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We Learned What Democracy Really Meant”: The Berlin Student Parliament and Postwar School Reform in the 1950s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
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On January 28,1953, the RIAS-Schulfunkparlament (Berlin Student Parliament) celebrated its fifth anniversary. Despite the distractions of having important West German politicians in their midst as a sign of support, the young parliamentarians handled that day's business with their usual mix of enthusiasm and determination. These elected secondary school students debated five bills that afternoon, agreeing upon four of them. Among those that passed was a commitment to assist in the construction of a new library for pupils living in the Soviet sector of Berlin. Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden, a member of the cabinet, reported on his successful work with school authorities to institute the parliament's proposal for changes in school menu offerings. Another representative, Hanna Gätke, informed her colleagues about the Christmas activities of the parliament, which had raised 450 Deutsche Marks for charity and provided over 900 gifts to elderly Berliners. Before adjourning the meeting, the students discussed the activities of student government in each section of the city and continued their debate about the parliament's larger goals.
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- Symposium: German Education after 1945
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- Copyright © 2005 by the History of Education Society
References
1 Minutes of the RIAS-Schulfunk-Parlament, 46. Sitzung on 25. January 1953, February 9, 1953. Document from private collection of Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden. Also Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden, interview by author, tape recording, Berlin-Lichterade, May 19, 2003.Google Scholar
2 The organization changed its name in 1954 to the Berlin Student Parliament in recognition of the fact that it had become the independent representative for the pupils of all of Berlin (not just the American sector). See “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Berliner Schülervertretungen, BSP Verfassung und Geschäftsordnung,” undated, B. Rep. 015, Nr. 430, Landesarchiv Berlin [hereafter LAB]. See also Hermann Schneider to J.C. Thompson, “The Development of RIAS-Schulfunk from September 7, 1947 to August 15, 1948,” September 10, 1948, page 5; Box 125; General Records, 1945–1950; Records of Education and Cultural Relations Branch; Records of the Berlin Sector; Records of the U.S. Occupation Headquarters, WWII, RG 260; National Archives, College Park [hereafter NACP].Google Scholar
3 Despite experimentation with the organization of the school system in the former capital near the end of the occupation, it was very similar to that of the rest of the Federal Republic by the early 1950s. The school system tracked pupils into one of three schools after a period of common elementary education. The Volksschule provided pupils with instruction through grade eight, at which point they entered into vocational training. In West Berlin, the Volksschule extended through grade nine, with the final three years being termed the Oberschule Praktischen Zweiges (or OPZ). The Realschule (or Oberschule Technischen Zweiges in West Berlin, also known as the OTZ) lasted one year longer and prepared pupils for careers in business and the civil service. The Gymnasium (or, as it was known in the former capital, the Oberschule Wissenschaftlichen Zweiges, or OWZ) extended through grade thirteen and served as the gateway to university admission. In the postwar era, roughly two-thirds of pupils attended the Volksschule. For a detailed discussion of the complexities of the West German school system, see Christoph Führ, Deutsches Bildungswesen seit 1945 (Bonn: Inter Nationales, 1996). A complete discussion of the postwar West Berlin system can be found in Marion Klewitz, Berliner Einheitsschule, 1945–1957, Historische und Pädagogische Studien, eds. Otto Büsch und Gerd Heinrich, vol. 1 (Berlin: Colloquium Verlag, 1971).Google Scholar
4 A number of influential West German officials indeed visited the student parliament during its first years. Among the guests of the parliament were: Bundestag president Hermann Ehlers, Berlin mayor Ernst Reuter, president of the West Berlin Parliament Otto Suhr, and West Berlin Senator for Education Joachim Tiburtms. See “Prominente Gäste im RSP,” Mittelungen des Schulfunk-Parlaments 15 (March 1952): 4. Document from private collection of Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden.Google Scholar
5 “Berliner Schülerparlament. Mitteilungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Berliner Schülervertretungen,” June 15, 1959. B. Rep. 015, File 431, LAB.Google Scholar
6 Thadden noted that the meetings of the BSP were always packed with interested pupils from the city's schools. There was no charge for tickets, which were distributed in the schools by representatives. Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden, interview by author, tape recording, Berlin-Lichterade, May 19, 2003.Google Scholar
7 “Tagesordnung der 33. Sitzung des RIAS Schdfunk-Parlaments,” October 28, 1951. Document from private collection of Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden.Google Scholar
8 The Abitur was a series of examinations taken at the end of the thirteenth class—the final year of the Gymnasium—that were required for admission to the university.Google Scholar
9 Report of the RIAS Schulfunk-Parlament, 33. Sitzung, October 31, 1951. Document from private collection of Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden.Google Scholar
10 The parliament first promulgated a constitution in 1948 and agreed on a revised one at its 31st sitting in 1951. The BSP officially agreed on rules for the conduct of business at the 39th meeting in June 1952. See “Geschäftsordnung des RIAS-Schulfunk-Parlaments,” June 29, 1952. Document from private collection of Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden.Google Scholar
11 “Tagesordnung der 100. Sitzung des RIAS Schulfunk-Parlaments,” December 9, 1958; B. Rep. 015, Nr. 431, LAB.Google Scholar
12 ibid. The film, directed by Felix von Podmanitzky and released in 1958, included material on the existence of the concentration camps.Google Scholar
13 The “Interim Guidelines for Political Education in the Berlin School,” issued in 1960, outlined new requirements for political instruction and contemporary history in the city. See “Vorläufige Richtlinien für die politische Bildung an der Berliner Schule,” April 14, 1960, 4, B. Rep. 015, No. 451, LAB.Google Scholar
14 “Berliner Schülerparlament. Mitteilungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Berliner Schülervertretungen,” June 15, 1959, B. Rep. 015, File 431, LAB.Google Scholar
15 ibid. Google Scholar
16 “Berliner Schülerparlament. Mitteilungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Berliner Schülervertretungen,” June 15, 1959, B. Rep. 015, File 431, LAB.Google Scholar
17 See “Entstehung und Aufgaben des RIAS-Berufsschul-Parlaments,” Mittelungen des Schulfunk-Parlaments 15 (March 1952): 7.Google Scholar
18 Created in the early-1950s, the Berufsschul-Parlament did not formally separate itself from the BSP and hold its own meetings until the beginning of the 1967–1968 school year. See Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden quoted in Jobst Werner, Schülermitwirkung in den öffentlichen Schulen Deutschlands nach 1945 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Entwicklung in Berlin. Eine Darstellung der Entwicklung in der Zeit von 1945 bis 1994, (Berlin, Berliner Institut für Lehrerfort-und -Weiterbildung: 1995), 78.Google Scholar
19 See Wilhelm-Dietrich von Thadden, quoted in Werner, Schülermitwirkung Deutschlands, 80.Google Scholar
20 Hans-Jörg von Jena quoted in Werner, Schulermitwirkung 80.Google Scholar
21 Horst Kollat quoted in Werner, Schulermitwirkung 80.Google Scholar
22 Lebe anständig! 10 Jahre Berliner Schülerparlament,” Schüler-Echo 6, no. 6 (February 1958), 3, Rep. 11 “Schadowschule,” Heimatmuseum Zehlendorf (HZ). See also Dietrich Otremba, “10 Jahre Schüler-Parlament,” Wir machen mit 6, no. 2 (May 1, 1958), 9.Google Scholar
23 Stein, Erwin “Pläne zur Schulreform und Lehrerbildung in Hessen,“ speech given in Bad Herzfeld, September 13, 1947, 2; Abteilung 1178, No. 72, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (HHstA).Google Scholar