Nuremberg celebrates: School history collection becomes part of UNESCO heritage!

Nuremberg celebrates: School history collection becomes part of UNESCO heritage!

On May 8, 2025, the school history collection of the school museum, which is operated as a joint institution by the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and the city of Nuremberg, was added to the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage. This marks a milestone not only for FAU, but also for the field of historical education in Germany. Loud fau.de This collection includes over 4,500 works by school children who were taught at the Stein elementary school between 1924 and 1929 under the reform education teacher Wilhelm Daiber.

The works in the collection are not only important works of art, but also an impressive document of artistic developments and children's perception in the period after the First World War. The drawings show a variety of subjects, including scenes with submarines, animals and fairy tales. The sorting and labeling of the works makes it possible to trace the time of creation, the age and gender of the children, which gives the researchers deeper insights into the reform pedagogy of the 1920s.

Importance of the collection

FAU President Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger and Nuremberg's Mayor Marcus König acknowledged the importance of this collection for historical learning and building empathy among students. Cornelia Trinkl, school officer, emphasized that the collection is important not only as historical evidence, but also as a learning resource for future generations. Dr. Mathias Rösch, the director of the museum, emphasized the high value of the school history collections, which are accessible for scientific research in the archive in Nuremberg.

The decision to include the collection in UNESCO's World Documentary Heritage was not made in a vacuum. The application for this was submitted in 2018, supported by the IRAND research association. The inclusion of the collection in the UNESCO “Memory of Humanity” program has honored important documents in human history for over 30 years. The 74 selected documents also include the first x-rays, the Munich manuscript of the Babylonian Talmud and the literary estate of Friedrich Nietzsche in collaboration with Switzerland unesco.de reported.

International context

The new entries in the world documentary heritage underline international cooperation and the collective effort to protect cultural memory. The drawings and writings of children and young people made in Europe during wartime (1914-1950) not only offer a deep insight into personal fates, but also reflect social upheavals. Kerstin Pürschel, Germany's ambassador to UNESCO, emphasizes the diversity and unifying power of these cultural testimonies.

The school history collection will be presented to the public in an exhibition in autumn 2025. This initiative helps promote awareness of the importance of children's creativity and the impact of history on society. It is therefore not just an archive of drawings, but a lively place for examining history and cultural identity.