Rauhes Haus

The Grey House is a 1833 founded the Foundation Diakonia in Hamburg.

The Foundation is now represented with various facilities, group homes and district offices in the Hamburg area and helps children, young people and their families, the elderly, the mentally disabled and mentally ill. It also maintains the general education Evangelical Wichern -Schule, the Evangelical School of Social Work & diakonia and Protestant vocational school care for the elderly. The Foundation " The Grey House " was founded on 12 September 1833 in the Hamburg Stock Exchange Hall. The then 25 -year-old theologian Johann Hinrich Wichern ( 1808-1881 ) had been able to convince leading Hamburger politicians and merchants from the fact that there might be from the slums only one hope for the neglected and orphaned children: A " rescue village" on the outskirts of the city. In the framework of which the Pauline school was founded in 1874, which developed into today's Wichern school.

History

1832 learns Wichern as Sunday school teacher, the emergency in the slums of the Hamburg suburb of St. George know. The people - especially the children - lived here under worst social and hygienic conditions. For Wichern is for sure: these children must be helped by it leads out of the urban squalor conditions.

At that time, Horn is a village of 600 inhabitants, six kilometers outside of Hamburg, which then has about 100,000 inhabitants. Senate Counsel Karl Sieveking has here a parcel, which also includes a farmer's cottage is one that has been called from time immemorial " Ruge Hus ". It would be correct the translation to "Red House " ( corresponded to the color of red brick tile with which the timber was lined ), but was falsely translated into High German with " Rough House ".

Historical Context

The Rough House was built in an era marked by the onset of the industrialization era. During this time, changes in the social and economic order. The incipient industrialization had an impact on many sectors of the population. The emancipation led to upheavals in agriculture; Many farm workers looking for new jobs in the increasingly swelling cities. The craftsmen were at risk of unemployment due to the large competition from factories and manufactories.

In the cities, the excess supply of labor led to falling wages and impoverishment of the city proletariat. The workers were outclassed and politically and socially largely without rights. They had hardly any social protections and few laws were used by the workers to protect their health and their lives. The traditional structures of the extended family, that is the life of all generations (even the servants, maids and day laborers ) under one roof, were broken. The population was also still grown by leaps and bounds, what the economic and social problems increased.

Action approach - Rescue House

Ins Rough House children and adolescents were included that were delinquent or at social risk, but also children who fell by the then existing social system. The aim of the work in the napping house was to empower young people to find their place in life and to stand on their own feet. They should be integrated into the people and the Christian community. The intent Wichern was to prepare the children and young people on the hard life of poverty. The work in the napping house should be paid by Wichern exclusively from the Christian community and is without government subsidy.

The central elements of pedagogy Wichern are: freedom, education, vocational training, talks, parties and celebrations, worship and family life.

Inclusion in the Grey House

Due to the " liberation" of children from the social and emotional neglect them a fresh start and a Hintersichlassen the past should be allowed. For the protection of the child was removed from the squalid surroundings and incorporated into the Grey House. The reception of each child was a hard and was prepared with great care. The child was bathed, got new clothes. After all, were also the child being encouraged about what happened before the time to mention the napping house, which is the basis for a relationship of trust between the educator and the child.

Education in napping house

The lives of young people and children consisted of learning, work and celebration. This allowed them to grow up in an atmosphere of intimacy and security, education was done with the help of the family principle. The education of children was carried out in and through the "family". Several related families lived on a site. Each family had their own apartment or their own home. The family groups consisted of max. 12 children and were from an adult, parental and fraternal friend, the teacher cared. At the beginning of napping house there were only family groups consisting of boys and a male supervisor, and later came girl Families with teachers added. Children should learn how to work and get a realistic idea of the demands of the workplace. You got an offer to the predominantly crafting profession possibilities of shoemaking, carpentry, tailoring, wood turning, spinning, Glassmaking, painting, printing and agriculture to choose from. They made all that is needed to live. The teachers also had the function of trainers.

Follow-up

During the time in which children and young people in the napping house lived, educators continued to hold contact with their parents, visited them and offered them help and advice. An attempt was made to organize the relationship between the parents and the children again was. The return of a child to the family home was seen as the best solution, but this was rarely possible. Through the mediation Wichern young people leaving the napping house an apprenticeship had or were otherwise in a working relationship. However, the care for the young people after discharge at about 17 did not stop. The children were a lifetime to the community of the napping house, similar to a "real" family. Through alumni reunions and other celebrations contacts could remain cared for and preserved.

Important personalities

• John Wichern (1873-1914), director of the napping house
• Friedrich Naumann (1883-1886), theologian on napping house
• Gotthold Donndorf (1939-1957), head of the napping house
• John Kuhlo (1856-1941), theologian, founder of the brass band movement, Upper helper in the napping house