Zinnowwald School in Berlin 1937

Description

Germany 1937, Zinnowwaldschule in Berlin. Photo; licence article; Original: 5740×4315; Photographer: unknown; subject to licence; Rights: © Historiathek/Bleek/zb Media. The Zinnowwald School in Berlin was built in 1930 as a modern democratic reform school. Nature played an overriding role in the educational concept: living and learning in and with nature was one of the school’s goals, alongside music and theatre education. The young democratic Germany was looking for new forms of teaching: ‘Away from the learning school, away from the old authority education, towards the work school, education school, life school’, postulated Jens Nydahl, the city school councillor at the time. Consequently, such modern ideas of health and education also determined the school’s spatial programme: the classrooms are bright and as square as possible so that chairs and tables can be grouped freely. Various specialist science and craft rooms have been set up. The extent to which the concept of this reform school survived the Nazi era remains to be researched. The images come from film footage by the American documentary filmmaker J. Bryan, which was scanned by the history library. They show children in handicraft lessons.