Slates are the tablets of yesteryear

Birgit Raddatz & Kai-Uwe Hacker from the Ebersdorf School Museum

Leather satchels, historic school desks and technical equipment: a visit to the Ebersdorf School Museum is a journey into the past. This is made possible by an association whose members have been preserving the school's historical heritage for more than 30 years. Association chairwoman Birgit Raddatz and her deputy Kai-Uwe Hacker talk about this largely voluntary work.

What is the concept behind the Ebersdorf School Museum?

Kai-Uwe Hacker: School as it was 100 years ago. We take the fourth-graders, who are studying the subject in science lessons, on a tour of the museum and I give a 45-minute lesson. We talk about how children used to dress, what satchels looked like and what writing utensils were available. For example, the old bread bag is also put on. The children sometimes think that the mobile phone goes in there.

Where did you get the many exhibits from?

Raddatz : Initially, there was a collection of historical artefacts from the Ebersdorf school's work group. After reunification, many schools provided us with materials that were no longer needed. We also received support from the education authority. We travelled around when some schools were closed or renovated and collected what we could carry. Roll-up pictures, for example. How scary do you think it was when containers were placed under the classroom windows and the teaching materials that had been so carefully guarded for so long flew out of the window?

Hacker : Even today, private individuals still often get in touch, for example when they are clearing out their parents' or grandparents' household. They bring boxes and often just say: Take what you want.

The museum is located in the old town hall of Ebersdorf, which was inaugurated on 20 June 1914. However, Ebersdorf was incorporated into Chemnitz in 1919. Since then, the building has been home to many institutions: Local council, village policeman and, after the Second World War, the LPG and the mothers' counselling service, among others, and later the savings bank. When the after-school care centre of the Ebersdorf school moved from the upper floor to what is now the primary school, the association campaigned to be allowed to use the rooms. The museum finally moved in in 2000. Before that, the association used the old Ebersdorf school. After its closure, the school museum existed on wheels and was a guest, for example, in the Schlossberg Museum.

What can visitors discover in the school museum?

Hacker: We are a museum for experiencing and understanding. The most important room is our old classroom, the school parlour. Some of the benches are over 100 years old. In the small Ebersdorf room, we display old class photos, among other things. The second largest room is the subject cabinet with exhibits dating back to around 1900, where visitors can find out what subjects used to be taught, such as natural history, manual and domestic work, physical education and arithmetic.

Raddatz: There is also the room for the special exhibitions and for school after 1945, as well as the event room on the ground floor, which we use for the museum night and for activity programmes. Or for pupils who come to us to do research for their history lessons or assignments.

Hacker: And in the technology room, all the equipment that was once used in a school in Chemnitz or Karl-Marx-Stadt is on display. Picture projectors, Polylux, tape recorders, a gramophone. These include rarities such as the television from the club room of the Ebersdorf school from 1956.

The school parlour is the heart of your museum?

Hacker: Definitely. The fourth classes have the 'School in the past' module in their science lessons. The school parlour is perfect for this. As an extracurricular place of learning, we work for pupils and teachers, so to speak.

Raddatz: We offer lessons that accompany the curriculum. That is our aspiration. We would like to see more appreciation from the relevant authorities.

The classroom is equipped like a real classroom. The most important school rules are written in Sütterlin on the blackboard and there are slates on the wooden benches. On the wall is a map of Ebersdorf from 1926, which a teacher once drew himself.

What is the content covered?

Hacker: We build on the curriculum, but also dispel myths. For example, donkey caps were not common as a punishment in our region. Unfortunately, that's what many school textbooks say.

Raddatz : But there were still punishments that violated honour, such as the penalty box or standing in the corner. Older people tell us that this existed in the other occupation zones until well after 1945. In the former GDR, corporal punishment was forbidden.

How do you deal with this difficult topic with the fourth-graders?

Hacker : It is an integral part of the lessons. We explain how the cane works and explain the so-called 'Chemnitzer Regulativ', in which, among other things, the rules for using the cane were laid down for teachers. Teachers were not allowed to simply hit people.

