Draft:Gymnasium Soltau

The Gymnasium Soltau is the only Gymnasium and one of the largest schools in the town of Soltau in Lower Saxony.

The Gymnasium was founded in 1893 as a private secondary school. After years of unsuccessful attempts at state recognition under principal Hans Christian Cordsen, the school was recognized as a state secondary school for boys by the National Socialist government on 1 April 1944. It has been known by its current name since 1956. After almost three years of construction, the multi-tract school building in Böhmewald was opened in 1958 and is still in use today.

The Gymnasium Soltau has had up to 1,400 students several times in its history, and after some restructuring, almost 1,000 students attend today. Volker Wrigge has been principal since 2015. The Gymnasium's logo is the Möbius strip, and a sculpture by Manfred Klatte adorns the school's entrance. Among other things, the school focuses on vocational preparation, exchange programs and various music and theater groups, which regularly perform in the auditorium of the Gymnasium.

School program
Pupils, teachers and parents have jointly developed a school program that outlines the school's guidelines and prospects for development. The program has been continuously updated and expanded since 2006 as part of a systematic quality development process based on the "School Quality in Lower Saxony" orientation framework.

It includes collected information on school development planning, current and historical framework conditions, current and planned projects and focal points in the areas of teaching and school life as well as statements on the school's cooperative relationships. The focus is also on the concept of challenge and support, which includes homework supervision by pupils for pupils and support for gifted pupils.

The Gymnasium's guiding principle is "Education is more than knowledge".

Foundation of the private high school (1893)
On February 20, 1893, almost twenty Soltau citizens gathered in what is now Hotel Meyn on Poststraße to discuss the founding of a private secondary school. 16 of them gave a written guarantee to support the school with annual payments totaling 4600 marks if necessary. The newly founded general assembly that evening, which was chaired two weeks later by District Administrator Wilhelm Heinichen, formulated the aims of the school in § 1 of its statutes with the words: "The school is to prepare boys for higher secondary and grammar schools and girls for girls' secondary schools or provide them with a complete education." After approval by the Royal Government on March 7, a sixth form with eleven pupils was established at Easter 1893, and classes began on April 11, 1893 with a small celebration. The elementary school offered a classroom for rent and teachers from the elementary school took over some of the lessons. Principal Christian Gerdes was responsible for the remaining lessons. However, Gerdes left the school on July 1, 1893 and was succeeded by 25-year-old Max Busse, who was to play a decisive role in the development of the school in the following years.

Development of the private school in the early years (1894-1922)
In the second school year of its existence in 1894/1895, the school already had three classes, despite the fact that private lessons continued to take place at home. The space situation was initially solved provisionally; in the summer of 1894, the superintendent made the confirmation hall and two small rooms in the parish hall (today's local history museum) available, after which rooms of the Soltau school community in Mühlenstraße were used. In February 1985, the board of trustees planned a small school building of its own on Rühberg, the opening of which was celebrated on October 15, 1895. After principal Busse returned to his home in Saxony in February 1899, there were several changes of principal and teacher in the following years for several reasons, which also led to a significant decline in pupil numbers.

It was only after Heinrich Aschermann took over the post in 1902 and held it for 21 years that the school's development began to recover. Even during the First World War, school life for the 116 pupils (school year 1913) largely continued as normal, including school trips and celebrations. However, some teachers and 26 former pupils of the Soltau private school were killed in action during the war. After the end of the war, the private secondary school found itself in difficulties due to the financial problems and unemployment of many citizens, the destruction of financial assets through inflation and simultaneously rising expenses. On October 28, 1920, principal Aschermann announced that the entire teaching staff had resigned due to inadequate salaries. The school fees then rose to 500 marks, which initially improved the situation somewhat, but the situation remained tense. A dispute in the press with the elementary school, which wanted to establish a secondary school to compete with the private school, further inflamed the situation. The middle school was finally founded in March 1921 and the number of pupils there grew rapidly.

