Robert Alt

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Robert Alt (born September 4, 1905 in Breslau ; † December 13, 1978 in East Berlin ) was a German educational scientist and university teacher in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The national prize winner of the GDR was from 1954 to 1958 a member of the Central Committee (ZK) of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) .

Life

Beginnings

Robert Alt was born in 1905 as the son of the Jewish room painter Heinrich Alt and his wife Bianca Alt, b. Kaelter, born the third of four children. Older were the sister called "Mieze", later mentioned as Mary Zwerdling, and brother Felix, younger sister Friedel or Frieda. After attending elementary school and secondary school from 1911 to 1924, he was supposed to take up a commercial apprenticeship, instead he began studying at the University of Breslau in 1924 . The financing included a. the management of workers' choirs and the journalistic participation in the Breslau SPD newspaper Volkswacht . Alt later moved to Berlin and in 1927 to the Pedagogical Academy in Frankfurt am Main , where he passed the first elementary school teacher examination in 1929. His subjects were sociology , philosophy and science . The young socialist joined the SPD in 1924 and was a member of the socialist student body from 1927 to 1929 .

From 1929 Robert Alt worked as a teacher at the elementary school in Berlin-Neukölln , which was merged with the reform-oriented Karl-Marx-Schule at this time , and from 1932 also at the elementary school of the Jewish community in Berlin . In addition, he was involved in a school of workers' welfare . In 1933 he converted to the KPD and passed the second teacher examination. After the transfer of power to the National Socialists , he was dismissed from school service for “racial reasons” because of the law to restore the civil service of April 7, 1933. For a few months afterwards he worked, like his sister Friedel, who later emigrated to the USA, as a teacher in the Jewish children's and rural school home in Caputh and subsequently at other Jewish schools in Berlin. He had to break off his doctoral studies in sociology and ethnology at the Berlin University. He completed his dissertation on industrial schools in 1937, but was no longer allowed to submit it.

Persecution and deportation

Felix Alt was briefly imprisoned in the concentration camp in the course of the November pogroms in 1938 and was able to flee Germany with the help of an affidavit issued to Robert . He had to stay in the country because of his brotherly solidarity and was persecuted not only as a Jew but also for political reasons. Harassed at his place of residence in Berlin-Britz , he first changed the district and finally left Berlin in 1939. He ended his teaching activity at the Jüdisches Landschulheim in Caputh that same year and returned to the capital. There he taught at Jewish elementary schools from 1939 to 1941, a. a. in the Kaiserstrasse, and lectured at the kindergarten teacher seminar of the Reich Association of Jews . He also worked as a choir director and organ player for the Jewish community. At the beginning of June 1939, the Berliner met the singer and teacher Leonore Zank. The born Villinger later became his wife.

Entrance to the Poznan concentration camp in 2009

At first Robert Alt lived with his sister Friedel in Berlin-Wilmersdorf . When she emigrated to New York , and sister Mieze also managed to emigrate, he moved to Rudolstädter Strasse  87. Rose Corvan also lived there. The social worker at the Jewish community was deported in October 1942 , and his parents were deported from Breslau to the Theresienstadt concentration camp at the end of August 1942 . They died there in January and November 1943, respectively. Robert Alt himself was transported to the Litzmannstadt ghetto on November 1, 1941, and on November 7, 1941 to the Posen concentration camp . Further stations were in 1942 Wollstein camp and in 1945 Auschwitz concentration camp , Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp , the prisoner ship Cap Arcona and, after the end of the war, a camp for displaced persons for a short time

The events surrounding the deportation of Robert Alt were recorded by his partner Leonore Zank in her diaries. He was supposed to report for deportation on October 29, 1941. In the evening some of his friends got together to pack the most important things: weatherproof clothing, crockery and cutlery as well as two music books "if he can play a teacher there". As an employee of the Jewish community, Alt was used to look after the third transport to the east. So it was unusual for him to be on the next transport. The reason was a “special request from the Gestapo ” that had put him on the “list of anti-socials ”. On October 30, 1941, he found himself among 1,200 people crammed together in the Levetzowstrasse synagogue . On November 1, 1941 at 7 p.m. the train left Grunewald station .

After two weeks of uncertainty, the first sign of life arrived, a postcard with the sender “Juden-Arbeitslager 13, An den Pleichen Remu” in Poznan . The first letter from the Litzmannstadt ghetto never arrived. Letters and parcels were allowed to be sent from or to the warehouse in the capital of the Wartheland . His partner, friends, acquaintances and former students used this possibility of material and emotional help and thus helped Robert Alt to survive. Most of his luggage was lost. He described life in the camp in detail, mentioned forced labor and civil engineering work , but only marginally, e.g. B. An interruption of the mine work on December 29, 1941 because of a snow storm. At the beginning of the year he apparently did general warehouse work such as tidying up, peeling potatoes, unloading coal, washing beets and the like, and after the winter outside work again. The forced laborers were also guarded by Polish helpers.

