High school celebrates anniversary: ​​reminder of kisses at SMV festival and "contract extension"

Created: 07/22/2022, 19:00

By: Andreas Steppan

The invited guests at the ceremony marking the 101st anniversary of the Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium around Kurhaus shared many memories and anecdotes.

© Arndt Pröhl

At the ceremony "101 years Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium Bad Tölz" many surprising things from the school life of the mayor and the district administrator were revealed.

Bad Tölz

– Wolfgang Mutter from the Ministry of Education described the 101-year history of the Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium in Bad Tölz as a “great community success”.

The deputy head of the grammar school department stood in for the sick Minister of Education, Michael Piazolo, at the anniversary ceremony in the Kurhaus on Friday.

The celebration demonstrated how strong the school community has been over generations: a number of former and current high school students took part with speeches, video greetings and musical performances.

In 1921, the "Municipal Realschule with Latin and Commercial Departments" was founded

The somewhat crooked anniversary came about because the 100-year celebration had been postponed due to the corona.

Headmaster Alexander Göbel humorously made the curious number 101 the starting point of his speech.

This prime number - divisible only by 1 and itself - may symbolize that the school family remains "indivisible", he said to applause.

Quartet of generations (from left): Harald Roßberger, Josef Niedermaier, Peter Potansky and Johann Prégardien.

© Arndt Pröhl

Göbel and a video projected onto a screen recalled the history of the school.

As early as 1864 there was a "private Latin school" in Bad Tölz, which according to historical documents "went down again".

In May 1921, the "Municipal Realschule with Latin and commercial departments" was founded in the Franciscan monastery.

Göbel pointed out that the founders were guided by the social idea of ​​also giving "less well-off children in the provinces", as it was called at the time, access to higher education.

"For that time, it was also very progressive that the school was co-educational from the start, i.e. girls and boys were taught equally, and that there was also Protestant and Israelite religious teaching," said Göbel.

District administrator Josef Niedermaier, who graduated from high school in Tölz in 1989, reported that he found in his grandfather's notes his wish at the time to attend school in the Franciscan monastery.

But his grandfather replied: "You'll learn more in a summer on the Lexenalm!"

Name Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium since 1999

In 1924, the facility moved to the factory premises of the former Moralt company on Bahnhofstrasse (today Hindenburgstrasse) and has since gone through many organizational and structural changes.

The school was nationalized in 1957 and has borne the name Gabriel-von-Seidl-Gymnasium since 1999.

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The focus of the ceremony, however, was the human element.

Former graduates told anecdotes and how music, theater and art projects or ventures like the "Mountainbike-Alpencross" had shaped them.

Many teachers, but also the long-time school secretary Marika Bernigshausen and kiosk operator Tini Brandl were recognized as important figures of the school days.

District Administrator Niedermaier remembers "contract extension" in high school

BR journalist Annette Kugler (Abi 1999) moderated the party together with her colleague Benedikt Schregle (Abi 2003) and revealed that she last saw the current Mayor of Tölz, Ingo Mehner, "when he was kissing a classmate at an SMV party". .

District Administrator Niedermaier, in turn, remembered how teacher Franz Kistler once informed his parents about Josef's "contract extension" at the high school - meaning that he had to repeat a year: It won't hurt him," Kistler said, and that calmed Niedermaier's mother.

However, the accents of the ceremony were set by the musical performances.

At the beginning an ensemble played the song "The boy at the piano".

The composition by the then student Yannick Renn was heard for the first time at the graduation ceremony in 2017.

The former headmaster Peter Potansky formed a "clarinet quartet of generations" together with the music school director Harald Roßberger, the fifth grader Johann Prégardien and Niedermaier.

With Stephanie Waldherr, Stephanie Krug, Johanna and Sophie Kiening, Martin Schnitzer and many others, other former graduates who have since made a name for themselves appeared on the stage.

In 101 years there were only male principals at the Bad Tölz high school

After 101 years, the journey of the grammar school continues - for example with the repeatedly mentioned challenge of digitization.

And in another point that was mentioned, there is still room for further development: In 101 years, only men have been in charge of the Tölz Gymnasium.

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Bad Tölz newsletter.