Christiane WachsmannChronology 1946-1971
The prehistory of the HfG Ulm, 1946-53
The prehistory of the HfG Ulm, 1946-48
The Ulm Adult Education Centre [Volkshochschule] is newly founded. Its concept is characterised "by the confrontation with fascism and the claim to inspire the population's thinking for a democratic-socialist social order".1
In the following years, the Adult Education Centre becomes an intellectual focal point in post-war Germany. Artists and scientists from all disciplines come to teach in Ulm. Around Inge Scholl and Otl Aicher, a network of anti-fascist personalities is formed. Aicher establishes his own office in Ulm. He develops the visual identity of the Ulm Adult Education Centre and works for numerous local clients.
1949
Based on the model of the Ulm Adult Education Centre, Inge Scholl, Otl Aicher, and the writer and founder of the Group 47, Hans Werner Richter, develop the idea of a daytime adult education centre, which is to be named "Geschwister-Scholl-Hochschule" [Scholl Siblings School/University].
The magazine "Der Ruf" [The Call], edited by Richter together with Alfred Andersch and others, is banned by the American occupying forces amid the rising climate of anti-communism.
1950
First joint discussion between Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher, Hans Werner Richter and the Swiss Bauhaus alumnus and architect Max Bill about the programme of the new school.2 Bill suggests the Bauhaus as a model. The American occupying forces and sponsors of the school project do not accept the politically left-wing Hans Werner Richter as director. In his place, Max Bill became the designated rector of the new Ulm School. He subsequently shaped the programme. His plan omits "all literary and philosophical accessories", teaching politics only within the framework of general education.3
1951-53
The Viennese sculptor and designer Walter Zeischegg comes to Ulm. In the HfG's development office, he is responsible for the Institute for Product Form, which is affiliated to the school. Inge Scholl succeeds in raising one million marks from industry, public authorities and other donors to complement the American donation of the same amount. Among others, the writer Ilse Aichinger, with whom she has a lifelong friendship, supported her in this work.
Max Bense gives his first lecture at the Ulm Adult Education Centre in 1952.
II. Die erste Generation, 1953-1958
1953/54
Teaching at the HfG begins with the first basic courses in provisional rooms in the city. The Bauhaus teachers Walther Peterhans and Josef Albers are among the first lecturers.
The school building is erected on Ulm's Kuhberg ["cow hill"]. Students from the construction department help with the planning.
After Hans-Werner Richter leaves the circle of founders, there is no one in charge of the Information Department. However, the founders still intend to teach advertising and journalism.
1954/55
The only prospective Information Department student is Margit Staber. In her first year of study, she attends the basic course, which is common to all students. Bauhaus teacher Josef Albers is in Ulm for the second time. Hans Gugelot and his students develop the new radio devices for the Braun company, Otl Aicher's posters shape the visual identity of the Ulm Adult Education Centre.
Max Bense holds a series of lectures at the HfG entitled "Introduction to Philosophy, Semantics and Cybernetics". At the same time, he develops an "Experimental Curriculum" for the Information Department at the HfG.4
Since the beginning of 1955, teaching no longer takes place in the rooms of the Adult Education Centre in the city, but in the new school building. The students help with the interior work.
In this and the following years, Staber wrote numerous texts about the school, following Max Bill's suggestions.5
Even in the Bill era, the idea of providing students with a basic general education has not disappeared. The subject "Cultural Integration" now covers this area. As part of this, the Swiss art historian and theatre director Hans Curjel 6 teaches contemporary and cultural history of the 20th century. In spring 1955, he holds a series of lectures on the Bauhaus. The ethnologist Erich F. Podach also holds lectures at the HfG.7 An attempt was made to engage the art historian Berthold C. Hackelsberger from Karlsruhe as a lecturer for "Cultural Integration",8 but the plans failed.
The Argentinian painter and designer Tomás Maldonado comes to Ulm at the invitation of Max Bill. After the first phase, which was still characterised by the Bauhaus teachers, Maldonado now takes over the direction of the basic course.
