Walter Herrmann (criminologist)

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Walter Herrmann (* 27. March 1896 in Potsdam ; † 25. February 1972 in Goettingen ) was a criminologist , a social worker and reformer in the reform school and prison .

Biography and meaning

Walter Herrmann studied economics, criminology, pedagogy and psychology in Berlin and Hamburg. During his studies, he had already worked several times in childcare and home care. a. in the youth welfare office and in the “Social Working Group Berlin-East” by Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze and in the Berlin educational home “Lindenhof” by Karl Wilker . He became known through his work in the Hamburg youth prison Hahnöfersand , where he made the first German attempt in 1921/22 together with Curt Bondy to systematically apply the educational principle in juvenile prison . His dissertation from 1923 with the criminologist Moritz Liepmann in Hamburg describes the first 9 months of this experiment, which belongs to the “canonized institutions” in the history of social education, represents a milestone in the development of juvenile prison and also influenced adult prison.

After further studies with Herman Nohl at the Georg-August University of Göttingen , he built the Egendorf care home near Blankenhain on behalf of the State of Thuringia with a staff of young educators and practitioners from 1926 onwards . The home and its director quickly became a center of the social pedagogical movement of the Weimar Republic, for whose educational reform goals he was committed in writings, lectures and organizational activities.

In 1933 the Reformanstalt Egendorf was dissolved by the National Socialist government of Thuringia and Walter Herrmann because of the educational principles he practiced, such as the non-Aryan origin of his wife Dr. Gertrud Herrmann, b. Ehrenberg, forced retirement. He was now forced to support himself and his family through smaller jobs. Walter Herrmann worked as a handicraft teacher in Berlin and in a subordinate function at the German Labor Front . In 1937 he moved to the Ev for a small salary. Bielefeld youth and welfare office of the social welfare entrepreneur Karl Pawlowski . There he was involved in disputes with the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV). In 1942 a social worker who was a member of the NSDAP made the "non-Aryan" ancestry of his wife public and he had to leave his position again. Then he was able to work as a trade teacher in a company in the Ravensberger linen industry, whose owner, Dr. iur. Friedrich Meyer zu Schwabedissen, supported him and his family for a new beginning after the end of the war.

In August 1945, with the approval of the British military government, he was appointed head of the Wolfenbüttel criminal and juvenile prison, where he and a team of committed employees implemented important approaches to a penal system and set up and ran a school for prison officers. In 1954 he received the title of honorary professor and a teaching position for social education at the University of Göttingen. After his retirement in 1958, living in Göttingen, he devoted himself increasingly to the task of giving pedagogy students an insight into the possibilities and difficulties of socio-pedagogical practice. During this time he was often called in as an expert, u. a. on the deliberations of the 1954 from the Federal Ministry of Justice used the Grand Criminal Law Commission . Together with Wilker and Bondy , Walter Herrmann is considered to be a "champion for the renewal of welfare education and the pedagogy of the juvenile prison system".

Fonts (selection)

