The German Educational Seminar in Prague 1876-1945

The article deals with the establishment of a chair of general pedagogy (educational science) at the imperial-royal Charles- -Ferdinand University in Prague in 1850 and - in brief - with the first regular Prague professor of educational science Jan Padlesak. The establishment of an independent university chair is situated in the context of the university reform in 1848 and 1849. The history of the German pedagogical (education) seminar in Prague since its foundation in 1876 till its abolishment with the closing of the German University represents the main theme of the article. Credit is given to Otto Willman for his part in the establishment of the German pedagogical seminar. The first statutes of the seminar and its new section since 1887, the so-called „praktika“, are given particular attention. The article deals with those in charge of the seminar, i.e. with the personalities of Alois Höfler, Wendelin Toischer and Ernest Otto. The text explains the problems of practical educational instruction of candidates of the teaching profession at the German University in Prague. The study is the first to bring information about the managing of the seminar during WWII, about the dramatic period under rector Ernst Otto, about seminar life under Czechoslovak occupation and about the circumstances of the abolishment of the German seminar after WWII. Attention is paid to the relationship between Czech and German educational science in Czechoslovakia and to the influence of German educational science on the German scientific community in Prague. The author has based his research on specialized literature and especially on the studies of materials in the Charles University Archive in Prague and in the Central State Archive in Prague.