the last generation of schoolchildren for their “ penne ” - was so generous, progressive and functional that words of praise could still be heard 75 years after the building was opened - now from Poland.

The linguist Peter Gaeffke , the physician and university professor Hans-Georg Boenninghaus , the Catholic theologian Peter Lengsfeld and the set designer Christof Heyduck still benefited from this as students before 1945.

During Linder's school management, a new country home was built in the Giant Mountains (in Hartenberg) in 1928 , in which each class spent around two weeks a year. The former teacher Karl Kolde reported: “In 1932 there was a lively educational life at MMG, from which especially the pupils who were willing to educate drew some profits. In terms of political views, the college "(meaning the permanently employed teachers)" offered a fairly uniform picture. Extreme political convictions were not represented. "

According to Kolde , humanistic and Christian values ​​were better preserved than in other schools up to 1945: “[...] the Magdalenen-Gymnasium had its original mission as a Protestant and humanistic ideal of education during the time of National Socialism in Germany Wilhelm von Humboldt's high school can obviously serve better and more effectively than some other higher schools in Germany. "

The historian Fritz Stern attended the von der Sexta school in 1936 until he emigrated in 1938. Stern, who was baptized as a Protestant Jew, reports in his memoirs of some overly "conformist" teachers and those of "impeccable correctness"; Anti-Semitic remarks by a math teacher remained unpleasant in his memory. Occasionally, Stern was the target of verbal and physical attacks from classmates, many of whom were "visibly delighted" when he was the last Jew to leave school in 1938. Headmaster Linder assured him as he left: "I hope you know that I have always tried to make your life here as good as possible". Stern's answer: "No, I didn't notice that." 

The former student and later Prior of the monastery Metten , Adalbert Seipolt , reports that compared to the then applicable provisions of the influence of the Hitler Youth remained low. Under Konrad Linder , who himself was a member of the NSDAP , until 1944 both Protestant and Catholic religious instruction were still given in the respective classrooms - i.e. not externally. This was a notable exception in Wroclaw.

Michael Graf von Matuschka registered his two sons, who were previously at the former Catholic Matthias Gymnasium , at the Maria Magdalenen Gymnasium in 1944. In the same year he was executed as an opponent of the Nazi regime . One of the sons, Mario Graf von Matuschka, remembers “that Linder, who knew everything about us, was very kind to us; and so my mother was reassured to know that we were there. "

The city of Wroclaw was at the end of the Second World War for Fortress Breslau was declared. On January 22nd, 1945, the "unfit for military service" had to leave the city and the school was closed. Most of the teachers still working in school and the students aged 16 and over had to report to the Volkssturm . A medical center and a military hospital for the air raid police have been set up in the school rooms of the Maria Magdalenen grammar school .

In 1957, the Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium in Frankfurt am Main took over the sponsorship of the Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau. And in 1967 the Frankfurt sponsorship school organized a celebration for the former Magdalena students and teachers on the occasion of the foundation of the St. Maria Magdalena high school in Breslau 700 years ago , for which a commemorative publication was published.

The Magdalenaeum helped shape the intellectual life of Wroclaw and Silesia. Many rectors and teachers were recognized as scholars and had a lasting effect as such. Numerous prominent personalities have emerged from the school: scientists from all faculties , educators, entrepreneurs and public figures. Few schools could look back on such a long and memorable historical past as the St. Maria Magdalena grammar school in Breslau . With a few exceptions, it remained true to its Christian and humanist roots for over 650 years.

Since 1946 Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Piastów Śląskich

The new building of the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium was largely spared from the destruction that the city suffered in the battle for Breslau in spring 1945. After the occupation of the city by the People's Republic of Poland in 1945, the subsequent expulsion of its residents and the resettlement by Poland , the II. Liceum Ogólnokształcące is located in the building . Piastów Śląskich , named after the Silesian Piasts . Until 1990 this school was subject to the instructions of the socialist state. Humanistic values ​​were not on the program at this time. The main subjects of instruction, which still exist today, were sports, technology and natural sciences. Wanda Rutkiewicz was a graduate of this Polish liceum . A memorial stone on the school grounds commemorates the well-known mountaineer and electrical engineer.

The school building, built in 1869, was destroyed in 1945 and its ruins torn down. It was not until 1998 that the property was rebuilt with the modern Howell trading house .