Raddatz: For example: "Up to six times with a cane the thickness of a thick pencil, across the fingers".

Hacker: I also explain to the children - and many of them don't realise this - that their father was also allowed to use the cane at home. If he saw red hands in the evening, he didn't ask for long and hit them again.

What interests the children the most?

Hacker: The cane. Or the old schoolbags. We also show them Martha Reichel's exercise books. This girl, who wrote neatly in her exercise books 112 years ago, was the same age as the children who visit us today. Everyone is amazed. We make it as funny as possible for the children and as knowledgeable as necessary.

Raddatz: Many primary school teachers are grateful because it's easier to recreate the time here than in a picture. Learning through research is becoming more of a focus.

Hacker : Like the teacher back then, I also walk through the rows of benches and look at clean fingernails, clean ears, clean necks and polished shoes.

Raddatz: Children often can't imagine that so much had to be learnt by heart in the past and how much emphasis was placed on good handwriting. The basic skills were practised much more intensively; it wasn't possible to look them up on Google.

How great is the response from schools?

Hacker : We have been overwhelmed and are fully booked from Tuesday to Friday until January 2023. That's high praise for us. At least 2,000 children experience our programme here every school year alone. Increasingly, kindergarten groups are also coming. At home, the children tell their parents about their visit and are soon back here, sometimes with grandma and grandpa.

Raddatz: Sometimes four generations meet here. Memories regularly come flooding back. We also rent out our premises for class reunions and anniversaries.

Hacker : Sometimes we look for old school books from that time from our large collection. That sometimes brings tears to the eyes of the old people. We also see ourselves as a museum of local history, because we bring together the experiences of several generations.

Raddatz: We have some main and censorship books, and have also used them to rewrite certificates for people who were bombed out. I remember Grandma Rosel getting her certificate again for her 100th birthday. I still shiver when I think about it today.

The association has eleven members. A small group. How do you manage it all?

Raddatz: With a lot of commitment in our free time and passion. Everyone pitches in as best they can.

Hacker : We manage it, but it's at the limit. We repair anything that breaks ourselves. Volunteering means a lot of work that nobody sees. But we identify with it.

Raddatz : It's a lot of administrative work, which sometimes gets on my nerves. Every year the struggle for balanced funding, for subsidies. But when you have a group of children here, you don't look at the time. That's the moment when everything pays off.

Hacker: You have to be positively crazy. At first, the children are very excited. After five minutes, they become completely devout. Their jaws drop, their eyes get bigger and bigger. At the end there is sometimes applause. This enthusiasm is priceless.

What do you think was good about school in the past?

Hacker: The respect for adults.

Raddatz: The professional distance. I've been in the teaching profession for 37 years. Teachers today have to face challenges every day that often push them to their limits.

Hacker : Today, children are overloaded with media. We also wipe the slate, but only over it at most.

Where do you see school in 100 years' time?

Raddatz: I hope that independence and professionalism will once again become more prevalent in the school system and that respect for the achievements of schools and teachers will increase again. Children must be more empowered to acquire knowledge themselves.

The district of Ebersdorf celebrates its 700th anniversary in 2024. The local heritage association Unser Ebersdorf e.V. is already beating the drum to find organisers and sponsors. The centrepiece will be a district festival, probably at the beginning of July. The Ebersdorf School Museum will be a focal point. After all, apart from the church, it is the only remaining cultural institution in the neighbourhood. Anyone who would like to take part can get in touch with the local history association.

What are your hopes for the Capital of Culture 2025?

Raddatz : That not only new projects are created from scratch, but that we also look at what already exists in Chemnitz. I can't reinvent school, but we can bring it to life. That's why we hope that we will be recognised more strongly and that our importance as a Chemnitz institution will be recognised: that there is a small, fine museum in Ebersdorf that, with the support of those responsible for the Capital of Culture 2025, can also be a focal point for international visitors.