Küppers, Heinrich: Der Katholische Lehrerverband in der Übergangszeit von der Weimarer Republik zur Hitlerdiktatur. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Volksschullehrerstandes, Mainz 1975

Heinrich Küppers: Der Katholische Lehrerverband in der Übergangszeit von der Weimarer Republik zur Hitlerdiktatur. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Volksschullehrerstandes.

The Catholic Teacher’s Association (Katholische Lehrerverband) of the German Reich, which claimed nearly 25,000 members, included the majority of Catholic elementary school teachers, particularly in Prussia. These figures pointed to an unusually high degree of organization and the Lehrerverband constituted one of most important Catholic organizations in the field of education politics. The history of the Lehrerverband during the crises of state and economy in the Weimar Republic up to an including its dissolution in the Nazi dictatorship reflects the internal political developments in Germany during the years 1930–1933. Heinrich Küppers’ study investigates the cultural, social, and economic status of the teacher in this time of crisis, with its disadvantageous effects on schools and the teaching profession. Relying on new source materials, Küppers analyzes the process by which teachers were disciplined as state employees during the Gleichschaltung (consolidation of institutional powers) in 1933 and their conduct in the early phase when the Nazi dictatorship was establishing its power.

Through its focus on the differentiated nature and degrees of incrimination, Küppers’s work adds an element of concretization to the still controversial questions about the Catholic Church’s encounter with National Socialism. That is indispensable for understanding a seemingly inexplicable »turn« in the political ideas of an entire professional cohort of Catholic state employees. The book’s method of inquiry and findings could also be useful for current educators, in their growing demand for comparative analyses in the area of schooling and education.