August Rackow

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August Rackow (born September 17, 1842 in Boossen near Frankfurt / Oder; † March 13, 1925 in Berlin ) was the founder of the Rackow Schools and is considered one of the founders of adult education .

Life

August Rackow took part in the Prussian Wars of 1864 and 1866 at the age of 22/24 and was seriously wounded in 1866. He became a calligrapher and learned and taught calligraphy . He married twice: 1. 1869 in Berlin Anna Meistring (1845–1879), 2. Valeska (Valesca) Breitkopf (1857–1937). He had six children.

Foundation of the Rackow Schools

In 1867 Rackow opened the "Academy for Calligraphy and Commercial Science". Here he offered class lessons for adults in numerous commercial subjects.

Between 1890 and 1911 a total of 13 Rackow schools were founded by his sons and daughters as his successor, three of them in Berlin, two in Dresden and one each in Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Bremen, Cologne (here: Rohloff School, Founded in 1895 by Margarete Rackow and her husband Albert Rohloff), Leipzig, Magdeburg and Stettin. The Rackow School was the largest private school in Germany for several decades.

As early as 1871, and continued during and after the First and Second World War, the schools offered free lessons for war invalids with the aim of reintegrating them into working life (left-hand typing, typing for one-armed people, etc.).

From 1906 to around 1943 its own publishing house (Lehrmittelverlag von Rackows Handelsakademien, Berlin) published teaching aids for schools (Rackow's guidelines for bookkeeping, commercial correspondence, commercial arithmetic, etc.)

During the Nazi era , the family lost their own school on Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin. Schools can be kept going in most locations with the help of the teachers and the wives of the headmasters. In 1943/44 almost all Rackow schools were closed due to the destruction of their classrooms and their equipment.

In Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin and Dresden, the schools continued under the most difficult conditions shortly after the end of the war, from 1946 - now mostly by August Rackow's generation of grandchildren. Werner Rakow not only rebuilds the school operations in Berlin, but also founded Rackow schools in Frankfurt am Main together with his wife Hilde in the 1950s. M. and Wetzlar.

The school is still the oldest private business school in Germany that still exists today.

The Rackow Schools today

The Rackow schools have been run by the board of directors and managing directors Dennis Rabensdorf and Tim Balzer since 2004. Today around 750 substitute students and 50 retrainers are taught by 120 lecturers and teachers at the two still existing locations in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main.

The Rackow schools offer a wide range of options at both locations. Depending on the degree, the students can continue their school career here and choose between different focuses such as social affairs, health, economics and design. The Rackow schools form a portfolio similar to that of the state upper school centers or secondary schools with a focus on professional components. Qualifications can range from the middle school leaving certificate to the general technical college entrance qualification to the general university entrance qualification.

In addition, the range of school-based training offers a sensible combination of school and professional qualifications. In the area of ​​adult education, participants can retrain to become tax clerks.

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  • Federal Archives Berlin: Archival file R 4901/10225
  • Landesarchiv Berlin: Archives A Rep. 342-02-2675, B. Rep. 042 - 33648, A Pr. Rep. 030 - 1717

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rackow, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German founder of the Rackow School
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH Boossen , Frankfurt (Oder)
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1925
Place of death Berlin