Martin Luserke | |
|---|---|
 Martin Luserke at Schule am Meer, Juist, East Frisia, Prussia, 1931 | |
| Born | 3 May 1880 Schöneberg near Berlin, Prussia, German Reich |
| Died | 1 June 1968 (aged 88) Meldorf, Holstein, Germany |
| Resting place | Hage, East Frisia (until 2018), gravestone moved to Juist island's dune cemetery |
| Occupation | Progressive educator, bard, storyteller, writer and theatre maker |
| Nationality | German |
| Education | Herrnhuter Lehrerseminar, University of Jena |
| Literary movement | Progressive education, German Youth Movement |
| Notable awards | 1st Prize of Literaturpreis der Reichshauptstadt Berlin (1935); Cross of Merit (1954); Friedrich-Hebbel-Preis (1958); Golden Medal of University of Kiel (1960) |
| Spouse | Marie Anna "Annemarie" Elisabeth Gerwien (1878–1926) |
| Children | 4 (one daughter, three sons) |
| Relatives | Carl Fridrich Wilhelm Luserke (1851–1931) and Amalie Elisabeth Luserke (1855–1942), nee Lindhorst |
Martin Luserke (3 May 1880 in Schöneberg near Berlin, Prussia, German Reich – 1 June 1968 in Meldorf, Holstein, Germany) was a progressive pedagogue, a bard, writer and theatre maker.[1][2][3] He was one of the leading figures of German progressive education and a precursor of outdoor education.[4] As his distinguished achievement counts the integration of community theatre into school and youth work.[5] It was also integrated in German Youth Movement.[6][7]
- ^ Luserke, Martin. Deutsche Biografie (in German)
- ^ Martin Luserke, in: Munzinger Archive (in German)
- ^ Joan Campbell: Joy in Work, German Work: The National Debate, 1800–1945. Princeton University Press 2014. ISBN 978-1400860371, pp. 126–127 (citation: It seemed essential to remind people, that the post-revolutionary society must also meet the needs of the nation's intellectuals. This is what Martin Luserke, a popular novelist and educator, tried to do in an essay on work motivation published in 1919 as part of a series Praktischer Sozialismus („Practical Socialism“) edited by the philosopher Karl Korsch. Like Ruckhaber, Luserke thought it wrong to make a distinction between mental and physical labour. This led him to call for a „socialist“ ethic of work to replace the bourgeois-idealist one based on this distinction, which only helped to perpetuate the hierarchy of classes. Under socialism people of all walks of life would be taught to work for one another and to accept discipline in order to achieve common goals. Where Luserke chiefly differed from Ruckhaber is in his belief that intellectual work is hardly „work“ at all, but rather intrinsically pleasurable activity and therefore in some sense its own reward. As a result, he was not particularly concerned with improving the remuneration of intellectuals or cutting back on their hours of work. But he did think that workers of the mind needed special conditions if they were to serve society effectively. To make their different treatment acceptable to the majority of workers whose days were spent in hard, routine, labour, it was necessary to adopt the principle of meritocracy: in Luserke's utopia, examinations would be used to select the few needed for intellectual tasks, and these individuals would then be given non-monetary privileges and rewards, including the opportunity to experience joy in work.)
- ^ Herbert Giffei: Martin Luserke – Ein Wegbereiter der modernen Erlebnispädagogik, in: Wegbereiter der modernen Erlebnispädagogik, Vol. 6, Klaus Neubauer Verlag, Lüneburg 1987.
- ^ Mirona Stanescu: Vom Laientheater zur Theaterpädagogik. Ein historischer Werdegang der Theaterpädagogik in Deutschland. In: Neue Didaktik (2011) 1, pp. 11–29.
- ^ Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 15. Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Historische Kommission. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 978-3-428-00196-5, p. 533.
- ^ Ulrich Schwerdt: Martin Luserke (1880–1968). Reformpädagogik im Spannungsfeld von pädagogischer Innovation und kulturkritischer Ideologie. Eine biographische Rekonstruktion. Lang, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1993, ISBN 3-631-46119-4, pp. 209–210, 232–233.