The founding of the association had a history. Soon after the end of the war, when the Berlin district of Wannsee was part of the American occupation zone, the Americans, in the interest of their re-education program, sought untainted German partners. They found them among the opponents of the National Socialists, who were committed to the democratic renewal of Germany. Men and women from the two major churches, as well as from political groups and parties suppressed by the National Socialists, came together, wanting to provide German youth with new orientation, democratic values \u2013 and a future in a democracy \u2013 amidst the turmoil of the post-war period.<\/p>\n
The Americans established the \u201cCamp of Wannsee\u201d as early as 1947, where they worked with these people. With the Cold War, the Berlin Blockade, and the founding of two German states, democratic youth work had to focus primarily on the western part of Berlin. Until 1951, they used the clubhouse of the \u201cGirls' Rowing Association\u201d on the Kleiner Wannsee lake in Bismarckstrasse for this purpose. Their educational methods included group and project work, democratic leadership and training for youth group leaders, amateur dramatics, and the promotion of a new relationship between boys and girls (coeducation), as well as square dancing and political education.<\/p>\n
From among the German partners, an active, pluralistic group emerged, which in 1951 founded the Wannseeheim Association for Youth Work (Wannseeheim f\u00fcr Jugendarbeit e.V.). The Americans, as reliable partners, entrusted this work to the association, granting it independent responsibility. At the same time, the former Villa Joergers was given to the association as its headquarters. The funds for the purchase of the building and grounds came from the McCloy Fund. Today, a plaque in the entrance portal of the country house commemorates this event.<\/p>\n
On July 19, 1951, the "Wannseeheim for Youth Work e.V." (registered association) and its "Youth Leader School" were inaugurated in the former Villa Joerger on Lake Pohle by the then Governing Mayor, Ernst Reuter. The focus of its work was on international exchanges, training for youth group leaders, and direct work with young people. Its aims included fostering democratic values through square dancing, singing, theater, group pedagogy, and a focus on high school, vocational school, and university students, as well as East-West seminars. The first chairman of the rapidly developing association was the Catholic youth pastor and chaplain Dr. Stasi-Edmund Szydnik. The first director of the center was the Protestant pastor Hermann Berger.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Die Gr\u00fcndung des Vereins hatte eine Vorgeschichte. Schon rasch nach Kriegsende, der Berliner Bezirk Wannsee geh\u00f6rte zur US-amerikanischen Besatzungszone, bem\u00fchten sich die Amerikaner im Interesse ihres re-education-program um unbelastete deutsche Partner. Sie fanden sie unter den Gegnern der Nationalsozialisten, die sich f\u00fcr die demokratische Erneuerung Deutschlands einsetzten. Es fanden sich M\u00e4nner und Frauen der beiden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":64,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n