Henderson, James L.; (1955) The career of Adolf Reichwein: a study in socio-political tensions in German education between 1918 and 1945. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), University of London.

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Abstract

An attempt is here made to reflect on educational history in the light of biography. It is a study of the career of Adolf Reichwein (1898-1944) and his relationship to certain social and educational tendencies in Germany between 1918 and 1945. The work begins with a sketch of the Kaiserreich and the kind of education at home and at school, which young Germans of the pre-1914 era experienced. The story of Reichwein’s early years and as a 'Wandervogel' is traced, and some attention is paid to criticism levelled against traditional forms of German education after 1890. The first chapter closes with an account of Reichwein's participation in the World War of 1914-1918. His student days and first marriage are then considered against the background of the early days of the Weimar Republic, considerable emphasis being placed on the meaning of ’Kulturpolitik' and the significance of the 'Akademische Vereinigung-Marburg'. Reichwein's entry into the field of Adult Education is described, first as an administrative assistant in Berlin and then as organiser and lecturer in Thuringia. (Chapters II and III) The fourth chapter gives a picture of Reichwein the traveller, airman and storyteller and is intended as a preparation for presenting him once again in a professional capacity as Becker's Press-Secretary in Berlin and as a teacher at the Teachers’ Training College in Halle, this period lasting until his dismissal by the National-Socialists in 1933- (Chapter V). The whole of Chapter VI is taken up with a detailed analysis and evaluation of Reichwein’s theory and practice as headmaster of a village Primary school. Chapter VII tells the story of his activities between 1939, when he was put in charge of the schools’ section of the Deutsches Volksmuseum in Berlin, and 1944 when, after engaging in the German Resistance Movement, he was caught and hanged by the National-Socialists. The last chapter offers an analysis of totalitarianism and seeks to show the impossibility of resistance to it in any but transcendental terms - the tragic predicament in which Reichwein himself was finally involved.

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