The Hennebergische Gymnasium "Georg Ernst" (HGS) is a public grammar school with Alumnat (boarding school, privately sponsored) in the Thuringian city of Schleusingen. Founded in June 1577 by the Georg Ernst, Earl of Henneberg, it is one of the oldest continuously operated high schools in Germany.Peter Nestler/Bernd Vent: Festschrift zum 425-jährigen Jubiläum des Hennebergischen Gymnasiums „Georg Ernst“ zu Schleusingen, S. 10
The Gymnasium sees itself as a humanistic school. Since 2002, however, the focus of the education has been in the mathematical-scientific areas.
History
In 1446, a school under ecclesiastical responsibility was mentioned for the first time in Schleusingen. Both students and teachers had to perform activities on behalf of the city and the church. Since 1502 there is evidence of a Latin school. In 1508, the royal educator Johann Jäger is named the first schoolmaster. After the Reformation, (presumably in 1556) the school relocated to the building of the Barfüsserklosters in the Klosterstrasse, the same location where it can be found today. The last governing Earl of Henneberg, Georg Ernst, issued a school ordinance in 1560, which turned the city school into a royal regional school. He also set a curriculum beginning of June 1569, after which, in addition to the Liberal Arts also the Christian religion should be taught according to the Augsburg Confession. Two exams were to be held each year. In 1577, he founded the Schleusinger Gymnasium from the public Latin School.Festschrift zum 425-jährigen Jubiläum des Hennebergischen Gymnasiums „Georg Ernst“ zu Schleusingen, S. 10–11
Above the entrance to the cellar, in the archway, is the oldest stone of the main building, on which the inscription "illustre Gymn" and the year number 1715 can be seen. In the 16th century, it was customary to refer to a school that taught a complete humanistic course as "illustre". It could correspond to the teaching of the lower faculty of a university.
Establishment of the Alumnat (boarding school)
Immediately after the founding of the Gymnasium, Georg Ernst also donated a "nursing and educational institution at the Gymnasium", which was opened on October 14, 1577, with 30 students.Festschrift zum 425-jährigen Jubiläum des Hennebergischen Gymnasiums „Georg Ernst“ zu Schleusingen, S. 12 With this, Georg Ernst took the support of children and adolescents of poorer classes into his own hands. Additionally, there were scholarships that allowed the graduates to visit a university.
A large room in the former monastery served as the communal apartment. To regulate the coexistence, special regulations were introduced. These "Leges speciales", the school's oldest housing rules, remained unchanged throughout the entire first century of the school's existence.
Many graduates of the Gymnasium later studied in Leipzig. Through many studious and diligent students, after only a few decades, the school had acquired such an extraordinary reputation that around 1616 a Leipzig professor coined the phrase: "Haud fumos vendit Schleusinga - Schleusingen does not sell smoke". Due to financial constraints, the housing community had to be closed in 1637 for seven years and at reopening it initially only served as a meal catering institution for students. During the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) most of the establishment had deteriorated and had to be rebuilt.Festschrift zum 425-jährigen Jubiläum des Hennebergischen Gymnasiums „Georg Ernst“ zu Schleusingen, S. 12–17
Andreas Reyher as Rector (1632-1639)
The rectorate of Andreas Reyhers in the middle of the Thirty Years' War fell into a difficult phase of the school's existence. His activities at the Gymnasium Schleusingen were crucial for his educational employment in the following years in Gotha, which made him a well-known personality of Thuringian education and school history.
The war also affected the county of Henneberg: plague, pestilence, famine and the increasing lack of contributions to the Landschulkasse due to the incompetence of the county offices made it difficult not only the parents of students but also the school itself to be able to raise the funding. Nevertheless, Reyher wanted to reform teaching methods and published his own writings on school practice. In particular, his contributions to Greek grammar, arithmetic, and geometry enriched school life. Furthermore, he renewed the school laws and promoted theatrical performances and the integration of pedagogical approaches of Comenius, Ratke and his students Helwig and Evenius. This found in a book printed in Schleusingen on education with the title "Palaeomathia". „Palaeomathia“ fand bislang wenig Beachtung in der Literatur zur Geschichte der Pädagogik fand. According to Reyer, a teacher attains dignity and authority through humanity, wisdom, justice, and knowledge, and should be mindful of each student's progress, rich or poor. Andreas Reyher was in regular correspondence with scholars of his time and was also mentioned by name in a letter from Comenius to his university teacher (1633). Early on, it was possible to recognize a devotion to pedagogical realism, which in the following years brought subject focused lessons to the forefront. An example of this is his writing "Kurtzer Unterricht von natürlichen Dingen", which includes subjects related to the teaching of sciences.