Conversion into Privat-Realgymnasium (1923-1926)
On December 13, 1922, around forty parents came together for a general meeting to discuss the school's continued existence. This meeting marked an important milestone in the school's history. Not only was it decided that the private school would continue to exist and a commission was elected to support the board of trustees in the search for a successor to the principal - Aschermann had announced his retirement in April 1923 for health reasons - but it was also decided that the new principal should develop the school into a full institution so that it could award the Maturum (Abitur) itself in future. In January 1923, Hans Christian Cordsen was introduced as the new principal. The Soltauer Nachrichten commented on this the next day with the words: "Even the responsible government office in Lüneburg and his former school authority in Hamburg congratulate the board of trustees on having gained such an important schoolman for Soltau." For the new school year 1923/1924, the Höhere Privatschule was renamed Privat-Realgymnasium Soltau.

The spirit of optimism was tempered by the successful development of the secondary school. In 1923, more than 220 pupils were already attending this institution, and in January 1924 it was also decided to join the Realgymnasium Uelzen, which enabled pupils at the Soltau middle school to gain a university entrance qualification and gave the middle school a clear advantage over the private Realgymnasium. The extreme difficulties during the inflation - in 1923 the school fees were increased almost every two weeks, rising to 50 million marks in September - also made the situation more difficult. Thanks to the willingness of the parents and support from the district and town, the private school survived this period and also planned to join the Realgymnasium Lüneburg, which was approved by the government in Lüneburg on November 3, 1924. From then on, the Lüneburg principal visited the Soltau classes in class several times a year and held the state transfer examinations.

The higher private schools in Wietzendorf (1922-1926), Bispingen (1924-1935) and Neuenkirchen (1924-1937) founded by Soltau principal Cordsen briefly formed the substructure of the Soltau private school. After their dissolution, the pupils transferred to Soltau.

Establishment of a dormitory and unsuccessful request for state recognition (1927-1937)
However, the expansion into a state-recognized comprehensive school with the right to take the school-leaving examination quickly came to a standstill. Financial worries, bureaucratic obstacles, regional resistance and insufficient student numbers, particularly in the older classes, made this project seem almost impossible. But Cordsen did not give up and after the Ministry of Education in Berlin advised him in 1927 to set up a dormitory in order to reach the required number of students of around 220, he quickly began planning.

The Böhmewald dormitory began in 1927 with three pupils. It was initially housed at Viktoria-Luise-Straße 3, but there was only room for 18 pupils. However, the number of pupils grew quickly, so in November 1928 Cordsen rented the so-called Grünhagenhof, a residential building with annexes and a garden at Rosenstraße 10. Between May 1929 and May 1932, the building provided accommodation for 35 pupils and their teachers. At the same time, a few rooms were rented temporarily in the former Böhmewald Hotel at Bornemannstraße 20. After further negotiations, the school association bought the hotel building from the city on October 1, 1929, which also served as the new school building from January 10, 1930 after extensive renovation work. In addition, a building at Viktoria-Luise-Straße 1 was rented from December 1930. By 1931, the number of home school pupils (103) had already exceeded the number of local pupils (99), and the total number was approaching the number required for state recognition. The dormitory was therefore a complete success, even if it was more of a loss-making business for Cordsen due to the numerous moves and renovations.

At Easter 1931, the private school also had an upper primary school for the first time, but pupils still had to take their exams at a public school. Cordsen realized that state recognition could not be achieved for the time being. In addition to the general school policy of the time to reduce rather than increase the number of secondary schools, there were probably other reasons that prevented this. For example, the loss of state subsidies that would have come with recognition would have been financially unacceptable, and the school authorities were apparently concerned about the commitment of some pupils to the rising National Socialist movement. The desired recognition was therefore postponed.

