Military training

Military instruction was as part of the military training in the GDR from 1978 to 1989 is a compulsory subject for all students in grades 9 and 10 of the Polytechnic and Extended Secondary School . The lessons consisted of a theoretical part in schools, a military or civil defense camp and the final so-called “days of military readiness”. The military education continued with the pre-military training during the vocational training and in the Abitur level of the extended high schools.

Introduction as a compulsory subject

After a regular military policy subject had been introduced in general schools in the other Warsaw Pact states by the early 1970s, a study by the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR first called for the establishment of a corresponding subject in the GDR in 1973 . From 1976 onwards, by resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED, a working group under the responsibility of the Ministry of Popular Education under Education Minister Margot Honecker , the Ministry of National Defense and the Popular Education Department of the Central Committee of the SED prepared the introduction of the school subject. On September 1, 1978, the regular but ungraded subject began, initially for the 9th grade and a year later for the 10th grade.

Participation in military instruction in the school was mandatory for all pupils as part of the general compulsory education . The young people were denied the right to refuse this training, since military service could not be refused in the GDR . Attempts by parents to exempt their children from it (for example for religious reasons or if the parents had submitted an application to leave the country ) mostly failed. If such an application was accepted as an exception, the period of military instruction was not considered to be free of instruction, but a replacement was determined.

Parents who did not want their children to take part were considered politically unreliable and had to expect surveillance by the MfS . Sick leave for the day of military training was also rarely accepted and with great difficulty. If students did not take part, the relevant departments of the Ministry of the Interior were also involved.

After the introduction of the subject became known in the spring of 1978, both the Protestant and the Catholic Church protested against it before the start of classes in June. The Evangelical Church took this as an opportunity to develop a concept “Education for Peace” and a generally increased commitment to peace politics.

Structure and goals of military instruction

The military instruction included a theoretical part on "Questions of socialist national defense". In the planned four double hours per school year, basic military and political knowledge about the National People's Army (NVA) was imparted. These classes occasionally took place as a block event and were partly held by NVA officers of the reserve in uniform. At the end of the 9th grade, a two-week military camp or a course in civil defense (ZV) for the girls and those boys who did not go to the military camp was part of the military instruction. The end of the military instruction in the winter holidays of the 10th grade formed three so-called "days of military readiness".

The military instruction should serve both to prepare the boys for the later basic military service and to advertise an engagement as a temporary soldier or professional soldier for the NVA, the border troops , the barracked units of the MdI or the guard regiment of the MfS . In addition, the young people should be shaped politically and kept on the course of the state.

Military camp

For the military camp, all male students in the ninth grade were grouped together in the individual districts and trained for a period of two weeks. The training mostly took place in children's holiday camps , but facilities and equipment from the Society for Sport and Technology (GST) and the NVA were also used. The training and supervision of the students was mostly carried out by officer students and NVA officers from the reserve. The training consisted of eight hours on twelve training days, and the students wore GST uniforms. Components of the training included, among other things, training in hand grenade throwing ( mock-up of an "F1" hand grenade ), moving and orienting in the field, exercises with gas masks and protective suits, endurance runs, and sometimes also overcoming the storm track as well as shooting with air rifles or the KK- MPi 69 , a small-bore - submachine gun , the look and feel largely of the Kalashnikov corresponded. In addition, there were exercises in order ("drill") as well as military theory and political lessons that were carried out by members of the army. Competitions for the “best training results” were held between the classes.

Civil defense course

Instead, the girls had to take part in a course in civil defense, which included training in first aid and evacuation measures , and mostly took place in school. The training lasted six hours over twelve days. The boys who did not go to the military camp also took part in this ZV camp. In the first few years after the introduction of military instruction, this affected a large number of boys, as there were not enough places for all boys, later there were only very few. In order to avoid ideological disputes and possible signs of decomposition, unwilling and critical students were excluded from the military camp in individual cases, and they then had to take part in the ZV training in the school.

End of military training and distancing

During the turning point and peaceful revolution in 1989, hundreds of parents, students and representatives of the churches publicly spoke out against military training. For many parents, this appropriation of their children was an impetus to tackle the situation. In 1990 there were no more military camps. The only freely elected People's Chamber made the military instruction and a school subject civics in May 1990 from official.

literature

• Michael Koch: Military training in the Warsaw Pact countries. An investigation in the historical and school-political context with special consideration of the USSR and the GDR (=  Pedagogical Studies and Critics, Edition Paideia . Volume 3 ). IKS Garamond, Jena 2006, ISBN 978-3-938203-44-6 .
• Otto Klockmann: Between the worlds . New literature, ISBN 3-934141-04-8 (The author was a teacher for military education in the Schönebeck district from 1984).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthias Judt (ed.): GDR history in documents. 2nd edition, Berlin 1998, p. 223 f.