School garden of the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule (Ruhland)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
School garden Ruhland, 1965

The school garden of the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Ruhland was located in Hartwigstraße (before 1953 until after 1990) and was known throughout the GDR , a model school garden in the Senftenberg district , a showpiece in the Cottbus district and a consultation garden .

history

School garden Ruhland, plan 1955

When school garden lessons were included in the curriculum in the GDR, the city of Ruhland leased a property of 2,600 m² in Hartwigstrasse for the school. In 1952/53, the biology teacher Horst Bormann was commissioned to take over the school garden lessons and to create the school garden within this framework. For the lessons he drafted work and supervision plans and extensive plans for additional facilities, which were gradually implemented with the support of parents and local companies. In addition to teaching, he led student working groups.

Through the reports to the school administration and the exchange of experiences, his work and the school garden became known, assessed as outstanding and there were requirements for publications (selection) | publication of methods, results and experiences in educational journals. The school garden became known throughout the GDR as early as 1956 through a newspaper article in " Neues Deutschland ". The television of the GDR brought the first report in 1957, the school garden was declared a model school garden in the Senftenberg district , a showpiece in the Cottbus district and a consultation garden . From 1963 to 1967 6 tons of vegetables, herbs and honey could be sold for 5,485 marks, in the first district performance comparison in 1968 in Lübben , Ruhland took first place.

The diverse equipment of the school garden "with the most important native plant species, a terrarium, the large bird aviary and the beehive" allowed for lively school lessons and was so exemplary "that even GDR television filmed there for a week". Horst Bormann later said: “The students really burned for their garden”, he could have gone on vacation for several weeks in the summer and found no weeds on his return. That only subsided when he could no longer take care of his favorite project due to health problems from the 1980s onwards.

Up until 1991/92 there were still school garden lessons in grades 3 and 4 with 2 hours per week each, from about 1993 the subject was dropped with the recommendation to include the school garden in subject knowledge or biology - but this did not allow continuity. The school garden was visibly deteriorating, individual “violent actions” could not save much, the weeds were faster and more persistent. It was not possible to achieve in the curriculum subjects and school working groups what was previously possible through extraordinary commitment. After 2005, the owner canceled the lease and the school garden had to be abandoned. There is now a private home lot (Hartwigstrasse 18).

In 2009 a replacement was built behind the gym (Ortrander Straße) with the support of the city and ABM , but the curriculum did not allow maintenance as before. The commitment of a caretaker was also limited by further imposed tasks. That is why the regular and planned work in the school garden was stopped and only individual projects were organized (e.g. different types of grain for viewing, herb spiral, fast-growing wood, insect hotel).

Facilities in the Hartwigstrasse school garden

School garden, entrance
1955 plan
General view from the west
Creating value through knowledge and ability
Flower roundel
Path on the southern fence from the west
in the greenhouse
Marsh plant bed
Weather station
the first years

Thanks to great commitment and far-reaching plans, the school garden already had the most important native plant species, habitats such as a swamp bed and an alpine plant, animals in a terrarium, a large bird aviary and an apiary after the first few years. The exchange of experiences (visits by students to the Jank nursery, a return visit from the gardener to the school garden) and nature excursions, e.g. B. to the Weinbergsteich near Guteborn.

  • Compost heap (in the shade of the barn, laid out in autumn 1953)
  • meteorological station (on the south side, since spring 1954)
  • Arbor (available, previously only used as a tool shed, repair and beautification summer 1954)
  • Alpinum (created in 1953 / added in 1954)
  • several test areas (laid out in 1954)
  • Perennial bed
  • Ornamental borders
  • Tree nursery (established before 1955)
View of the chain seed - seedling - wildling - grafting - fruit tree and practical exercises
  • Swamp basin (created 1955)
  • Flower Biology Systematic Department (created 1956)
  • Greenhouse (since 1956/57)

Everything was clearly labeled (smaller plants through strips of paper in glass tubes, otherwise painted metal signs and later also enamel signs).

The Ortrander Strasse school garden is laid out

Herbal spiral, blackberry hedge in the back
Garden path to the herb spiral
Insect hotel
Barbecue and seating area

Location of the new school garden between Ortrander Strasse 5 and 6 The facility consists of a herb bed with a spiral of herbs, which was connected by a winding path to a heather garden and barbecue area / seating area. A garage wall to the west is shielded by a berry hedge. A volleyball court was also created.

Local tree species should be planted in the turns of the path, alternatively fruit trees according to their varieties. As part of the project work at the school, poplar trees were temporarily planted as an experiment with renewable raw materials .

Horst Bormann - creator of the Ruhlander school garden

Horst Bormann was born on February 28, 1928 in Ruhland, where his parents lived. The father was a talented sculptor and was therefore commissioned by the Schönburg-Waldenburg rule (including a princely tomb, a war memorial in Hermsdorf, an eagle in Jannowitz). Horst Bormann attended high school in Senftenberg, during World War II he was an air force helper. Then he mapped plants in the state of Brandenburg and found nature photography.