In January 1934, Cordsen announced that in the course of 1932 and 1933 it had been decided that the upper school of the Soltau private school should be moved to Malente in Ostholstein. Unlike the Prussian government, the National Socialist government in Oldenburg allowed the school-leaving examinations to be held there. The rural boarding school Nordmark was to be run as a state National Socialist educational institution. After the NSDAP came to power in Prussia, Cordsen would probably have liked to let the Oldenburg permit rest, but the Eutin district president Böhmcker pushed for it to be carried out and by Christmas 1933 the way was clear for the foundation of the rural boarding school. Cordsen finally decided on Haus Waldfrieden in Sielbeck as the location. After a misunderstanding, it was initially not possible to take the school-leaving examination after all and after Cordsen's application for state recognition was not granted in January 1936 due to the students' poor performance, Cordsen closed the country school home again in October 1936 with considerable financial losses.

In 1937, Cordsen, together with the mayor Klapproth, made a new attempt to establish a state secondary school in Soltau. The town was celebrating its 1000th anniversary that year, the population had grown to 8,000 and numerous authorities were based in the town. However, this application was also rejected with the note "provisionally postponed". The main reason for this was presumably that Reich Minister of Education Bernhard Rust had not yet made a final decision on the reorganization of the secondary school system in Germany.

Recognition as a state secondary school by the National Socialists (1938-1944)
After the school reform and the establishment of German secondary schools at the beginning of the 1938/1939 school year, Cordsen, who initially had high hopes for the National Socialists' school reform, had become disillusioned. Nevertheless, he continued to pursue his goal of state recognition. Negotiations continued in 1938 and finally, on August 11, the Reich Minister decided that Soltau would receive a public secondary school, starting with the first year, at Easter 1939. However, the conditions for this were the clarification of the financing and a new school building, in particular a gymnasium. The private school was temporarily recognized by the state for the older year groups. The State-approved private secondary school for boys was initially to be given the name Hermann-Löns-Schule, but this was rejected by the pupils.

A meeting of representatives of the local, provincial and Reich authorities involved in Soltau on June 23, 1939 led to the conclusion that the private school should be converted into a public institution as soon as possible. The majority of the costs were to be covered by the state, with the town also contributing and, among other things, pledging a free plot of land for the planned new building. However, due to the start of the Second World War, nothing happened at first. In March 1942, the head teacher Schmadtke sounded the alarm, as the school's existence was in danger due to an extreme shortage of teachers - the private school was unable to employ any civil servants. The application for nationalization was sent to Berlin again on 1 April 1942 and was rejected for financial reasons. With the support of the local authorities, a new attempt was made in the same year, as the growing number of pupils could no longer be delayed.

In fact, something happened. The privately run school under the ill principal Cordsen was obviously no longer acceptable to the National Socialists. Rumors of a homosexual affair at the school, which led to several arrests, were also the reason for an unannounced school inspection on 8 December 1943 by the deputy Gauleiter Peper and the NSDAP district leader. This led to the following conclusion: "The school must be taken out of Professor Cordsen's hands immediately and converted into a home school under SS-Obergruppenführer Heißmeyer." Then things happened very quickly: Cordsen was asked to resign at the end of the year, which he complied with, and in January 1943 Schaeffer was appointed provisional head of the Soltau private school. The school, the school association and the pupils' home were brought into line and were now the sole responsibility of Mayor Klapproth.

On June 25, 1943, the Reich Minister of Education finally agreed to the establishment of a state secondary school in Soltau. Discussions about the financing of the new building and finally a bomb attack on the school department in Hanover in October 1943 caused further delays until approval was finally granted from Berlin on April 21, 1944. With retroactive effect from 1 April 1944, the state-approved private secondary school became the state secondary school for boys.

