Textbooks For Germany

...I pei -M*aM> had enough experience when we younger touch-rri tried, after the last world war, to create a new gen-nation in Germany by means of education...

...wheels cast bo written esdy by Germane wh* *»'· lived osrtsMq: who were never swhi*eted t* mewtrination and mental a* WsB S* Smysicsl •see¦ seism...

...There is one cou-trttt answer: We can prepare textbooks for th* schools *f s future democratic Germany...

...In former German textbooks, all these topics appeared only on the sidelines...

...German teachers, particularly hi the secondary schools »nd the universities, hsve a Hack record in this respect...

...It traces this evolution in three volumes, from the dawn of history and the Mediterranean civilization, through the era of the hegemony of western Europe, to the struggle for and the beginning of cooperation in one world...

...but even the best history texts of that period did not effectively foster the ideals of the Weimar constitution, the spirit of democracy and international conciliation...

...Berman,Fischer, owner of the fam...

...Looking forward to "one world" based on social-minded democracy and international cooperation, the history text places Germany in the right perspective as one, but not the central, nation in the development of mankind...

...Berlin publishing firm of S. Fischer, now in tVork, invited me to talk th* problem over with At hia suggestion I developed a comprehensive list of texts which according to my view should be provided for the moment of Naxi defeat...

...C. B. Fiacher, th* pabMshtr, stands ready to furnish Germany with •millions" ef the new textbooks Dr...

...Then in tka auminor ef 1948, Dr...

...It baa been Hid that Garaaan teachers who have gone through the tnieal of Nazism should write them immediately after safest...

...We do not want to produce program...

...That is certainly ksrniir.i...

...In the Nszi schools they have evidently been need awe widely, to make it impossible for the teacher •r the aliments to deviate from the dogmatic party Kne...

...It then pointed at the resulting pietur* and asked whether anything (ttU k* don* to readjust those twisted minds...

...A good ,niBy (uggeetiona have been volunteered, ranging all the way from complete negation of such ? possibility tt rosy confidence in nil kinds of administrative and tmchmg devices...

...sann publisher sasw active in this country, *r*> doing WMeelhinj pr»c ileal about the matter of th* re-education ef Germany...

...of the books has to be taken ears of wise-*sw...

...scend, because after' 12 years in the great Nazi **mcentration camp called Germany, no Gorman, how-*"* »*»'<-minded, can hare ? clear view of world...

...the inner resurrection of Germany will depend on the conditions of life and work in postwar Germany, and on the incentive* which they provide for s regeneration of the lost spirit of humanity...

...atat* of the German mind aa It had been jijsaad since the time of Biemarck, and paitieulai I y in ?, ?··* Vi yenrs under the influence of Nati lndoe-uiMti— in sfhnsss and nnivaraitiea, in th* Hitler foxth, m labor cam pa, in vocational and profeaaional caepe...

...Thus a really standardised technique of textbook writing has never existed...

...They could easily be reprinted...

...But though the texts were less vital to instruction in Germany than in America, the schools could not do without them entirely: they were ssed almost everywhere in a selective way...

...We are adding selected writings of philosophers, historians, scientists, engineers, etc., in order to draw a representative picture of each period of German culture...

...Great pssssgss from other nations' literature art freely Inserted, limy are to Impress the German students with the tenth that great ideas are not produced by any one national group alone, that many nations have slwnys contributed and more will do so in the future...

...In readers for the upper grades of the secondary schools, the attempt is made to represent in a comprehensive and fair way the periods of development of the German mind...

...But books ana education will have their place as a means of interpreting life and enabling the Germane to formulate and unify their democratic ideals...

...There were even a few excep-wiial ..bonis which used almost none...

...Frits Karten, well known German Social Democrat, was—before the darn ef Hitler—Professor of Education hi th* University af Berlin snd Director In charge ef the experimental educational institutions of the Frns-aian Government in Herlin Neukolln Th* project ef producing in this country textbook* for fstore democratic Germsn schools originated with him...

...And all textbooks, after 12 years of great change In every field, are at best hopelessly instated...

...Indoctrination with the spirit of allegiance to the t- nearer and with racism and militariem has svrraded every printed pes**, not only of the history basalts, bat also of the texts ia asatheasatica and natural science...

...If the German people, given hope of resurrection after years of unbelievable misery, can find in these books the world, now strange to them, in which they will have to live again, they will sooner or later turn to them naturally as their only guide...

...A small group of on had thought of it in a rnther abttehy way whan th* tide of battle first turned, but lack of fund* forced us to drop our plans...

...new texts necessary...

...Today I am again asking myself: fflat can we do in a practical way...

...Which texts are the most important...

...Who should prepare the new texts...

...Would it be advisable to restore the textbooks of tat Weimar republic to use in the schools...

...Textbooks have never played the same decisive role in Germany as in the school ? ? if this country...

...nor obtain one until after a rather long pet ted •f mental adjustment...

...The individual tterhei largely handled the interpretation of his field...

...Our propans were admirable, but they never led very far...

...havo not last their attaches*** to all the** human valoea which pre Nasi Germany ¦••"t t* them...

...Will German teachers and German youth consider those books ss forced upon them and reject them...

...Some time ago we heard that this kad been done on a small scale when the first four trade* opened again in Aachen...

...Ony patient, practical experiments, however, achieved is sauch as could reasonably be expected under the pre- ' raili"ir conditions...

...rherrfnc, staterial for, immediate as* in i.e...

...Otherwise not a few Naxi teachers parading » the guise of democrats, together with Nasi students, "i" >»· in a position to sabotage the best Intentions responsibls leaders...

...on the Labor Front, in the army and in all fchnh ol special groups and inatitutiona...

...The publisher has insisted that books in those fields should be completed first The others will follow...

...In the last volume, specisl consideration is given to the history and the political, social, economic and cultural set-up of the United States, Latin America, the New Russia, the British Empire and the Near and Far East...

...Fritz Konen Reeducation in Germany THE very extensive dtscusskm which has centered v<Mmo the problem of the ra-edocntion of Ger-lumj, has letealfiii no far on a rather theoretical jpajta, |t tried, in a more or leaa imaginative way to lllfjg.tk...

...win hnvo settled in ? foreign comvtry tad rlnsn to a world view af human at airs, and "»* though free ftwm all narrow minded national »*»l«ewe...

...This suggestion seems unacceptable for two reason*: First, because the interval between defeat and the templet...

...Miracles cannot be achieved by the ideas alone...

...There can tie no doubt that world history is most essential, and that literature is a very elose second...

...While others are talking, a group of Gersten ? hours, a misted by ? Cat...

...There are none, therefore, which can conceivably he used for even *ne day after the downfall of Nazism in sny conquered area of Germany...

...Oar attitude toward* the German problem ia totally liferent...

...Writers who like Heinrich Heine were banned under the Nazis, are prominently presented as the tm* expression of the Germsn spirit...

...The usual school collections contained poets and poetry—and hardly anything else...

...Due to his initial ? vc we finally started work about a year ago...