Conference Contribution Details
Mandatory Fields
Conacher, JE
Annual Conference of the German Studies Association of Ireland (GSAI)
Life lessons from the classroom: Representations of subject teachers in GDR literature
National University of Ireland Galway
National Refereed Conference Paper
2015
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1
Optional Fields
13-NOV-15
14-NOV-15
Given the declaration by Alexander Dymschitz, one of the main Soviet officers charged with directing cultural policy in the SBZ, that: “um Erzieher der Massen zu sein, muß der Dichter Pädagoge sein, ein Lehrer des Volkes” and the GDR’s subsequent commitment to Socialist Realism, it is unsurprising that the development “des neuen Menschen” played a central role in the country’s literature throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. Likewise, the transformation of the education system in the post-war period saw the staged implementation of democratic and socialist principles, culminating in the 1965 Education Act which assigned teachers responsibility for bringing up those in their charge “im Geiste des Sozialismus”. This paper explores the central role of education within GDR literature from the early 1950s onwards and outlines official efforts to break from traditional representations of the teacher figure prevalent in the early twentieth century, before examining the portrayal of teachers of specific subject disciplines such as history, maths and sport, which enjoyed particular ideological regard within the GDR. It analyses the promotion of official interpretations of Erziehung and Bildung, the emergence of particular teacher-student patterns and the impact of teacher attitudes and behaviours on the personal development of pupils and students both within the classroom environment and beyond.