The Soltau secondary school during the Second World War (1939-1945)
Class 8, which existed for the first time in the 1940/1941 school year and whose pupils were to take the school's first school-leaving examinations in 1941, was dissolved in October 1940. 18 boys were drafted into military service and received a leaving certificate from the school. A year later, the next year group was also dissolved as the twelve boys were also drafted. On March 27, 1942, the only girl in the class received the first school-leaving certificate at the Soltau secondary school. In 1943 (one pupil) and 1944 (six pupils), only a small number of pupils took the examination due to the war. Numerous teachers were also called up for the war. In the years 1941 to 1944, a total of 70 pupils gained their university entrance qualification. Partly due to the bombing of Hamburg, the number of pupils continued to rise in 1943/1944 and the buildings on Bornemannstraße soon became overcrowded. The town of Soltau then bought two accommodation barracks from the Oerrel Air Force Ammunition Station, which were handed over to the school on May 3, 1944. As the war entered its final phase, some complete school classes from Hamburg came to Soltau in February 1944.

On September 9, 1944, all Soltau schools were closed so that they could be used to accommodate evacuees. The secondary school provided emergency accommodation for 400 people. Over the next few months, lessons were very limited and irregular. From April 1945, the Wehrmacht used the school building as a military hospital. On April 17, 1945, the town was taken by the Allies and the British military government took control. The school buildings were confiscated by the occupying forces.

New beginning and new construction (1946-1969)
The secondary school teacher Wilhelm Stietz acted as mediator and interpreter for the British governor and was later appointed provisional principal. All school lessons were banned until mid-October 1945, and teachers and teaching materials were thoroughly examined. From October, classes for grades 1-3 began again, taking place in the barracks. Classes 4-7 followed at the end of November, with a total of 304 pupils initially attending lessons. During the Christmas vacations of 1945/1946, the main building was refurnished; much of the furniture and materials had been looted. In February 1946, the dormitory also reopened its doors. Between October 1945 and December 1947, four "transitional courses" took place, in which a total of 128 participants from all areas of the Reich were given the opportunity to catch up on their school-leaving examinations. The number of pupils increased rapidly over the next few months (536 pupils at Easter 1946), particularly due to the arrival of displaced people. Teaching in the post-war years was made particularly difficult by the lack of food and teaching materials of all kinds and the shortage of space. The construction of three more barracks on the school grounds in the following years did little to alleviate the latter. Plans for a new secondary school building were presented in 1952. After the district of Soltau took over management of the school on September 30, 1954 and bought the planned site in Böhmewald from the town, the foundation stone was laid on December 9, 1955. The completion of the classroom wings and the handing over of the keys, which had actually been planned for spring 1957, took place on October 8, 1958. The new sports hall was also opened in autumn 1959.

Due to the Düsseldorf Agreement of 1955, the Soltau secondary school was renamed Gymnasium Soltau as early as Easter 1956. Due to the financial problems of many families, the school had to cope with declining pupil numbers, and at Easter 1957 the school was finally closed due to the impending move. The 1959/1960 school year was the first in which school fees no longer had to be paid.

Growth and reforms (1970-1989)
The assembly hall and thus the originally planned overall complex were finally completed in 1970, when there were already new space problems in the spacious new building. As the number of pupils had now reached 1000 and continued to rise, individual specialist rooms had to be converted into classrooms and a small extension was added to Wing C. Nevertheless, several temporary classes were set up and some classes later had to be moved to the rooms of the neighboring vocational school. In addition, from 1969 onwards there was a severe shortage of teachers throughout Lower Saxony, which led to large classes and increased absenteeism. In grades 11 to 13, a division was made into a linguistic and a mathematical-physical focus, usually three classes (linguistic-Latin, linguistic-French and mathematical) were taken to complete the Abitur.

In accordance with the spirit of the times, there were also a number of smaller and larger conflicts and protests between teachers and pupils in Soltau during this period. The federal and state governments passed numerous school reforms that also affected The Gymnasium in Soltau.

