Records of German Educational Reconstruction

This material is held atInstitute of Education Library and Archives, University College London

Scope and Content

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.

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 the War 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.

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.

Access Information

Open

Open, subject to signature of Reader Application Form.

Other Finding Aids

Electronic and paper catalogues.

Alternative Form Available

Microform of unpublished material.

Conditions Governing Use

A reader wishing to publish any quotation of information, including pictorial, derived from any archive material must apply in writing for prior permission from the Archivist or other appropriate person(s) as indicated by the Archivist. A limited number of photocopies may be supplied at the discretion of the Archivist.

Related Material

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

A paper 'German GER Guests impressions of British Education 1947-1950' written by Miss L J Anderson can be found in the Ronald Wilson Collection in WIL/4/2/3/5.