After the division of the Ernestinian lands in 1640, Reyher was appointed to be the organizer of the Saxony-Gotha school system by Duke Ernst the Pious and made rector of the Residenzstadt.Festschrift zum 425-jährigen Jubiläum des Hennebergischen Gymnasiums „Georg Ernst“ zu Schleusingen, S. 18–20
Until the End of the 19th Century
With the administrative reform for the joint administration of the city of Schleusingen by Saxon princes, the school was run as a "Gemeinschaftliches Hennebergisches Gymnasium". Poverty dominated the country and this did also leave marks at the school. However, despite a lack of teaching materials and a low number of students, the grammar school and the Alumnat were able to maintain the reputation of the "illustre gymnasium" through the 18th century.
The most important teacher at the beginning of the 18th century was Christian Juncker. For almost twelve years he worked as a vice principal. Political regimes and divisions of the country favored a poor financial position of the Gymnasium in the years between 1815 and 1840. Only when 1841 Saxony-Meiningen renounced the co-administration and the exemptions in the Alumnat, was the school appointed "Royal Prussian Henneberg Gymnasium and Alumnat". It retained this title until 1918. Throughout the centuries, the lessons were still held in the building of 1502. Over time, its structural condition had deteriorated enormously. September 10, 1870, marks the beginning of the construction of a new school building. In early May 1874, students were finally able to move into this building, called the "box".Festschrift zum 425-jährigen Jubiläum des Hennebergischen Gymnasiums „Georg Ernst“ zu Schleusingen, S. 22 ff.
German Empire and Weimar Republic
At the beginning of the 20th century, the political development increasingly determined teaching content and everyday school life. The school year began after the Easter holidays in April. Special highlights in the school year were the Sedanfest, the ceremony for Luther's birthday, the Eccefeier (a celebration to remember former students, teachers, affiliates, who have died in the previous 12 months) and the celebration of the Emperor's birthday. There were also communion celebrations, excursions, swimming festivals, Advent and Christmas celebrations. The Alumni used their free time to explore Schleusingen and the surrounding area. A popular destination were the local glass and porcelain factories. Around 1907 the school was given a new ambiance by Gymnasium director Orth. Greek sculptures now adorned the corridors, rooms were painted colorfully, and the auditorium received gothic elements. The Gymnasium was the cultural center of the city; student theater-, music-, and sports events were open to the public. Professor Franke facilitated a workshop for woodworking and metalworking, where students made benches and signposts for the Thuringian Forest and demonstration equipment for physics and mathematics lessons.Festschrift zum 425-jährigen Jubiläum des Hennebergischen Gymnasiums „Georg Ernst“ zu Schleusingen, S. 32 ff.
With the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, many students volunteered for military service. As early as the following month, on September 8, 1914, the lessons for the higher grades were suspended, due to a lack of students. In the first year of the war, 24 of its former students fell. It was difficult to maintain school operations with so many of the students and teachers fighting at the front. Due to the increasing impoverishment, fewer and fewer foreign parents were able to bear the costs for Education and Alumnat, resulting in the number of students falling drastically. While there had been 171 students in 1913, in 1916 there were only 96 left.
After the First World War, the new, social-democratic state government of Thuringia reformed the school system again, but a large part of the teachers resisted this modernization. Pentecost 1923, the first female student was admitted.
Third Reich and Post-War Period In a structural extension in 1928, the Direktorenhaus (Principal's building) was added to the southwest wing of the main building. As a result, the space in the Alumnat could be increased considerably. At the beginning of the thirties, the political movement of the "Third Reich" entered the city; with the assumption of office of Hitler in the year 1933, it also entered into the school life. The school was to be aligned with the political directives of the time. It became compulsory to attend rallies. Racial education was introduced as a mandatory subject, the successful completion of which was a prerequisite for graduation.
Towards the end of the war, the school operations were discontinued but could be resumed by October 1945. After setting up a girls' boarding school in 1946 in the Georg-Neumark-street, the school was renamed "Max-Greil-Oberschule" in 1947. The school now only taught four grades (9 through 12), while the lower grades from then on were taught at the local middle school.
After the German Reunification, the lessons at the school again commenced in grade 5.Festschrift zum 425-jährigen Jubiläum des Hennebergischen Gymnasiums „Georg Ernst“ zu Schleusingen, S. 65 ff., 87 ff.
Time in the GDR Since 1946, girls had their own accommodation in today's Alumnatsgebäude, the boys were, as had been customary, on the second floor of the main school building. From 1948 only students from the ninth grade onwards attended the Gymnasium, so there was no more need for a house mistress. The coexistence in the boarding school was instead regulated by a boarding school initiative and various commissions for cultural design. In the fifties, students from different parts of the GDR came to Schleusingen. Including some celebrities of the time: Three daughters of Hermann Henselmann (chief architect Berlin Stalin Hall), the daughter of Theodor Brugsch (personal physician Ulbricht) and a niece of Horst Sindermann.