An Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation session (Pioniernachmittag) was a regular gathering of members of the

Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation The Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation, consisting of the Young Pioneers and the Thälmann Pioneers, was a youth organisation of schoolchildren aged 6 to 13 in East Germany. They were named after Ernst Thälmann, the former leader of the Comm ...

in the GDR. The session was organised by the class teacher (form tutor) or an adult volunteer for all pioneers of a form and took place on Wednesday afternoons. In 1989, 98% of all schoolchildren in the GDR were member of the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation. Subsequently, the regular afternoons could be considered as being part the extracurricular school life. Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation sessions consisted of a mixture of social activities, adventure, and myth-like socialist teaching. Social activities and adventures included sports, discos, walks, hand-crafts, celebrations or paper chases. These activities were comparable to that of other youth organisations like the

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

s. More propaganda-like activities were visits of the

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and police or lectures about the history of

Socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

or the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

. Furthermore, the school achievements (or the lack thereof) of individual pupils were publicly discussed in these sessions. Strong students were assigned to weak students as tutors. Regularly, afternoons were used to collect waste for recycling from individual households. Pupils walked from door to door and asked for paper, metal, glass bottles and jars, or clothes. The resources were sold and the proceeds were given to charitable causes (like

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

or Sandinists) or used for school activities. In 1979/80, pupils collected 73 million jars and bottles of glass, 20,000 tons of metal, 30,000 tons of paper and 9,000 tons of used textiles.German Historic Museum Berlin: Catalogue, Lebenstationen in Deutschland, Abschnitt Thälmannpionier
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernst Thalmann Pioneer Organisation session Education in East Germany Pioneer movement

See also

Further reading

References