12 Facts About Gustav Wyneken

Gustav Wyneken was a German pedagogue and founder of the Wickersdorf Free School Community.

Gustav Wyneken was a leader in the German Youth Movement and briefly contributed to school policy during the German revolutionary period after World War I Gustav Wyneken failed to regain support for his school reform ideas after his conviction as a pederast.

Gustav Wyneken was born April 19,1875, in Stade, northern Germany.

In 1906, Gustav Wyneken founded the Wickersdorf Free School Community in Thuringia with Odenwaldschule founder Paul Geheeb and others.

Gustav Wyneken joined the Youth Movement and lectured for the Association for Free School Communities.

Gustav Wyneken became a personal advisor to Konrad Haenisch, a German social democratic politician with the Prussian Ministry of Education, during Germany's post-World War I revolutionary period.

Gustav Wyneken advised Johannes Hoffmann, the Bavarian social democratic Minister of Education in the Eisner government.

Gustav Wyneken was involved in two decrees, on school community and religious education, that were assailed for their democratizing and secularizing effects and quickly repealed.

Gustav Wyneken responded by publishing Eros, which advocated for pederastic relations between teachers and boys said to exist in ancient Greece in defense of his actions and philosophy.

Gustav Wyneken continued to live nearby and influence Wickersdorf in person and in writing.

Gustav Wyneken continued to work as a freelance writer and unsuccessfully attempted to re-enter West Germany's school and youth policy debate.

Gustav Wyneken's ideas influenced the Zionist return to Palestine and the Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair.