Wilhelm Schäfer (pedagogue)

Wilhelm Schäfer (born September 3, 1881 in Niefernheim (Palatinate), † March 8, 1968 in Friedberg (Hesse) ) was a German educator .

Career

1901/02 Wilhelm Schäfer studied two semesters in Darmstadt , from 1902 to 1905 six semesters in Giessen mathematics, physics and geography. He passed his doctoral examination in August 1904 and the examination for the higher subject in August 1905. After two years as a teaching assistant at the Friedberg teacher training college, he was appointed senior teacher in 1907 . From May 1916 to December 1918 he did his military service and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class on May 24, 1918 . On October 1, 1916, he was given the title of "Professor". Until 1922 he held a position as a teacher at the Friedberg Teachers' College.

After his election by the Friedberg City Council, Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Schäfer took over the management of the Friedberg Polytechnic as director in October 1922 . Despite his leadership role, he taught mathematics and physics. On October 29, 1926, the academic celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Friedberg Polytechnic took place. In his celebratory speech, Director Schäfer defended the academic form of teaching that has always been practiced at the Friedberg Polytechnic. Essentially, the academic form of teaching consists in the freedom of teaching of the lecturers and in the freedom of students to learn, which, however, was deliberately chosen as a means of education: “If you can't let young people over 18 years of age, how long should they be actually still be led on the lead tape? And if the maturity of the university students of the same age is rated higher because of their high school diploma , then on the other hand the maturity to which the practical work in the work smock leads should not be underestimated ”.

The mayor of Friedberg, Dr. Seyd received a special message from Director Schäfer on April 28, 1933. In it the wish was expressed to want to give the institute the name of the Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler in the future. Following this request, Seyd sent a telegram to the Berlin Reich Chancellery on April 29, 1933 . On May 1, 1933, an academic celebration took place in the Friedberg casino hall. In the presence of the lecturers and the members of the board of trustees, Director Schäfer spoke in a pathetic speech about the fact that a powerful national movement had taken hold of the German people. A new leader has arisen who has established the principles of "truthfulness" and "defensibility" in order to create the true German spirit. The spirit of the new age can be recognized in leadership and discipline. On May 4, 1933, Seyd informed the city council that they had asked the Reich Chancellery in Berlin for permission to rename the Polytechnic and that the consent of the Hessian President Ferdinand Werner had already been obtained. On May 5, 1933, the Berlin Reich Chancellery approved the request for a name change on behalf of the Reich Chancellor. Adolf Hitler expressed his most cordial thanks for the honor he had received. On June 22, 1933, the official renaming of the Friedberger Polytechnic was officially renamed “Adolf Hitler-Polytechnikum”.

On September 18, 1933, the Hessian Reich Governor , Jakob Sprenger , transferred the lecturer Dr. Wilhelm Friedmann on the basis of § 3 of the "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" with effect from January 1, 1934 due to non-Aryan descent into early and compulsory retirement. Contrary to the five basic ideals of Freemasonry , Schäfer did not stand up for his longtime polytechnic colleague Wilhelm Friedmann.

In spite of the opportunistic stance he took in 1933, Schäfer was also to feel the power of the National Socialists in person. In October 1933, Schäfer had to return to the civil service because he was assigned a position as a teacher at the Friedberg Advanced School . His departure from the Adolf Hitler Polytechnic was not voluntary, despite his efforts to pay homage to the zeitgeist on the renaming issue. During a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Polytechnic, he stated: “Based on the experiences of the last semester, I have become convinced that the institution must be headed by a registered member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . If I leave the Polytechnic, I will no doubt leave with sadness in my heart ”. Since there had been repeated clashes between Director Schäfer and the National Socialist German Student Union in the last few years before 1933 , a Friedberg NSDStB delegation at the then Ministerialrat Friedrich Ringshausen urged Schäfer to be replaced. The accusation of the NSDStB representatives was that director Schäfer had obstructed the NSDStB advertising among the students and had fought against the NSDStB. These student opinions confirmed Ringshausen's view that Schäfer was unsustainable as a Polytechnic director due to political unreliability. Ringshausen knew that Schäfer had been a member of the German Democratic Party in the 1920s and had belonged to the Masonic lodge "Ludwig zu den drei Sterne" in Friedberg since 1921 . After Schäfer was ousted from office by the new rulers, he was only able to take on a similar leading professional position after the end of the Second World War .

In July 1945, Schäfer was appointed acting head of the Friedberg Advanced School. In 1947, the Prime Minister of Hesse, Christian Stock, appointed Wilhelm Schäfer as senior director of studies , thereby confirming him as the regular headmaster. In this year Wilhelm Schäfer initiated the reinstatement of the Friedberger Lodge. After his retirement on January 1, 1949, Schäfer lived in Friedberg (Hesse) until his death on March 8, 1968.

literature

• Thomas Petrasch, Klaus-Dieter Rack: From the commercial academy to the technical university - Friedberg university history (1901–2011). In: Wetterauer Geschichtsblätter, Volume 62. Verlag der Buchhandlung Bindernagel, Friedberg (Hessen) 2013, ISSN  0508-6213 .

Web links

• History of the Friedberger Lodge