From 1971, two classes with pupils from Schneverdingen were taught directly on site, resulting in the Schneverdingen Cooperative Comprehensive School in 1976. On August 1, 1980, the last possible date, the orientation level was established in the old district of Soltau. Grades 5 and 6 were therefore no longer part of the Gymnasium. In 1982, two of the seven 7th grades were taught in a newly opened branch at the school center in Munster, from which the independent Gymnasium Munster was created on August 1, 1986. These measures and the lower birth rates led to a halving of pupil numbers from over 1400 (1979) to just under 700 (1989). The problems of teaching absenteeism and lack of space were thus significantly alleviated for the time being - also due to extensive conversions and extensions (departments, forum) that had already been approved in 1974 but were only completed in 1986.

Recent development (since 1990)
The Förderverein des Gymnasium Soltau e.V. was founded in 1997 and supports the school in purchasing teaching materials and financing various projects, among other things. The members of the association also run the school's coffee shop.

When the orientation levels were abolished again at the end of the 2003/04 school year, the Gymnasium's student numbers grew by 50 percent due to the re-admission of grades 5 and 6. Grade 11 (and later grade 10) were moved to the former buildings of Orientierungsstufe I on Rosenstraße.

The Gymnasium has been an open all-day school since 2003. In 2007, a canteen was opened in the Böhmewald school center for joint use by the Gymnasium and secondary school students (formerly Hauptschule and Realschule). In the same year, the decision was made to demolish and rebuild the now outdated sports hall. The modern single-field hall with solar panels was built with funds from the second economic stimulus package and opened on November 11, 2011. At the same time, the science wing (atrium) was also extended and modernized.

Over the next few years, pupil numbers rose to 1363 (school year 2007/2008). Since then, the numbers have been declining, and the allocation of Bispingen pupils to the Gymnasium in Munster also brought relief. In 2011, the district adult education center therefore took over the building on Rosenstraße, where the Gymnasium now only uses four classrooms and a music room.

In 2009, the library was modernized and developed into a self-study center in collaboration with the Waldmühle library. From summer 2013, the three classroom wings were extensively renovated and the aim was also to equip all classrooms digitally. The assembly hall was then completely renovated in spring 2014.[29] In the first half of 2015, a break hall and a third music room were built directly adjacent to the forum, which can also be used together for events with up to 150 people.

The Gymnasium celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2018 with a ceremony followed by a school party and several concerts, including one with the NDR Big Band. The highlight was a radio contact with astronaut Alexander Gerst on the International Space Station, which was prepared by a group of pupils as part of the ARISS project and carried out on October 23.

Building
The main building on Ernst-August-Straße in Böhmewald is divided into three long, two-storey wings, a science wing designed as an atrium and a main wing, which houses the administration and staff room, among other things. In the forum, which is used for events and as a recreation area, there is a cafeteria run by the pupils; a canteen is run in the immediate vicinity of the main building together with the Soltau secondary school. The building also houses the district education office in the A wing. A new sports hall was built in 2010, and most recently a small break hall was built in the schoolyard. Some rooms in the building of the former orientation level I on Rosenstraße were also used temporarily to compensate for the lack of space. In addition to the new sports hall at the Gymnasium, the sports hall on Rosenstraße is also used for sports lessons.

The Gymnasium's auditorium regularly hosts theater and music events. It offers a professional theater stage and has a capacity for 530 visitors.

Close to the school are the Hindenburgstadion and the Soltau-spa, both of which are used for sports lessons.

Facilities and services
Latin, French and, since 2021, Spanish are offered as a second foreign language alongside English from year six. Russian is also available as an option from Year 8 onwards. Bilingual history lessons are also part of the curriculum.

Special subject rooms are available for music, art, chemistry, physics, biology and geography, as well as two language laboratories and a computer room.

A self-study center was opened in June 2009. In cooperation with the Waldmühle library, it offers a so-called student center, where special books are offered for individual subjects.