1955/56
The HfG buildings are officially inaugurated at the beginning of the academic year. Margit Staber is the only advanced Information student. The later Information students Gui Bonsiepe, Ilse Grubrich, Cornelia Koch and Elke Koch-Weser complete their basic course, as does Detten Schleiermacher, who is interested in potential film studies in this department, and leaves the school again at the end of the academic year. Together with his assistant Elisabeth Walther, Max Bense is in charge of the Information Department. In the area of "Cultural Integration", he holds lectures for students of all departments: "Philosophy and Methodology, Worldviews and Systems", as well as for advanced students on "General Aesthetics". Walther gives eight lectures entitled "Examples from contemporary French intellectual life" on the concept of freedom.9
Max Bill's secretary and art historian Eugen Gomringer teaches literary history in the Information Department and writes concrete poetry himself, while Swiss photographer Ernst Scheidegger teaches photography in this and the following academic year.
In March 1956, Max Bill resigns as rector. A board of rectors takes over the management of the school (Aicher, Gugelot, Maldonado, Vordemberge-Gildewart).
1956/57
The Information Department now has five students, four of whom will graduate with a degree. The rooms of the Information Department are located in the direct proximity to the library.
Bense and Walther continue to head the department's work. Walther holds further lecture series on "Modern Forms of Thought" and "Theory and Practice of Philosophical Dictionaries". Bense also teaches the subject "Theory and Methods of Communication and Information".
The literary scholar and philosopher Käte Hamburger now sometimes travelled with Bense and Walther on the train to Ulm.10 Since her return from exile in Sweden, she had been teaching at the Technical University in Stuttgart. She gave her first lecture in Ulm right at the beginning of the academic year on "Film and Epics" as part of the Wednesday lectures. This institution of regularly recurring lectures, which are compulsory for all students, is one of the few continua in the history of the HfG and always provides intellectual stimulation – but also serves to get to know new lecturers and introduce them to the school. Students in the other departments also explore language as a means of representation as part of Eugen Gomringer's basic course.
At the beginning of the academic year, Hans Magnus Enzensberger comes to Ulm and teaches in the Information Department. Enzensberger had completed his doctorate the previous year and was working in Stuttgart at Süddeutscher Rundfunk with Alfred Andersch.11 He only stayed for three months. His successor for the rest of the year is the writer Albrecht Fabri. Fabri and Max Bense knew each other from the 1930s when both were part of the anti-fascist "Rhenish Group" [Rheinischen Gruppe] around artist Goswin Peter Gath in Cologne.12
This year, Erich Franzen is teaching sociology in the Visual Communication and Information Departments, while art historian Hans-Günther Sperlich is teaching cultural history in the basic course and the departments. Franzen is a social psychologist, legal scholar and literary scholar. He returned to Germany from the USA in 1951 and initially worked as a translator and theatre critic for the Neue Zeitung published by the American occupying forces.13 He now hoped for permanent work as a lecturer at the HfG.14
In spring, the Bill era at the Ulm School finally comes to an end. Bill leaves the HfG due to "irreconcilable differences of opinion". Some of the students, including Margit Staber, follow him to Zurich and finish their studies at the "Free Studio Bill" [Freies Atelier Bill].
1957/58
The other four students in the Information Department continue to be taught by Bense and Walther. There are no new Information recruits from the previous year's undergraduate students. Bense now adds philosophy of science to his curriculum, Tomás Maldonado teaches semiotics to students from all HfG departments.
This year, the Heidelberg writer and journalist Gert Kalow has been awarded a teaching assignment on the subject of "Textualisation". Kalow lives as a freelance author in Heidelberg and maintains numerous contacts with intellectuals in the young Federal Republic. He also gives an "Introduction to Journalism [Publizistik]" as part of the basic course.
Editor Bernd Rübenach (Südwestfunk) is also coming to Ulm this year. He teaches the subject "Radio texting". Bense and Walther leave the HfG in spring 1958 and the subjects "Information Theory", "Theory of Science", and "Mathematical Operations Analysis" are taken over by mathematician Horst Rittel in the last quarter.
