Special home

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The special homes formed their own organizational structure within the youth welfare home system in the GDR . The task of the special homes was to re-educate children and young people between the ages of 6 and 18 who had been classified as difficult to educate . The system of special homes included a reception and observation home (Eilenburg), approx. 30 special children's homes , approx. 30 youth work centers and four special homes with an additional reception center.

The report to the Federal Government on the processing of home education in the GDR of March 26, 2012 came to the following assessment: "In particular in the special youth welfare homes, everyday life was limited by restrictions on freedom, human rights violations, outside determination, degrading punishments, denial of educational and development opportunities and forced work embossed."

history

The type of special home emerged with the first structural reform of the home system in 1952. It initially comprised reception and observation homes (A / B homes), special children's homes and youth work centers. The regional A / B homes (including Königstein Fortress , Brandenburg / Havel ) were dissolved again in the early 1950s and replaced by a central A / B home in Eilenburg (Saxony). In 1965 the special homes received their own organizational structure within youth welfare. The system remained almost unchanged until 1990. In the last years of the GDR the educational opportunities in the special children's homes deteriorated drastically, while they improved slightly in the youth work centers.

It is estimated that between 1949 and 1989, around 135,000 minors passed through the special homes. In total there were around 60 homes. Due to reallocations, closings and new openings, the lists of special homes are much more extensive (see list of youth work centers in the GDR ; no such list of special children's homes existed in August 2012). The total number of minors who passed through special and A / B homes is unknown.

In 2010, the special homes in the Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg districts were examined for the first time on behalf of the state commissioner for the Stasi files in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The result was published in book form. An analogous research project followed in 2011 by the state representatives of Brandenburg for the districts of Potsdam, Frankfurt / Oder and Cottbus, the results of which had not yet been published in August 2012. An investigation into the districts of Dresden, Leipzig and Karl-Marx-Stadt began in the summer on behalf of the Torgau Closed Youth Work Center , the results of which are to be published in spring 2013.

Structure and characteristics

Like all youth welfare homes, the special homes were subordinate to the youth welfare / home education department in the GDR Ministry for Public Education . While the normal homes were administered by the councils of the districts or municipalities, the special children's homes and youth work centers were subordinate to the councils of the districts . This was to ensure strict control and politically correct management of these homes. The special homes and the closed youth work center in Torgau were directly subordinate to the Ministry of National Education because of their special political importance.

Special homes differed from normal homes in that they had a pedagogical regime that strictly penalized any insubordination, and the inmates were almost completely isolated from their surroundings. Previous social contacts (friendships, family) were controlled or completely prevented. Incoming and outgoing mail was censored. School lessons took place in their own home schools. Unauthorized removal from the home was subject to severe penalties as escape . Although a number of special homes did not appear to be, they are to be regarded as closed facilities.

At the request of the local youth welfare committees , the central office for special homes decided on admission to a special home . Some of the minors had previously been transferred to the reception and observation home in Eilenburg. After a certain observation period, the A / B home recommended a transfer to a special home, a special children's home or a youth work center. In a few cases, admission to a normal home or return to the family was recommended. The central office also ordered the instructions to the closed youth work center Torgau.

A special feature in the system of special homes in the GDR was the combination of special homes for psychodiagnostics and educational-psychological therapy with its reception center in Berlin-Oberspree and the homes in Bollersdorf , Borgsdorf , Groß Köris and Werftpfuhl .

Origin of the term

The origin of the term special home has not yet been clarified. Although the term is reminiscent of word creations from the Nazi era (special treatment), its origin is likely to be found in the Soviet Union, where the term special in the political sense was associated with punitive actions ( special camp ). However, neither the living conditions nor the induction conditions in the two institutions are comparable.

literature

  • Processing of home education in the GDR. Report. (PDF, 988 kB) (Ed.) Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal States, Berlin, March 26, 2012, accessed on July 29, 2015 .
  • Karsten Laudien: Re-education and the image of man in GDR home education . In: Trauma and Violence, Volume 7, Issue 2, May 2013, pp. 134–142. ISSN 1863-7167.
  • Karsten Laudien: Educating and influencing. The education concept of the GDR youth welfare . In: Repression through youth welfare. Scientific perspectives on a phenomenon in East and West, Ed. J. Richter u. a., Munich 2014, pp. 97–112. ISBN 3-937461-94-9 .
  • Processing of home education in the GDR. Expertise (pdf, 5 MB) . Ed .: Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal States, Berlin March 2012. Contains:
    • Friedrike Wapler: Legal issues of home education in the GDR (p. 5–124).
    • Karsten Laudien, Christian Sachse: Educational ideas in home education in the GDR (pp. 125–298).
    • Martin Sack , Ruth Ebbinghaus: What helps former home children of the GDR in coping with their complex traumatisation? (Pp. 299-397).
  • Christian Sachse: The final touch. Youth welfare of the GDR in the service of disciplining children and young people (1949–1989) . Ed .: The State Commissioner for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR, Schwerin 2011, ISBN 978-3-933255-35-8 .
  • Christian Sachse: aim of re-education. Special homes of the GDR youth welfare service 1945-1989 in Saxony. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2013; ISBN 978-3-86583-787-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Order on special youth welfare homes of April 22, 1965. In: Journal of the GDR II No. 53 of May 17, 1965, p. 368
  2. ^ Processing of home education in the GDR. Report . Ed .: Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal States., Berlin March 26, 2012, p. 4.
  3. ↑ a b Christian Sachse: The final touch. Youth welfare of the GDR in the service of disciplining children and young people (1949–1989) . Ed .: The State Commissioner for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR, Schwerin 2011, p. 35 ff.
  4. ↑ Karsten Laudien, Christian Sachse: Educational ideas in the home education of the GDR . In: Processing of home education in the GDR. Expertise . Ed .: Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal States, Berlin March 2012, p. 280 ff.
  5. ↑ Christian Sachse: The final touch. Youth welfare of the GDR in the service of disciplining children and young people (1949–1989) . Ed .: The State Commissioner for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR, Schwerin 2011.