In 1947 he completed a new teacher training course in Lindenau, was transferred to Bernsdorf and took over an 8th grade in Wiednitz in 1948 . He married in 1949 and moved to Ruhland with his wife Margot in 1951. In 1952 he specialized in biology at the teachers' seminar / pedagogical institute in Mühlhausen , which he then taught at the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Ruhland . In 1958 Heinz-Werner Baer , who he knew from the Senftenberg high school, brought him to Berlin for a year, where he wrote a biology textbook for the 5th grade for the publishing house Volk und Wissen . In 1966 he became a senior teacher.

As a pedagogue and biology teacher, he built up the biology department at the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule and always involved the students. In addition to teaching, he led student working groups (including young botanists and young beekeepers ). In 2017, preparations and models that he made with students were exhibited in the specialist room and some of them were used in class. Schoolchildren were also given specific tasks, and in some cases especially, during the holidays and completed them independently.

Horst Bormann in the school garden

Horst Bormann regarded the school garden on Hartwigstrasse, which he “created out of nothing”, as his life's work. "This ensemble with the most important native plant species, a terrarium, the large bird aviary and the apiary was so interesting that even GDR television filmed there for a week," he recalled in retirement after the political change .

Bormann also worked as a landscape gardener. GDR journals reported on this, and in Ruhland, schoolchildren looked after the facilities on Geschwister-Scholl-Weg under his direction from 1966 to 1978 .

He recognized a gap in the local history work of Reinhold Schneider, Erich Vettrich, Horst Socher and Steffen Ziegert. In retirement he worked on documents in the city archive, especially the regional newspaper " Elster-Chronik ". This resulted in a local history series in the official gazette of the city (later of the office) Ruhland under the title "The Elster Chronicle knows it still (Ruhland 100 years ago)". From January 1992 to June 1998 there were 26 articles.

Bormann continued nature photography in his retirement. His lectures with compiled photos in combination with local history research and natural history topics were popular and always well attended.

literature

  • Article about school gardening in "Neues Deutschland", August 1956
  • Article “On school gardening in our ten-class polytechnic high school” in “Biology in School”, 8th year, 1959, issue 9, pp. 394–402
  • Article "Once wilderness, today paradise" in "Elternhaus und Schule", year 16, 1967, issue 9, pp. 12-13
  • Article in "Werkunterricht", Verlag Volk und Wissen , 1st year 1957, issue 1
  • Reports on experiments with various crops and trees (including poplar varieties) to the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Institute for Forest Sciences of the GDR, October 11, 1957

Sources, footnotes and references

  • Horst Bormann: “Young Botanists” - working group at the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule Ruhland, diary 1953–1956.
  • Council of the City of Ruhland / Festival Committee: 640th anniversary of the City of Ruhland; Festschrift for the Heimatfest 1958 , pp. 30–34, chapter Development of the school system after 1945 and the school garden of the middle school "Geschwister Scholl" , published by VEB Druckerei Ruhland (HI 0472 58 DDR I 20 8 3 458 495).
  • Parkaktiv Ruhland: “Remembering Horst Bormann. A teacher and a local and natural scientist with a passion " Article on the 125th school anniversary in: Official Journal Ruhland, 04/2018, pp. 18-19, accessed on December 14, 2018
  1. ^ A b Horst Bormann, head of the school garden of the middle school Ruhland (Senftenberg district): Inland: The school garden in Ruhland , New Germany , September 9, 1956, nd-archiv.de
  2. ↑ Torsten Richter-Zippack (trt1): school gardener , teacher, local photographer . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , Senftenberg edition, January 26, 2015, accessed on November 17, 2017
  3. ↑ Gisbert Büttner: Ruhland create a green oasis at the school . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , Senftenberg edition, November 26, 2009, accessed on November 27, 2017
  4. ↑ Torsten Richter-Zippack (trt1): school gardener , teacher, local photographer . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , Senftenberg edition, January 26, 2015, accessed on November 17, 2017
  5. ↑ Torsten Richter-Zippack (trt1): school gardener , teacher, local photographer . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , Senftenberg edition, January 26, 2015, accessed on November 17, 2017.
  6. ↑ Horst Bormann: "Young Botanists" - Working group at the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule Ruhland, diary 1953–1956
  7. ↑ History of the Geschwister-Scholl-Weg and Parkaktivs on the homepage and in the maintenance concept : its revision in 1996/97 contains the information
  8. ^ Horst Bormann: Ruhland 100 years ago; a monthly late harvest from the "Elster Chronicle" in continuation by Horst Bormann in the Ruhland Official Journal, issue 1/1992, p. 5.
  9. ↑ Horst Bormann: Ruhland 115 - 95 - 90 - 75 years ago; a late harvest from the "Elster Chronicle" (26th episode) by Horst Bormann in the Ruhland Official Gazette, edition 6/1998, p. 21.
  10. ↑ Jana Wieduwilt: I don't want to rust . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , Senftenberg edition, September 12, 2005, accessed on November 17, 2017.
  11. ↑ Hubert Pfennig: With the camera on a foray through nature . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , Senftenberg edition, February 28, 2008, accessed on November 26, 2017.

Web links

Commons : Schulgarten Ruhland  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Horst Bormann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 22.2 "  N , 13 ° 51 ′ 40"  E