He leaves the Staffelsee high school in Murnau "with two smiling eyes".
This is what Josef Holzmann says about his upcoming retirement.
The 65-year-old director worked for a total of 40 years in the school service.
The market town was his last stage - in 2015 he followed in Gerhard Haberl's footsteps.
Josef Holzmann, director of the Murnau Staffelsee-Gymnasium, is retiring.
The 65-year-old will be bid farewell on Friday - virtually.
In his retirement, the teacher wants to concentrate more on karate - and go to Japan.
Murnau
- "I really enjoyed the time and the togetherness," says the head of studies.
“Now I'm looking ahead positively.” As reported, a successor has already been determined: Tobias Schürmer, former head of the Werdenfels high school in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, will be officially responsible for Murnau from tomorrow.
It's a flying change.
Today, Friday, Holzmann will be bid farewell.
A virtual program with live music and speeches by local politicians is planned.
The ministerial representative of the grammar schools in Upper Bavaria-West, Brigitte Grams-Loibl, has also announced that she is.
For Holzmann, this distant form of saying goodbye is difficult to imagine: “I will sit in the empty auditorium.
I would much rather celebrate with the whole school family, ”he says wistfully.
Theater days a highlight
The Corona year with complete closure as well as distance and alternating lessons was not easy for the passionate educator.
Because Holzmann is a person who always seeks contact with others.
Who introduced grade level talks to get direct feedback from students.
The institution's existing motto, “School together”, was the top priority for the school director.
Holzmann fondly remembers the atmospheric festivals, the Christmas and summer concerts, poetry readings and stage plays.
To the fully occupied auditorium, where students and their families crowded.
"The 2018 Theater Days of the Bavarian High Schools were a special highlight," emphasizes the Weilheimer.
Ten groups from all over Bavaria made guest appearances in the Murnau schoolhouse for four days.
"It was an unforgettable time for everyone involved," says Holzmann, who always shared the excitement for his protégés.
Martial arts lessons
He is sure to stay in the memory of many students.
After all, who can claim to have received martial arts lessons from their own school principal?
His karate workshops were routine for Holzmann.
Once a year, the karate grandmaster, who now has the sixth dan, taught the eighth grades as part of a student camp.
Japan trip as a dream
"When I retire, I want to concentrate more on karate," says Holzmann.
His dream: to be at one of the oldest martial arts events in Tokyo, Japan, in spring 2022.
There, participants from all over the world come together to demonstrate their skills.
Holzmann also wants to be actively involved - as part of the German delegation.
Boredom is a foreign word
At any rate, Holzmann does not seem to be bored.
He always has something to do.
When he's not out and about in the mountains or spending time with his three grandchildren, he pays a visit to his parents' house in Eglfing.
He grew up there with three brothers - one of them still lives on the farm today.
“These are my roots.
I grew up in a farming family. ”When he attended grammar school in Weilheim, he cycled for nine years in wind and weather from Eglfing to Uffingen train station.
There it went on by train.
"Even when there was a meter of snow, I drove without gears."
Career began in 1981
Education played an important role in his life from an early age.
To this day, Holzmann is still fulfilling the task of passing on the knowledge acquired to other people as part of the teaching profession.
He completed his legal clerkship at the Weilheimer Gymnasium.
As a result, former teachers had become colleagues.
His career began in February 1981. Two years later he was permanently employed at the Tutzinger Gymnasium.
He liked it there very much.
“We took lessons outdoors with a view of Lake Starnberg,” he recalls.
From 2012 he was deputy headmaster.
"Final stage" Murnau
The man from Weilheim describes the move to Murnau as the “final stage” in his professional career.
After this final spurt, Holzmann first wants to lean back.
His wish list for the future is relatively modest, but there is one central point: “I would like to make up my farewell in the summer”.
Not virtually, but very real.
Constanze Wilz
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