During the period of lower school we had our first experiences with sowing, planting, cultivating, and harvesting of horticultural products, because there was a school-owned garden. In the subject handicraft we learnt sawing, drilling, filing, but also sewing.

Later on, school was much more serious and we were occupied with Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, History, Mathematics, Geography etc.

Apart from German as our native language we had to learn English and Russian as foreign languages. The school-days were loosened up by subjects like Sports, Arts, and Music where we had the opportunity to develop our own talents. In addition to that we also spoke about the great compositions and paintings of famous artists.

Today, people just laugh about subjects like ‘Staatsbürgerkunde’ (subject involving ideological education of socialist citizens), introduction into the socialist production, and practical work, because of the very strange names. If we pay attention to the names only, we risk missing some of the value in the content of these subjects.

Due to the work in the companies we learnt to work with lathes, milling-cutters, drilling-machines and other technical devices. Introduction into the socialist production was the theoretical part. In this subject we learnt much about various manufacturing processes, e.g. (shaping and moulding, cutting processes and waste production) as well as many other interesting technical basics. Knowing how to read and draw technical drawings was a big advantage for me during my studies at the university a few years later.

‘Staatsbürgerkunde’ is still an emotive word for many people. Of course, first of all the education of socialist citizens was topic number one. However, in my opinion it is not correct to blame the subject as a whole. Cutting off the fifty percent ‘red propaganda’ it was also possible to learn something in this subject that is still valid and correct today as well as hundred or two hundred years ago. Causal connections and general rules of living together and the human evaluation process were part of the syllabus too as it is today in social studies, ethics or religion but unfortunately, the interpretation was mostly brought to one direction only.