  • The Hamburg youth prison Hahnöfersand. A report on educational work in the penal system (introduction by Prof. Dr. M. Liepmann), Hamburg 1923. 2nd edition Mannheim 1926. New edition with a foreword by Klaus Eyferth and an addendum by Jörg Ziegenspeck, Lüneburg 1997 (Writings-Study-Documents on Experience Education Vol. 18), pp. VI-XI
  • The education of young criminals, special print from: Report on the II. Congress for Curative Education in Munich, July 27th. - 1.8.1924, Berlin 1924
  • Problems of welfare education, in: The education, 1st year, Leipzig 1926, reprinted in: Simonsohn (Ed.), (See below :), pp. 15-20
  • On the question of the cultural level of the institutions, in: Die Erziehungs, 2nd year 1927, reprinted in: Simonsohn (Ed.), (See below :), pp. 20-26
  • On the criticism of welfare education, in: Die Erbildung, 4th year 1929. Reprinted in: Simonsohn (Ed.), (See below :), pp. 46–57
  • Is there a need to change methods in welfare education ?, in: Die Erziehungs, 7th year, issue 7, Leipzig 1932
  • For the classification of home education, in: Zentralblatt für Jugendrecht und Jugendwohlfahrt, Jan / Febr. 1934, Berlin 1934
  • On the question of youth work, in: The Collection, 1st year, 7th issue, April 1946, Göttingen 1946
  • The beginnings of juvenile prisoners in Wolfenbüttel (together with Wilhelm Mollenhauer), in: Die Sammlung, Heft 7, 1948, Göttingen 1948
  • On the modern penal system as an adult education task, in: Freie Volksbildung, Heft 4/1949, Munich 1949
  • The work in today's penal system, in: Die Sammlung, 4th year, 6th issue, June 1949, Göttingen 1949
  • Art exhibitions in prison, in: Die Sammlung, 7th year, 10th issue, October 1952, Göttingen 1952
  • People behind bars, questions of the execution of sentences in connection with the criminal law reform, in: Die Gegenwart, 13th year, No. 323, Frankfurt am Main 1958.
  • Problems of today's prison system, lecture at the Federal Criminal Police Office Wiesbaden on November 6, 1958 (reprint without further information)
  • The juvenile lawbreaker and his treatment, in: Recht der Jugend, 8th year, issue 19/20, Berlin-Spandau 1960 (series of the Fliedner-Verein Rockenberg No. 23, November 1960)
  • The educator in the juvenile detention center, in: Recht der Jugend, 9th year, issue 12, Berlin-Spandau 1961 (series of publications by the Fliedner Association Rockenberg No. 25, June 1961)
  • Problems of adult education in the penal system, in: Theodor Württemberger (ed.), Criminology and execution of the prison sentence, Stuttgart 1961
  • Suggestions for a contribution from criminal psychology to the reform of criminal law, in: F. Hardesty and K.Eyferth, Claims to Psychology, Bern / Stuttgart 1965; also in: Monthly for criminology and criminal law reform , 49th year, issue 1, Cologne 1966
  • Leisure time and education in the penal system, in: Dietrich Rollmann (ed.), Penal system in Germany. Situation and reform (Fischer-Bücherei, 841), Frankfurt / M. 1967
  • Education in the juvenile prison system, in: Friedrich Schaffstein , Olaf Miehe (eds.), Paths and tasks of juvenile criminal law, Darmstadt 1968 (Paths of Research 116)

Secondary literature

  • Klaus Eyferth: Order and Radical Reform. Walter Herrmann's principles in juvenile detention, in: The Hamburg Youth Prison Hahnöfersand. A report on educational work in prison. New edition Lüneburg 1997 (Writings-Study-Documents on Experiential Education Vol. 18)
  • Christine Dörner: Education through punishment. The history of the juvenile prison system from 1871-1945. Weinheim and Munich 1991
  • Gertrud Herrmann: The socio-educational movement of the 20s. Weinheim 1956
  • Walter Herrmann: Short biographical sketch, to the Faculty of the Georg-August University Göttingen, 10.02.1954 (personnel file Walter Herrmann, Göttingen University Archive )
  • Elisabeth Siegel: Memories of Walter Herrmann, in: Our youth, 24th year, issue 9, Munich 1972
  • Hanno Poppe: Professor Dr. Walter Herrmann. Obituary by the Rector of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, September 1972 (Walter Herrmann personal file, Göttingen University Archives)
  • Wolfgang Scheibe, The Educational Reform Movement 1900–1932. An introductory presentation. 10th edition Weinheim and Basel 1994
  • Norbert Schwarte: Socio-educational movement. In: Diethart Kerbs , Jürgen Reulecke (ed.) Handbook of the German Reform Movements 1880-1933. Wuppertal 1998. p. 333 ff.
  • Berthold Simonsohn (Ed.): Welfare education and juvenile prison system. Bad Heilbronn / Obb. 1969 (Klinkhardt's educational source texts)
  • Erich Less: Expert opinion [on the appointment as honorary professor] on the Oberregierungsrat Dr. Walter Herrmann, Director of the Wolfenbüttel Prison, July 6, 1954 (Göttingen University Archives)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Disk, pp. 343-347
  2. ^ Herrmann, The Hamburg Youth Prison Hahnöfersand. A report on educational work in prison. Hamburg 1923
  3. ↑ Schwarte, p. 333.
  4. ^ Dörner, p. 107
  5. ↑ Eyferth, p. X f
  6. ↑ Gerald Schwalbach, "The church widen the view!", Karl Pawlowski (1898-1964) - diaconal entrepreneur on the borders of the church and internal mission, Bielefeld 2012, p. 200ff
  7. ↑ Poppe
  8. ↑ Simonsohn, back cover
personal data
SURNAME Herrmann, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German social pedagogue and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Potsdam
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 1972
Place of death Goettingen