Bildung und Demokratie in der Weimarer Republik

When the Weimar Constitution was adopted in 1919, a number of compromises were made in educational matters, setting the course for the future of the Republic. This concerned not only the education of children and adolescents within the school system but also adult education, for which new foundations were established. The core of this holistic approach was the awareness that the Republic had to actively engage in the education of its citizens in order to transform the subjects of the monarchy into citizens of the Republic. At the same time, school education remained a matter for the states, and the question of the 'right' education became a matter of ideology. This contributed to the further politicization of educational issues and prevented the compromises of the early years from evolving into a consensus on education.

The authors highlight these controversies, as well as important achievements in the fields of school and political education. Alongside the strong politicization of educational issues and education policy, it is also evident that the Republic was by no means a 'Republic without Republicans' in this area, and that many of the achievements of the first German democracy were revisited after 1945.