Study and career preparation
The Gymnasium has made great efforts since 1994 to work with local companies as part of its careers guidance program. Every year, the school hosts the Study and Career Information Days (BIT), where pupils can exchange ideas with speakers from all professional fields. Further links, particularly in the placement of internships, exist with local companies and the editorial office of the Böhme Zeitung (Böhme newspaper). Furthermore, cooperation agreements have been concluded with the TU Hamburg and the Suderburg site of the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences. For this commitment, the school received the "proBeruf! - Schule-Wirtschaft" award in 2005 In addition, there is a STEM class (focusing on mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology). It takes part in numerous competitions, such as the Daniel Düsentrieb competition or Jugend Baut.

Social affairs and health
In 2009, the school was recognized as a School without Racism - School with Courage. It also won the "Fair brings more" competition under the patronage of the Minister President of Lower Saxony. Addiction and violence prevention campaigns (steps against kicks) are also part of the school program. Other projects include participation in the Soltau association for gifted children and the establishment of a quiet room for teachers and pupils to relax. The health management concept is currently being revised.

Art and culture
The school participates in the Comenius programme and also regularly organizes exchanges with partner schools in Rennes (France), Tynset (Norway), Myślibórz (Poland), Uherské Hradiště (Czech Republic) and Smolensk (Russia).

The student company uniqART, which has been designing, producing and selling various textile items, has existed since 2012.

The Gymnasium Soltau also values its numerous musical working groups (e.g. big band, orchestra, choir), which organize a large concert twice a year. Theater and musical performances by the students are also a tradition. In addition, there is currently a wind class in which all pupils learn an instrument.

Principal

 * 1893: Christian Gerdes
 * 1893-1899: Max Busse
 * 1899: Oskar Deppe
 * 1899-1900: Martin Wilbrandt
 * 1900-1902: Reinhold Ungefroren
 * 1902-1923: Heinrich Aschermann
 * 1923-1942: Hans Christian Cordsen
 * 1943-1945: Wilhelm Schaeffer
 * 1945-1946: Wilhelm Stietz ( temporary)
 * 1946-1954: Wilhelm Weber
 * 1954-1960: Wilhelm Geiger
 * 1960-1962: Carl Böse
 * 1962: Hermann Buse (temporary)
 * 1962-1969: Helmut Büngener
 * 1969-1994: Karl-Heinz Liebe
 * 1994-1999: Hermann Wulfert
 * 2000-2006: Jutta Wolf
 * 2006: Uwe Neumann (temporary)
 * 2006-2014: Ursula Tiedemann
 * 2014-2015: Ulrike Begemann (temporary)
 * since 2015: Volker Wrigge

Well known teachers

 * Otto Calliebe (1893-1976), NS functionary
 * Willi Eggers (1911-1979), author and poet in Low German
 * Arnold Kirsch (1922-2013), mathematics educator
 * Jürgen Kroymann (1911-1980), classical philologist

Well known students

 * Hans-Christian Biallas (1956-2022), politician and member of the Lower Saxony state parliament
 * Mijk van Dijk (* 1963) ( real name Michael van den Nieuwendijk), DJ and music producer of electronic music
 * Michael Farin (* 1953), Germanist, publisher and author
 * Peter Goerke-Mallet (* 1955), mining engineer and mine surveyor at Ibbenbüren mine
 * Klaus Klang (* 1956), politician and state secretary
 * Gesine Meißner (* 1952), politician and Member of the European Parliament
 * Karsten Möring (* 1949), politician and member of the German Bundestag
 * Helge Röbbert (* 1966), mayor of Soltau
 * Andrea Schröder-Ehlers (* 1961), politician and member of the Lower Saxony state parliament
 * Martin Visbeck (* 1963), university lecturer and climate researcher
 * Nathalie Volk (* 1997), model and reality show participant
 * Lutz Winkelmann (* 1956), politician and member of the Lower Saxony state parliament
 * Wolfgang von Gahlen-Hoops (* 1974), nursing scientist and university lecturer at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel