Adolf Reichwein (3 October 1898 – 20 October 1944) was a German

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, and cultural policymaker for the SPD, who resisted the policies of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

Biography

Reichwein was born in

Bad Ems Bad Ems () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Rhein-Lahn rural district and is well known as a spa on the river Lahn. Bad Ems was the seat of Bad Ems collective municipality, which has been merged i ...

. He took part in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in which he was seriously wounded in the

lung The lungs are the primary Organ (biology), organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the Vertebral column, backbone on either side of the heart. Their ...

. Reichwein studied at the universities of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, under

Hugo Sinzheimer Hugo Sinzheimer (; 12 April 1875 – 16 September 1945) was a German legal scholar and contributed to the writing of the Weimar Constitution. He was a leading proponent of the concept of social law. Biography Sinzheimer was one of the first acad ...

and

Franz Oppenheimer Franz Oppenheimer (March 30, 1864 – September 30, 1943) was a German sociologist and political economist, who published also in the area of the fundamental sociology of the State (polity), state. Life and career Franz Oppenheimer was born int ...

, among others. In the 1920s, he was active in education policy and adult education in Berlin and Thuringia. It was he who founded the ''Volkshochschule'' ("People's High School" - e.g., Community College) and the ''Arbeiterbildungsheim'' ("Workers' Training Home") in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

and ran them until 1929. In his ''Hungermarsch nach Lappland'' ("Hunger March to Lappland") he described in diary form a punishing hike with some young jobless people in the far north. In 1929–1930, he worked as an adviser to the Prussian Culture Minister

Carl Heinrich Becker Carl Heinrich Becker (12 April 1876 – 10 February 1933) was a German orientalist and politician in Prussia. In 1921 and 1925–1930, he served as Minister for Culture in Prussia (independent). He was one of the founders of the study of ...

. From 1930 until 1933, he was a professor at the newly founded Pedagogical Academy in Halle. After the Nazis seized power, he was let go for political reasons and sent off to Tiefensee in

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

to become an elementary schoolteacher. There, until 1939, he conducted many instructional experiments, which received a lot of attention, with

educational progressivism Progressive education, or educational progressivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. T ...

and especially vocational education in mind. Reichwein described in his work ''Schaffendes Schulvolk'' ("Productive School People") his instructional concept, inspired by the

Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with na ...

movement and labour-school pedagogy, whose main focus was on trips, activity-oriented instruction with school gardens, and projects spanning age groups. For ''Sachunterricht'' (~field education, or practical learning) and its history, he included important historical documents. Reichwein split the instructional content into a summer cycle (natural sciences and social studies) and a winter cycle ("Man as former"/"in his territory"). From 1939, Reichwein was working at the Folklore Museum in Berlin as a museum educator. As a member of the

Kreisau Circle The Kreisau Circle (German: ''Kreisauer Kreis'', ) (1940–1944) was a group of about twenty-five German dissidents in Nazi Germany led by Helmuth James von Moltke, who met at his estate in the rural town of Kreisau, Silesia. The circle was co ...

, Reichwein belonged to the resistance movement against

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. In early July 1944, Reichwein was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

, and, in a trial against

Julius Leber Julius Leber (16 November 1891 – 5 January 1945) was a German Social Democratic politician and a member of the German resistance against the Nazi regime. Early life Leber was born in Biesheim, Alsace, out of wedlock, to Katharina Schubetzer ...

, Hermann Maaß and Gustav Dahrendorf, sentenced to death by

Roland Freisler Karl Roland Freisler (30 October 1893 – 3 February 1945) was a German jurist, judge and politician who served as the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice from 1935 to 1942 and as President of the People's Court from 1942 to 194 ...

's '' Volksgerichtshof''. He was killed next to Maaß at

Plötzensee Prison Plötzensee Prison (, JVA Plötzensee) is a men's prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The detention centre established in 1868 has a lon ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on 20 October 1944.

Selected works

* ''Schaffendes Schulvolk''.

Kohlhammer Verlag W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart. History Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-la ...

, Stuttgart/Berlin 1937. * ''Film in der Landschule''. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart/Berlin 1938. * (New annotated edition of both works:) ''Schaffendes Schulvolk – Film in der Schule. Die Tiefenseer Schulschriften''. pub. by. Wolfgang Klafki ''et al.''. Beltz, Weinheim/Basel 1993.

Literature

* Ullrich Amlung: **''"... in der Entscheidung gibt es keine Umwege": Adolf Reichwein 1898 - 1944. Reformpädagoge, Sozialist, Widerstandskämpfer''. 3. Auflage Schüren, Marburg 2003 **''Adolf Reichwein: 1898–1944. Ein Lebensbild des Reformpädagogen, Volkskundlers und Widerstandskämpfers''. 2. Auflage dipa, Frankfurt am Main, 1999 **''Adolf Reichwein 1898 - 1944. Eine Personalbibliographie''. Universität Marburg 1991 (Schriften der Universitätsbibliothek Marburg, 54) * Hartmut Mitzlaff: ''Adolf Reichweins (1898–1944) heimliche Reformpraxis in Tiefensee 1933-1939''. In: Astrid Kaiser, Detlef Pech (Hrsg.): ''Geschichte und historische Konzeptionen des Sachunterrichts''. Schneider-Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2004, S. 143–150.

External links

*
Adolf-Reichwein-Verein
(New Webpage: reichwein-forum)

in the Bibliothek für Bildungsgeschichtliche Forschung {{DEFAULTSORT:Reichwein, Adolf 1898 births 1944 deaths People from Rhein-Lahn-Kreis Heads of schools in Germany German economists German military personnel of World War I People from Rhineland-Palatinate executed at Plötzensee Prison People from Hesse-Nassau University of Marburg alumni Members of the Kreisau Circle Executed members of the 20 July plot Museum educators