Students receive practical training in typography from Friedrich Querengässer, a colleague of Otl Aicher, and from the beginning of 1958 from the English typographer Anthony Frøshaug.
The American Thomas Rago, whose one-year stay in Ulm is financed by a Fullbright scholarship, teaches photography. In May 1958, the Swiss photographer Christian Staub joins the Ulm School as a lecturer.
The subject of sociology is initially taught again by Erich Franzen, and since March by the sociologist Hanno Kesting. Kesting studied at Heidelberg University and is part of the circle of people who meet regularly in Kalow's flat in Heidelberg.15 He is given a permanent lecturer position at the HfG.
This year, a leaflet will also be printed to advertise the Information Department's study programme. 16
III. Die zweite Generation, 1958-1962
1958/59
At the beginning of the academic year, an exhibition celebrating the fifth anniversary of the HfG is shown in the auditorium. The first three issues of the magazine "ulm" are published at the beginning of 1959. The editor in charge is Hanno Kesting, they are designed by Anthony Frøshaug.17 While the 4th year Information students are now starting their diploma theses, a new generation of students begins to study in the now partially specialised basic Information course: Dolf Sass, Fred Weidmann, Jürgen Freuer, Peter Heck, Oskar Wehling. In the course of this year, they will receive department-specific instruction from Gert Kalow ("Press / Journalism"), Bernd Rübenach ("Broadcasting Issues") and Joachim Kaiser. In addition, there are the general basic subjects that are compulsory for students of all departments, including Sociology (Kesting), Cultural History (Vordemberge-Gildewart), Semiotics (Maldonado) and Mathematical Operations Analysis and Philosophy of Science (Rittel).
Other subjects in the Information Department are Photography with Christian Staub (photo reportage), Information Science and Linguistics with Horst Rittel, Sociology with Hanno Kesting and literary history with Joachim Kaiser. Kaiser is a theatre, literature, and music critic, he works with Alfred Andersch, among others, and takes part in meetings of Gruppe 47 at the invitation of Hans Werner Richter. He is a friend of Inge Aicher-Scholl and has given lectures at the Ulm Adult Education Centre since 1955.18
The field of Perceptual Psychology can now also be covered: Supported by the Ford Foundation, the perceptual psychologist Henry W. Perrine is in Ulm for two years. He is setting up a research institute for visual perception in the basement of the school. Bernd Rübenach describes his experiences and impressions of the school in the radio feature "The Right Angle of Ulm" [Der rechte Winkel von Ulm], which was produced during this academic year and broadcast in June 1959. With Otl Aicher, the students develop texts for an advertising series.19
1959/60
The number of Information students entering the 2nd year of Information has already been reduced to two: Alfred Weidmann and Dolf Sass. Ursula Göritz, Alison Peters, Alf Poss and Erdmann Wingert study in the new basic Information course.
The Stuttgart journalist Christian Schütze teaches "Texting for reportage" in the second year of the programme. Alongside Sass and Weidmann, the participants are fellow students from the Visual Communication programme.
Since the beginning of 1960, Gert Kalow has been a permanent lecturer at the HfG and head of the Information Department.
In May 1960, a radio play conference of Gruppe 47 is held at the HfG together with the North and West German radio stations.20
1960/61
With Alf Poss, Erdmann Wingert and Dolf Sass, the Information Department has three regular students. There are further interested students in the basic course: Herwig Birg, Harry Kaas, Lieselotte Kappler and Jacqueline Stassin.
Gert Kalow continues to teach "Language" in the Information Department and, in the last quarter, a joint "Linguistics Seminar" for Information and Visual Communication.21 Since the beginning of the academic year, he has also been chairman of the HfG rectorate committee.
The information-specific subjects still include "Broadcasting Technology", which is taught by Rübenach. In the last quarter of the year, the undergraduate students of the entire Communication sector, in which the Visual Communication and Information Departments are now combined, also take part.
After the departure of Horst Rittel, the political scientist Iring Fetscher takes over the teaching of sociology, including the detailed section "Sociology of Information" for the communications sector. Literary history for the Information and Visual Communication Departments is taught by the literary critic and translator Hans Hennecke.
