Graphical version

Institute of Education

German Educational Reconstruction


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0366 GER

Held at: Institute of Education

Title: German Educational Reconstruction

Date(s): 1943-1958

Level of description: collection

Extent: c 40 boxes

Name of creator(s): German Educational Reconstruction

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

German Educational Reconstruction (GER) was a voluntary organisation founded in London in 1943 with the aim of helping German refugee educationists to prepare for their post-war return to Germany. The main consideration was the restructuring of the German school system on 'democratic principles'. After World War Two the emphasis shifted toward promoting Anglo-German relations by acting as an information bureau and means of communication and exchange between British and German educationists. GER undertook a wide variety of activities, including organising conferences, lectures, and study groups; co-operating with other voluntary bodies; arranging visits and youth work; publishing and distributing memoranda, pamphlets and textbooks. Several prominent figures were associated with GER, including Eleanor Rathbone, Sir Ernest Barker, Karl Mannheim, Fritz Borinski, S.H. Wood, Erich Hirsch and Fritz Burchardt. It was wound up in 1958.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of German Educational Reconstruction, 1943-1958, including minutes; correspondence, administrative and policy files; bulletins, reports and memoranda; files on conferences, meetings and group visits; material relating to a wide range of other organisations; and press cuttings and collected publications.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

In 1973 the SSRC awarded a grant to Dr Arthur Hearnden of the Department of Comparative Education at the Institute of Education to catalogue and undertake research into the collection. The reorganisation of the collection was carried out by Miss L.J. Anderson, Research Assistant in the Department of Comparative Education. The work was completed in 1977.

Conditions governing access:

Open.

Conditions governing reproduction:

The entire collection was micofilmed as part of the cataloguing/research project. In 1981 the Institute signed an agreement with a German firm for the publication and sale of this for a period of three years. The Library retains copyright.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Microfilm copies available.

Related material:

Publications of GER are held by the Institute of Education Library in a Special Collection entitled 'The German Collection'.

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Date(s) of descriptions: Created 10/29/1999, modified 12/5/2000


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Educational reform | Educational development
Exchange programmes | Educational programmes
International cooperation | International politics
Refugees | Migrants
War devastated countries | International conflicts

Personal names
Barker | Sir | Ernest | 1874-1960 | Knight | historian and political thinker
Borinski | Fritz | fl 1943-1958 | member of GER
Burchardt | Fritz Adolf Fritz | 1902-1958 | statistician
Hirsch | Eric | fl 1943-1958 | member of GER
Mannheim | Karl | 1893-1947 | sociologist
Rathbone | Eleanor Florence | 1872-1946 | independent MP and social reformer
Wood | S H | fl 1943-1958 | member of GER

Corporate names
German Educational Reconstruction

Places
Germany | Western Europe | Europe
Germany FR | Western Europe | Europe