Well-known students and teachers

See main article: List of Eminent Students and Teachers of the Magdalene Wroclaw

literature

  • You respectfully invite the students to the public examination of the local high school in St. Maria-Magdalena, which ... is to be held in the examination hall . Breslau ( digitized version ).
  • To celebrate the birth celebration of His Majesty the Emperor and King and the associated release of high school graduates ... as well as to the public examination of the students of the local high school to St. Mary Magdalene ... invites ... a . Breslau ( digitized version ).
  • To the pre-celebration of the birth festival of His Majesty the Emperor and King on ... and the related dismissal of the high school graduates as well as to the public examination of the students of the local high school in St. Maria-Magdalena ... respectfully invite you . Breslau ( digitized version ).
  • Annual report of the municipal high school in St. Maria-Magdalena . Breslau ( digitized version ).
  • O. Eitner (ed.): The St. Maria-Magdalena high school in Breslau , Bad Honnef 2003.
  • Festschrift for the 250th anniversary celebration d. St. Maria Magdalena High School in Breslau , Breslau 1893.
  • Commemorative letter on the occasion of the establishment of St. Maria Magdalena high school in Breslau 700 years ago , Frankfurt 1967.
  • EF Glockner: Speech in memory of Dr. Joh. Caspar Friedrich Mansos, former rector and first professor at the Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau. .. together with an appendix of two poems and a chronological index d. Manso's writings, Breslau 1826.
  • Annual reports of the Gymnasium zu St. Maria Magdalena Breslau, later the municipal ev. Gymnasium zu St. Maria Magdalena in Breslau from 1865, 1868, 1869, 1873, 1876, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1895, 1908, 1910, Breslau.
  • Letter from Oberstudienirektor Konrad Linder to his Magdalenäer in 1947 ( memento from February 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) in the North East German Archive at the Institute North East German Cultural Work, Lüneburg Inventory No. As 96/1, call number P0 / 988.
  • Magdalenäum, monthly magazine fd Schüler d. High school in St. Maria Magdalena, Breslau, 1st 1931/32 - 5th 1936/37.
  • C. Schönborn: Contributions to history d. School and grammar school of St. Maria Magdalena in Breslau , I.–IV., Breslau 1844–1848.
  • Adolf Laminski: Collectanea M. Henrici Closii: a Silesian private library of the 17th century in Berlin. In: Yearbook for Silesian Church History. Volume 72, 1993, pp. 8-24.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adolf Schimmelpfennig:  Vincentius, Petrus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 39, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1895, p. 735 f.
  2. Höckelshoven, Johannes von. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 13, Leipzig 1735, column 351 f. (1739)
  3. ^ Lu:  Klose, Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 226.
  4. ^ Roswitha Schieb: literary travel guide Breslau. Seven city walks . Potsdam 2004, ISBN 3-936168-08-3
  5. H. Wuttke, ed., Christian Wolff's own biography , Leipzig 1841
  6. ^ Hermann Markgraf:  Stieff, Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 36, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 174-176.
  7. ^ Colmar Grünhagen:  Manso, Johann Kaspar Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, pp. 246-248.
  8. Eichendorff, Joseph, Freiherr von . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 5, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 358.
  9. ^ Hermann Markgraf:  Schönborn, Karl Gottlob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 32, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, p. 281 f.
  10. Daria Dorota Pikulska, Carl Johann Christian Zimmermann , Breslau 2005, ISBN 83-89262-21-5 , pp. 21, 57-60
  11. Sheets of Remembrance , compiled by Cohn's wife, Breslau 1901
  12. ^ Maria-Luise Gothein: Eberhard Gothein, A picture of life, retold to his letters , Stuttgart 1931
  13. Report from 1985
  14. O. Eitner (ed.): The St. Maria Magdalena high school in Breslau , Bad Honnef 2003
  15. ^ Fritz Richard Stern: Five Germany and one life: memories . Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55811-5 , p. 151f, quotation p. 163
  16. ^ Adalbert Seipolt: Years in the headwind. My childhood and youth in the Third Reich , Würzburg 2003, ISBN 3-429-02547-8
  17. Horst Gleiss: Breslauer Apocalypse 1945 , Wedel 1987
  18. Commemorative publication on the occasion of the foundation of the St. Maria Magdalena grammar school in Breslau 700 years ago, Frankfurt 1967

Coordinates: 51 ° 6 ′ 43 ″  N , 17 ° 4 ′ 20 ″  E

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on January 12, 2007 in this version .