Gert Kalow is convinced that the HfG needs a recording studio, and is seeking donations from almost every broadcaster in Germany.
The first issue of the student magazine "output" is published in March 1961. The founding team consists of second and third year students,22 Lieselotte Kappler is the only one involved from the Information Department.23 They want to counter the school's official self-portrayal in the "ulm" magazines with their own point of view.
1961/62
The joint basic course of all departments of the HfG is abolished. The only new student in the Information Department is taught the basic subjects such as colour exercises, photographic theory, semiotics and others together with the first year of Visual Communication. This also includes the subject "Language and Linguistics", which the philosopher, sociologist and mathematician Hans-Werner Arndt will teach regularly in the following years.
Herwig Birg, Harry Kaas, Lieselotte Kappler and Jacqueline Stassin are now in their 2nd year, Alf Poss and Erdmann Wingert in their 3rd year. They are also taught in many subjects together with the Visual Communication students.
For Dolf Sass, the diploma year has begun. At the beginning of the academic year, the department has eight students, six of whom terminate their studies prematurely before the end of the academic year.24
The cultural sociologist and writer Nikolaus Sombart, founding member of Gruppe 47, comes to the HfG in the third academic quarter on Gert Kalow's initiative. He holds a philosophical seminar for the remaining two students of Information and those of Visual Communication.
Gert Kalow has been awarded a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation and has taken a leave of absence for this year. He is only in Ulm sporadically and is being replaced in the departmental work by the publicist and sociologist Harry Pross, who is also teaching sociology this year.
At the same time, there is a first major film project at the school: seven students from the Visual Communication Department are shooting the short film "Subject Photography" [Thema Fotografie] under the supervision of Christian Staub.
In many areas, these first film students and the Information students now have joint lessons: with Käte Hamburger, for example, who gives a few more lectures, Film Dramaturgy with Edgar Reitz, Film History with the director and screenwriter Theodor Kotulla and Literary History with the Theatre Studies lecturer Wilfried Passow. Ludwig Heck and Rolf Thiele teach Broadcasting Technology in the finally completed sound studio.
IV. Die dritte Generation, 1962-1971
1962/63
Gert Kalow is able to extend his scholarship for another three months.25 When he returns to the school in January 1963, there are almost no students left in the Information Department: Alf Poss is writing his thesis, and the two newly accepted students – Peter Michels and Jürgen Schmidt – have the same timetable as the students in the Visual Communication Department.
1963/64
Peter Michels goes to Berlin for a year to study journalism at the Free University. There are exactly two students left in the Information Department, who are taught by Gert Kalow during this year. Peter Ladiges also takes on some of the department's work, but then prefers to take up a position as a dramaturge at Südwestrundfunk.26
The two remaining students receive something like one-to-one tuition from the writer and radio playwright Paul Pörtner: they plan an experimental radio play, which they then record together with him in Munich.27
1964/65
Peter Michels returns from Berlin, his year there is credited towards his studies at the HfG. Some of the classes in the Information Department are held jointly with the Film Department, including classes with Detten Schleiermacher, Tomás Gonda, Gui Bonsiepe and Bernhard Dörries.28 Hans-Dieter Müller, editor at Walter-Verlag in Olten29, teaches the subject "Language/Texts/Documentation" in both departments in this and the following year.
1965/66
Michels and Schmidt write a joint thesis on the reunification of Germany.
Hans-Werner Arndt now teaches Structural Theory instead of Linguistics, after which he no longer receives any teaching assignments.
1966/67, 1971
Joachim Heimbucher and Christian Lafrenz, two students at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts (HfbK), join the Visual Communication Department of the HfG for a guest semester. Heimbucher stays in Ulm. In 1971, he and Peter Michels will submit a joint diploma thesis to the Ulm Institute for Environmental Planning [Institut für Umweltplanung, IUP], the successor institution to the Hochschule für Gestaltung. The topic is: "Bauhaus – HfG – IUP."
