Figure 1.--We are not yet sure what a Kinderheim was. The name means Children's Home. Here the nurse-teachers are trying to attract children to their Kinderheim. The sign reads, "Kinderheim Aüfgang für ALLe die Kinder bringen und abholen. That means something like "Children's home open for all the children bring and fetch." That suggests that it was not a boarding facility. |
A Kinderheim translates as "children's home" in English. This would convey the meaning of an orphanage, but this would not be a correct is. A Kinderheim is a child care facility, a kind of day care facility rather than a residential full-care orphanage. Kinderheim were at frst established by churches, charitable groups, communities, and corporations. They had a najor role to play after World War I with so many widowed mothers having trouble caring for their children. The concept of Kinderheim has changed somewhat over time. We are not sure when Kinderheim first appeared. They still function in Germany today, but the government now has a much expanded role.
We are not sure when Kinderheim first appeared.
The photograph here looks to have been taken in the early 1920s. The facilities were extremely helpful for children whose widowed mothers had trouble supporting them. They differened from orpanages in that they supported the mother/parents rather than entirely replaceing them. The sign indicated that this was not a boarding facility. It was more designed to care for children while parents were at work. This would mean that it cared for working-class families whose mothers had to work or widows who also had to work. There would have been a lot of widows in Germany following World War I. Kinderheim was for children from infants up to about 14 years of age. The children are given their lunch at the facility. The children are cared for the whole day or after school. The facility supports mothers/parents who are working during the day and cannot take care of the kids. Commonly, the children will go or will be brought home at night. But there may also be the situation to stay the week except on weekends. Kinderheims were also established for vacations, reconvalescence (often tuberculosis), school excursions, ect. Children stay there for some days or even longer, may be far from where parents are living. Vacation Kinderheim were sometimes called Erholungsheim. These were not facilities like schools maintained by the government. They were maintained by private groups such as churches, charitable groups, hospitals, community groups and corporations with large manufacturing plants. As a result there were great differences among Kinderheim.
Kindertagesstaette (KITA) has taken over the former Kinderheime. The government now has a larger role. There are strong political demands for these facilities. Many mothers now have careers and work outside the home. Mostly are established by local communities. In the former German Democratic Republic (DDR) were very common, more common thant in West Germany. This was in part because of the social welfare component of a Communist government and because private and church organisations were supressed. Communist Governments like to control such activities, especially anything which touches on the care and education of children. Communist states want to monopolize education to ensure that Communist ideology is firmly planted without competition from other ideological concepts.
There are still a variety of different facilities, including vacation Kinderheim.
A Waisenhaus is an orphanage. It is for children without parents or whose parents are unable to care for them. A Waisenhaus is a full boarding facility. They are established by private groups, churches, charitable organisations, often from a community (staedtisches Waisenhaus).
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