The Helene Lange Gymnasium (''HLG'') is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

gymnasium (high school) in the

city of Hamburg A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, Germany. It was founded in 1910 as ''Höhere Mädchenschule'' (girls' school for higher education), and after the passing of the

mixed-sex education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

in 1969, it became accessible to boys in 1970. In that same year the school also offered its first bilingual program in German and English, effectively becoming the first bilingual Gymnasium in Hamburg. Lying in the

south-west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

of the Hamburg quarter

Harvestehude Harvestehude (; Hamburgisch: ''Harvstehuud'') is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough of Eimsbüttel. It is located on the eastern boundaries of the borough near lake Außenalster. Geography Harvestehude borders the quarters of Rother ...

on the border with

Eimsbüttel Eimsbüttel () is one of the seven boroughs (Bezirke) of Hamburg, Germany. In 2020 the population was 269,118. History On March 1, 2008 Eimsbüttel lost part of its area to the borough Altona where it formed the Sternschanze quarter. Geography ...

, the Helene-Lange-Gymnasium currently has around 930 students from 46

nationalities Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the ...

.Die Welt-Schüler
by Christoph Scheurmann of wissen.spiegel.de on 20. August 2007

Historical references

Name

The HLG has had a long history of changing its name. The

Hamburg senate The government of Hamburg is divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches. Hamburg is a city-state and municipality, and thus its governance deals with several details of both state and local community politics. It takes place in two ...

gave the school the name ''Staatliche

höhere Mädchenschule Höhere Mädchenschule or Höhere Töchterschule were names of historic schools for the higher education of girls in German-speaking countries between the beginning of the 19th century and 1908. The names may mean higher education, but also educati ...

an der Hansastraße''. By 1926, the school was renamed from ''Lyzeum mit Studienanstalt an der Hansastraße'' to ''Mädchen-Oberrealschule an der Hansastraße''. The change in name from

Lyzeum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the ...

to Oberrealschule created an opportunity to name the school after

Helene Lange Helene Lange (9 April 1848 in Oldenburg – 13 May 1930 in Berlin) was a pedagogue and feminist. She is a symbolic figure of the international and German civil rights feminist movement. In the years from 1919 to 1921 she was a member of the Hamb ...

, a prominent

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. It was in 1926 that the school was finally given the name ''Helene-Lange-Oberrealschule'', in small part because only a tenth part of the school's periphery was actually on Hansa street.

Edification

The building which today houses the Helene-Lange-Gymnasium was built between 1908 and 1910 by the architect Albert Erbe, and officially opened on 4 January 1910, at the same time as

Gymnasium Lerchenfeld Gymnasium may refer to: *Gymnasium (ancient Greece), educational and sporting institution *Gymnasium (school), type of secondary school that prepares students for higher education **Gymnasium (Denmark) **Gymnasium (Germany) **Gymnasium UNT, hig ...

, which shared similar characteristics and objectives, and whose main building was designed by the same architect.

Nazi era

Some 300

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

pupils passed through the school between 1910 and 1933. In 1935, on the occasion of the school's 25th anniversary, the school's name was renamed to ''Hansa-Oberrealschule''. At the ceremony, the headmaster, who had believed the school's inclusive nature ("Völkerversöhnung") was a detriment to German nationality and to the "preferment of the

element" within the school, said the school was imbued with a "new spirit", noting that nearly a fifth of the girls were members of the Nazi BDM. At that point began a decline in the number of Jewish students, and by 1939 there were no more pupils of the Jewish faith.

International recognition

The Helene-Lange-Gymnasium is one of Germany's first UNESCO project schools. Since 2003 the school also offers the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

additionally to the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

. It maintains sponsorships with schools in

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Chicago, and London.

Notable alumni

Jan Delay Jan Phillip Eißfeldt (born 25 August 1976), known professionally as Jan Delay, is a German rapper and singer whose stylistic range includes mainly hip hop, reggae, dub and funk. An accomplished solo artist, he became known to the public as ...

, singer * Leonamor, music group

References

{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1910 Schools in Hamburg Buildings and structures in Eimsbüttel International Baccalaureate schools in Germany 1910 establishments in Germany