Much of the correspondence dealt with material support. With the help of ciphers , Alt was able to convey what he needed most and how it should be sent in order not to be confiscated. He described the camp conditions in detail, complained about the camp fever at Christmas 1941 due to the crampedness of 170 people in a barrack and a total of 750 inmates, the harsh climate among the inmates, hunger, mistreatment and the spotted fever in April 1942. The exchange was emotionally important with Leonore Zank about their common interests in music and science. To cope with the situation, Robert Alt read the literature available to him, took part in music evenings, composed and wrote melancholy texts, e.g. B .:

Just be confident! Everything will turn around,
night and dark will turn to the light.
The power of the sun penetrates, fills the universe,
anew, enlivens the world with each passing day.
Even if gloomy clouds hide its shine,
it still works, rises up and shines again,
just be confident!

When no more mail from Robert Alt arrived in September 1942, Leonore Zank drove to Posen to look for him. The investigation was unsuccessful. A few days later she learned that he had been transferred to the Wollstein forced labor camp. According to his own statements, he worked there as a clerk and had good relationships with the head chef. Zank's diary entries from this time fell victim to an Allied bombing raid in late November 1943. Direct correspondence was no longer possible, only an irregular, illegal exchange via third parties. For this reason, only Alt's memories of late summer 1945 are available for his stay in Wollstein. He describes a "relatively idyllic stay in the country ... where he ... drove across the country by horse and cart to do the warehouse purchases."

Apparently on August 26, 1943, all the inmates from Wollstein were transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and Robert Alt was sent to the Fürstengrube satellite camp . From here he could only send two messages to his partner. At the beginning of January 1944 and again eight months later, he assured me that he was doing relatively well. He was only able to report what this meant after the war. While Robert Alt worked as a kitchen magician and played the harmonium in the camp orchestra in the evenings , most of the prisoners had to toil in the coal mine . The hard work in connection with malnutrition, lack of occupational safety and harassment of the guards and civil workers made this a death sentence. Made clear by the fact that relocation to Fürstengrube was considered a punitive measure.

Because of the advancing Red Army , the camp was evacuated on the evening of January 19, 1945. At −20 ° Celsius, the prisoners had to march to Gleiwitz train station and from there were taken to Mauthausen concentration camp in open coal wagons . Here the transport was rejected and therefore diverted to the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. In Alt's wagon, 120 people had to get by for twelve days without water and with two bread rations. Only half survived. The prisoners from Fürstengrube came to the “Tourmalin” satellite camp . The advance of the Allies led to its dissolution. The then 25-year-old Fürstenberg camp leader sent his prisoners on foot to Magdeburg , where they were loaded onto Elbe barges. From Lübeck we walked a few kilometers north to the home of the camp leader. Here they should work on estates.

Burning Cap Arcona on May 3, 1945.

The last survivors were driven into the bay of Neustadt in Holstein on May 1, 1945 and the majority were shipped to the prisoner ship Cap Arcona . The ship, hopelessly overloaded with over 4,500 people, drifted five kilometers off the coast, on land the British Army almost reached the city limits and had the ship attacked by airplanes on May 3, 1945. Despite the prohibition, Robert Alt reached the deck from the deepest hold before panic broke out. The central nave was already ablaze. He took off his clothes and jumped into the water with the help of a rope. Eleven castaways clung to a lifebuoy and drifted for five hours in the Baltic Sea . Germans pulled them ashore near the coast. In the meantime the British had taken Neustadt.

After the liberation

Robert Alt spent a quarter of a year in the local displaced persons camp and during this time traveled to Hamburg several times . His application for a job in the local school authority was unsuccessful. As a German, the British did not let him emigrate to the Soviet occupation zone . He finally made it illegally to Berlin in a car that brought Czechoslovaks home. He knew from the parents of his partner who lived in Hamburg that Leonore Zank regularly bought food in the allotment garden of a friend in Berlin-Nikolassee in the summer of 1945 . On August 27, 1945, Robert Alt suddenly stood in the doorway.

