The contending democracy. The impact of the Radikalenerlass on society and subjects. The example of the institution school, 1967-1989

• Applicant: Dr. Jan-Henrik Friedrichs
• Subject Area: General Education and History of Education ; Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 425213234

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

The research project aimed to take a closer look at the effects of the Radikalenerlass (Decree against radicals) of 1972 in the field of education. For the state of Bremen, different types of sources were used – interviews with contemporary witnesses, leaflets, official procedures, conference minutes – and related to the reporting in educational reform media. Although the Radikalenerlass was not an educational policy instrument, it significantly influenced educational reform policies and everyday school life. For example, individual teaching units that were oriented toward educational reform principles were now sanctioned as „anti-constitutional.“ Even more: with reference to the supposed lack of fidelity to the constitution on the part of those teaching, attempts were made in individual cases to prevent educational reform debates altogether. Conversely, leading educational reformers felt called upon to protest because they saw the project of educational reform in danger. The discourse around radicals in the civil service also unleashed a variety of activating effects. These ranged from solidarity to radicalization, for example of colleagues or pupils who saw themselves as apolitical. In the process, different concepts of democracy clashed: while state authorities referred to membership in „extremist“ groups, colleagues, parents and pupils who showed solidarity with those affected referred to their pedagogical qualifications and emphasized school autonomy and freedom of expression as a basis of democracy. For the Bremen student movement, Berufsverbote (occupational bans) against teachers even served as a catalyst for asserting their own claims to participation. Conservative parents also took advantage of the Radikalenerlass. In most cases, the goal was not to remove a teacher from his or her position, but to influence the content of instruction. Conservative student groups used the debate about „red teachers“ to raise their profile in the face of leftist hegemony. Despite few cases in which left-wing political commitment led to permanent removal from the service, Berufsverbote were omnipresent as a topic, and not only in educational reform journals. But the project also shows that interpretations of the 1970s as a „time of resignation“ fall short. Steadfastness and emeotions like indignation were important resources of leftist teachers in the face of threatened occupational bans, but they hindered a necessary readjustment of educational reform goals and strategies in the face of utopian, exaggerated expectations of the power of pedagogy to change society. The discursive figure of resignation in the face of „political repression“ and „counter-reform“ allowed this transformation to take place. The 1970s thus appear as a time of transformation of educational concepts and pedagogical modes of subjectivation rather than a decade of decline.

Publications

• Berufsverbote und Radikalenbeschluss. Perspektiven der und auf die Betroffenen“, in: Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (Hg.): Der Radikalenerlass wird 50
  Jan-Henrik Friedrichs
  
• Der Radikalenerlass von 1972 – Bildungsgeschichtliche Perspektiven
  Jan-Henrik Friedrichs
  
• »Hier begann der Angriff der Systemveränderer«. Schulreform und Radikalenbeschluss in den frühen 1970er Jahren. Verfassungsfeinde im Land?, 562-596. Wallstein Verlag.
  Friedrichs, Jan-Henrik