Political Education Authority of the State Thuringia

In general our task is political education on public contract.

This means in detail:
-    Encouraging the development of a liberal democratic awareness and the disposition of civil participation and involvement.
-    Equipping the citizens with knowledge of the history of Thuringia and as a consequence help them to indentify better with their home land.
-    Informing about contemporary and historical contexts – especially regarding the Nazi and the socialist dictatorship.
-    Dealing with anti-democratic movements, especially with all forms of political extremism, on an intellectual-political level.
-    Communicating knowledge about the process of European integration as well as promoting the understanding of basic social developments.

Our Principles

Political Education on public contract works pluralistically, independently and above party lines. In order to ensure non-partisanship there is a board of trustees composed of 10 members of the Thuringian parliament.
Political Education does not want to imply an opinion, but contribute to the forming of it. What is discussed as a controversial issue in science and politics, needs to be depicted in a controversial way.

Our Services

Our services apply especially to all citizens of Thuringia.
Nevertheless, everyone is welcome to visit our events and to obtain our wide range of publications. It is possible to download a large part of the material online.
 

Geographical Aspects – The Green Heart of Germany

Thuringia is a state in the Federal Republic of Germany and located in central Germany.It is bordered by Saxony in the east, Bavaria in the south, Hesse in the west, Lower Saxony in the northwest and Saxony-Anhalt in the north.

The geographical structure of the country offers many different landscapes. The mountains in the north and south reach heights over 600m (the highest mountain has 983m), whereas the border to Saxony-Anhalt is only 120m above sea level. Between the region Eichsfeld in the northwest, hilly landscapes in the east and the mountains in the south one can find the Thuringian Basin.

Thuringia is one of the most forested German states; about one third of the area is covered with wood land. Hence Thuringia is often referred to as the “Green Heart of Germany”.

Thuringia in the course of time

•  Already in the Middle Ages Thuringia was an important part of the German Empire. The house of the Ludowinger managed to become one of the most important dynasties in the empire.
•  Landgrave Hermann (ca. 1155-1217) was a very art-loving patron. Around 1200 the famous “Sängerkrieg”, a minstrel contest, is said to have taken place on the castle Wartburg. 

• Martin Luther, who studied in Erfurt, translated the bible into German at the Wartburg in Eisenach. This was an important step in the process of the Protestant Reformation.
• There was a lot of correlation between the Reformation and the German Peasants’ War. In the battle near Frankenhausen the peasants were finally beaten in 1525.
• Because there was no prohibition on the splitting of states, the sovereigns tended to split the land between their sons. Around 1700, when the maximum of the territorial fragmentation was reached, Thuringia was composed of ten duchies, ten lordships, four counties, two free imperial cities and the property of one archbishop. However, this sectionalism could be rated positively nowadays, because it brought a wide range of castles and palaces, museums, theatres and orchestras to Thuringia.

• This cultural and literary movement is strongly connected to Thuringia. Famous poets like Goethe, Schiller and Wieland lived in Weimar. Therefore the capital of the grand duchy Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach became a cultural metropolis.

• Only in 1919 Thuringia was united as one state, even though Erfurt and the Eichsfeld remained Prussian. Weimar became capital. Because the Constitution of the German Reich was written here by the German National Assembly, the resulting parliamentary republic was called Weimar Republic.
• Already in 1930 the Nazi Party was part of the parliament. The concentration camp “Buchenwald” built near Weimar in 1937 was one of the biggest of its kind in the Third Reich; over 50 000 people were killed here.
• After World War II the Prussian areas were integrated into the state of Thuringia and Erfurt was declared its capital. But already in 1952 it was separated again into the districts Erfurt, Suhl and Gera.
• During GDR times Thuringia was at the interface to West Germany and therefore always confronted with the Cold War.
• One of the claims of the Peaceful Revolution in 1989 was the reunion of Thuringia. In 1990 the state was re-established.
• The new political structure was soon entrenched, but the process of adapting the economy to a free market economy required more time and effort.
• Today Thuringia is firmly attached to the German Federal system and the European structures. Economically the state has developed in a positive way, mainly relying on medium-sized enterprises.

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"Чернобыль" стал многогранной метафорой, отражающей замешательство человечества. Это событие подорвало веру в технический прогресс, во власть человека над техникой и связанными с ней рисками, веру в защищенность повседневной жизни. Сегодня Чернобыль олицетворяет собой "общество риска" (Бек), промышленные и экологические катастрофы, конец существования Советского Союза, ядерный век и радиационную угрозу, «непостижимые» (в буквальном значение слова) страдания и болезни, страх и границы возможного. По емкому выражению Ульриха Бека, Чернобыль явился "антропологическим шоком".