Icon: enlarge
Dance on the Wall (November 10, 1989)
Photo: THOMAS KIENZLE / AP
One of them lived in Gütersloh, deep in the west, the other in Görlitz, far in the east: Holger Schmenk, 42, and Katrin Semechin, 56, are very different witnesses of the fall of the Berlin Wall and German unification.
Today they both teach history, one in the west and the other in the east.
Here they tell how they want to bring the events of that time closer to schoolchildren, where history books have their weaknesses and where the lessons reach their limits.
The interviews were conducted individually and merged for this text.
SPIEGEL:
Do your students know why October 3rd is a public holiday?
Holger Schmenk:
I'm afraid most of them don't.
It depends on the grade level, but a lot of the younger ones are simply happy that - except this year, because it was a Saturday - they have no school.
They know the terms GDR and reunification, but many do not know exactly what is behind them.
Kathrin Semechin:
I experience that very differently at my school.
Many do not know why October 3rd was declared German Unity Day.
But that's easy to explain.
There is some prior knowledge on the question of how unity came about and how it ended with the GDR.
That doesn't really fit into the history book category, but that's what the lessons are for.
Above all, the students bring stories from parents and grandparents with them.
SPIEGEL:
How did you experience the fall of the Berlin Wall?
Semechin:
I lived in the easternmost city of the GDR, two of my three children were born in the autumn of
1989
, one four years old, the other a few months.
When the news of the fall of the Berlin Wall came on television, I was just stilling it.
This time shapes me emotionally to this day.
I have strong images in my head: candles on the floor of the street in October 89. I also remember my fear and how I saw from a distance how demonstrators were pushed onto trucks and transported away.
Schmenk:
I was twelve years old at the time and I remember the excited atmosphere at home.
We always followed events on the news in the evenings.
My father is very interested in politics and we discussed a lot about what the events mean and how things could go on.
SPIEGEL:
Do these memories help you when you convey the topic in class?
Schmenk:
I see more of a challenge in this.
I am a history teacher and at the same time a contemporary witness.
For me the topic is very close emotionally, but for most of my students it feels as far away as the German Empire.
As a teacher, I have to be aware of this again and again.
The pupils themselves did not experience that there were sealed borders and passport controls in Europe.
At least not before Corona.
In history lessons it is always worth paying close attention to language "
Holger Schmenk, history teacher
Semechin:
The challenge for me is also to accept all these memories that exist in the families of the children and in society and to face them carefully.
Also because mine are maybe others.
SPIEGEL:
How do you deal with that?
Semechin:
We look at the stories from the families in class the same way we deal with contemporary witnesses in history: everyone has a right to their own story and their own memories.
But we know that memory can also deceive us, that memory has its pitfalls.
The students learn that they have to critically question, check and classify contemporary witnesses and their stories.
This is what history lessons are ultimately for.
SPIEGEL:
Can you give us an example where memory can be tricky?
Semechin:
Basically, our remembering is influenced by what we have experienced in the meantime.
Our memories change with each story.
There are studies that show that contemporary witnesses, with increasing distance from what they have experienced and under the influence of interim social or private influences, portray things in a greatly changed manner - always with the sure conviction that it was exactly like that.
To thematize this exemplarily in the classroom is a high demand.
Schmenk:
We deal with the topic at high school in the 9th grade.
The students already know the chronology up to the founding of the two German states through the history lessons.
Then it continues with the developments in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and the GDR.
The pupils know terms like "glasnost", "perestroika" or "Monday demonstrations".
When the latter term comes to mind, some first think of Pegida rallies, which we have unfortunately seen in recent years.
We then have a direct relationship to the present.
SPIEGEL:
How do you take it up?
Schmenk:
I am talking about the fact that historical terms such as the peaceful Monday demonstrations in the GDR can be falsified or misused today and I am discussing what effect is created.
We make factual and value judgments.
In history lessons, it is always worth paying close attention to the language in the sources.
This also applies, for example, to the term reunification, which, strictly speaking, is fuzzy.
The German states were not reunified, but the GDR joined the Federal Republic.
We should therefore speak more precisely of the establishment of German unity.
SPIEGEL:
In many history books, there should still be talk of reunification.
Semechin:
Yes.
The history books do not end with the founding of the two German states in 1949, but have been extensively expanded to include German unity.
But they often reflect a very West German view of events.
Schmenk:
I see it that way too.
The books are shaped by the historiography of the winners, the western states.
The GDR is often portrayed as an injustice state.
That is of course justified, but that alone does not go far enough.
Positive aspects of the GDR are often left out or neglected in the books.
"I would like a more balanced view of the GDR"
Kathrin Semechin, history teacher
Semechin:
I would like to
see
a more balanced, broader view of the GDR that takes greater account of East German perspectives.
To this end, many additional materials are currently being developed, including online offers.
If it says "Edition for Saxony" in a history book, then it is far from Saxony.
Schmenk:
I often use additional material, for example a virtual walk along the Berlin Wall, podcasts from contemporary witnesses, or I use the power of the pictures from autumn 89. Often at least one pupil with East German roots sits in the class and can learn from the parents' personal experiences or report to grandparents.
I always see something like this as a great opportunity, even if it is of course only a subjective and usually very personal insight.
It is important to me to shape the topic in a way that is both lifelike and student-oriented.
SPIEGEL:
What cardinal mistake should history teachers not make when it comes to German unity?
Semechin:
Please don't take this three-step process: the GDR is founded, experienced the uprising on June 17th, builds the wall and then goes under.
This is what the teaching concept often looked like in the 1990s.
Fortunately, that has changed because it doesn't do justice to the GDR issue.
Older colleagues must clearly separate or clarify their roles as teachers and contemporary witnesses.
It is difficult to tame the fullness of what has been experienced.
For example, should you take your own Stasi files with you to class?
One can argue about that.
SPIEGEL:
Is there enough time in class for this major topic?
Semechin:
Saxony is one of the federal states in which students have the most history
lessons
in a nationwide comparison, namely consistently from the 5th grade to the 12th grade and at least 15 hours a week added up over the years.
That means: you almost always have two hours of history a week.
The subject is compulsory in the upper level.
A large window of time is planned for the development of the two German states and for unity.
There is enough space for a comprehensive consideration, but this is also important because it promotes the formation of the students' identity.
If we have learned anything from recent history, it is at least that suppression of the past will eventually take revenge.
Schmenk:
I wish it would be the same for us.
The students have a total of eight hours of history per week in grades five to ten.
So you have two hours of history a week in some grades, but not at all in others.
German unity is planned for the end of the 10th school year, after National Socialism and the founding of the two German states up to the social and economic developments after 1949. There is often little time for the GDR and autumn 1989.
If a lot of classes are canceled before the summer vacation, for example due to excursions, the topic sometimes falls completely by the table.
Sad, but unfortunately the reality.
Icon: The mirror