Staatliches Landschulheim Marquartstein is a Gymnasium located in

Marquartstein Marquartstein is a municipality in the southeastern part of Bavaria, Germany and is part of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Marquartstein and Staudach-Egerndach. It is situated in a region called Chiemgau, approximately 10 km south of Lake Chiem ...

, southern

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The school offers a science- and technology-oriented program as well as another one focused on language.

History

Founder Hermann Harless was an influential figure in the reformation of German second education, having worked on a new concept of it alongside Hermann Lietz. The result of their efforts were so-called ''Landerziehungsheime für Jungen ("Educational Community Home for Boys").'' Their focus was put heavily on the development of a student's entire character rather than mere knowledge transfer. Those institutions were to be located away from big cities as to minimize their influence on children. Harless joined the ''Neue Deutsche Schule ("New German School")'' of Alexander Sutherland Neill, who later became the founder of the progressive

Summerhill School Summerhill School is an independent (i.e. fee-charging) day and boarding school in Leiston, Suffolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than ...

. After the closure of ''Neue Deutsche Schule'' Harless founded his own boarding school in 1928 in the small town of

near the

Bavarian Alps The Bavarian Alps (, ) is a collective name for several mountain ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps within the German state of Bavaria. Geography The term in its wider sense refers to that part of the Eastern Alps that lies on Bavarian state ...

. In its first year, only 16 students enrolled in ''Landschulheim Marquartstein.'' The concept of

coeducation Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

and a boarding school that accepts both girls and boys was new at that time and had only been implemented in a handful of schools across Germany. The success of Harless's approach reflected in a growing number of students and eventually earned him a permit to hold official

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

graduation exams by 1940. This was a big achievement at the time as students from private schools normally had to take their final exams at a nearby public school. Hermann Harless was the school's principal until the forced nationalization by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1943. Although now under the regime's control, coeducation and mixed-sex boarding houses remained in place at the Landschulheim. Ironically, the boarding school was closed for female students four years after the end of

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by ministerial decree. Due to dwindling numbers of boarding school residents, the mixed-sex system was brought back in 1989.

Locations

Landschulheim Marquartstein was situated on Marquartstein Castle for 30 years since it was founded. Male students had their dorms in a nearby farmhouse called ''Nockerhof''. The girls' boarding school was located at an estate in the village of

Grabenstätt Grabenstätt is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alp ...

about 10 kilometers away, which proved difficult at times in terms of transporting students between the two locations. In 1958, the school moved its facilities to the "new castle" ''(Neues Schloss)'' which was eventually purchased in 1965. After the increase of student numbers since the boarding school's reopening for girls, new buildings for specific purposes were built like a science tract with appropriate equipment for

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and a new

gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

References

External links

Hermann Harless’ Wirken in Marquartstein
{{Authority control Schools in Bavaria Boarding schools in Germany Gymnasiums in Germany