The Party Academy

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

(''Parteihochschule Karl Marx'') was an academy (''Hochschule'') that was founded in 1946 in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

. During the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), it was subordinate to the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

of the Socialist Unity Party. Teaching ceased on 30 June 1990.

History

During the reign of the Socialist Unity Party, the Academy was the highest institution of Marxist-Leninist education, prior to the ''Bezirksparteischulen'' (regional party schools) and ''Kreisparteischulen'' (district party schools). The main alternative was studying at the Party Academy of the

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. Initially, the institution was subordinate to the Section for Agitation and Propaganda in the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party. From 1983 to 1990, the Secretary for Ideology and Culture was responsible. During its existence, the academy offered studies and classes to more than 25,000 students. Among them were more than 1,200 students from socialist countries that had friendly ties with the GDR. Studies offered were Marxist-Leninist throughout. Numerous publications, both scientific and propagandist, were released. Members of the Socialist Unity Party and its organizations were delegated to studies of either one or three years duration, finishing as ''Diplom-Gesellschaftswissenschaftler'' (equivalent to a

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). Distance Studies were possible as well. From 1946 to 1948, the institution's domicile was

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near

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, then from 1948 to 1955 Castle Hakeburg (later guest house of the Socialist Unity Party). Notable teachers during these early years included

Wolfgang Leonhard Wolfgang Leonhard (16 April 1921 – 17 August 2014) was a German political author and historian of the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic and Communism. A German Communist whose family had fled Hitler's Germany and who was educated i ...

and Carola Stern. For 25 years from 1955 the academy was located in

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. Finally, from 1980 to 1990, it was dispersed across various institutes around Hakeburg again. During the run-up to

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governm ...

the Academy was dissolved. The critical date was 30 June 1990 after which the institute's approximately 150 professors, teachers and teaching assistants, the remaining students and approximately 300 support workers were dispersed. {{Authority control Education in East Germany 1946 establishments in Germany