His recognition as a victim of fascism resulted in increased food allocation. On March 1, 1946, Leonore and Robert married. Their son was born on October 27, 1946. In 1957 they adopted a seven year old boy. Because his apartment on Rudolstädter Straße was destroyed in a bomb attack in 1943, Robert Alt lived with Leonore Zank in Olympische Straße in Berlin-Westend after the Second World War . In 1949 they moved to Kleinmachnow , in 1952 to Schöneiche near Berlin and finally in 1971 to Berlin-Biesdorf .

The KPD and from ( 1946 ) SED member played a key role in building up the school system in the Soviet Zone . A first publication appeared at the end of 1945 on the occasion of the 200th birthday of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi . In January 1946, Robert Alt became a lecturer at the Hauptschulamt in Berlin and professor at the University of Education in Berlin , but complained about the “superficiality” of his audience. From September 1946 he also taught at the pedagogical faculty of Berlin University . The treatise on the social justification of the new school from 1946 clarifies its pedagogical fundamentals: the reflection of the connections between economy, society and education and different historical times and their use for the current education system. He saw the Soviet Zone / GDR as the right place for a pedagogy that overcomes social inequalities. It was only logical that he became a member of the SED school commission in 1947.

In 1948 Alt was promoted to doctorate with his 11-year-old dissertation on industrial schools and then to professor with teaching assignment at Humboldt University, in summer 1949 to professor with full teaching assignment for the history of education and in September 1949 to professor with chair for history of education . From 1952 to 1963 he was director of the Institute for Systematic Education and the History of Education. As editor he was responsible for the series Education and Society from 1949 , for the Monumenta Paedagogica from 1960 and for the Yearbook for Educational and School History from 1961 . The member of the central committee of the SED from 1954 to 1958 became chairman of the commission for German educational and school history after the founding of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin in 1955. In 1958 Robert Alt was promoted to dean of the Humboldt University's Faculty of Education.

In 1961, the educational scientist became a full member of the German Academy of Sciences and headed its department for German educational and school history. The Dr. paed. hc , appointed in 1965 at Humboldt University, was appointed chairman of the History of Education section of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of National Education in 1966 . In 1966 he gave the eulogy when he was awarded the doctorate honorary title to the retired pedagogue and former vice-president of the Brandenburg provincial administration, Fritz Rücker (1894–1974), whom he had met personally in the former joint residence of Kleinmachnow . In 1970 Robert Alt was made a full member of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences , ended his academic career and became President of the Society for Cultural Relations with Abroad and Vice President of the League for Friendship of Peoples . Although the reputation of the deceased in 1978 extended beyond the GDR and the Eastern Bloc , u. a. if it was received in the Federal Republic of Germany , Japan and the USA , little research has been carried out into his résumé and legacy.

Honors

Publications

  • Robert Alt: picture atlas for school u. Educational history, lectures on systematic pedagogy Berlin 1960 - 65 . Norderstedt 2005.
  • Robert Alt: The educational monopoly . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1978.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Thomas Hermann: Robert Altmann. In: Ingo Loose (editor): Berlin Jews in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto 1941–1944. A memorial book. Topography of Terror Foundation , Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-9811677-6-4 , pp. 90–95.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Gert Geißler, Bernd-Rainer Barth :  Alt, Robert . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Ursula Basikow, Christine Lost: The estate of Robert Alt - source and inspiration of educational history research. In: Bulletin of the sponsorship group library for research in the history of education e. V. No. 16/2, 2005, ISSN  1860-3084 , pp. 12-23. Digital edition in: Library for Research on Educational History , pdf; 5.9 MB ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bbf.dipf.de
  4. ↑ Hildegard Feidel-Mertz, Andreas Paetz: A lost paradise. The Jüdische Kinder-Landschulheim Caputh 1931–1939 , dipa-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1994, ISBN 3-7638-0184-7 , pp. 327–328
  5. ^ Ingo Loose: List of names of the Jews deported from Berlin to the Litzmannstadt ghetto. In: Berlin Jews in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto 1941–1944. A memorial book. Topography of Terror Foundation , Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-9811677-6-4 , pp. 178–301.
  6. ↑ IV. Transport. Berlin - Litzmannstadt. (JPG) In: Statistics of the Holocaust. November 1, 1941, p. 118 , accessed March 4, 2014 .
  7. ^ New Germany , October 7, 1954, p. 4
  8. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , October 6, 1965, p. 4
  9. ^ High government awards on the occasion of the VII Pedagogical Congress , In: Neues Deutschland , May 5, 1970, p. 4
  10. ↑ Marit Baarck, Knut-Sören Steinkopf: Robert Alt's writing The Educational Monopoly and the Pisa Studies , a contribution from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
personal data
SURNAME Old, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German educationalist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th September 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 1978
Place of death East Berlin