The Akademie Waldschlösschen (Waldschlösschen Academy) is an education and conference center near Reinhausen in Lower Saxony, between Göttingen and Heiligenstadt.
Building and history
In 1981, the Academy founders took possession of an unused historic building originally constructed as the Waldschlösschen Spa Hotel in 1904. Once the building was repurposed, it was named Freies Tagungshaus Waldschlösschen (Waldschlösschen Independent Conference Center) and then, in 2000, renamed Akademie Waldschlösschen.
Due to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the opening of the inner German border located just five kilometers to the east of Reinhausen, the Waldschlösschen is now in Germany's geographic center. The landmarked building was expanded in 1990 and 2008 by the construction of annexes for meeting space and accommodations.
Since 2000, the Academy has been accredited as a Heimvolkshochschule (residential institution for continuing adult education) under the terms of Niedersächsisches Erwachsenenbildungsgesetz (the law concerning adult education in Lower Saxony). This status leads to a dedicated budget line within the annual state budget, in the same manner as Lower Saxony's 22 other accredited Heimvolkshochschulen. In 2003, founders Rainer Marbach and Ulli Klaum established the Waldschlösschen Academy Charitable Trust, which continues to oversee the Academy.
Mission
Although the work of the Akademie Waldschlösschen has not been limited to gays and lesbians as target groups, it was primarily founded as a "gay adult education center", which reflects its origins in the German gay movement of the 1970s. Since then it has developed into a national center for networking among and training of activist LGBT*I* workers (e.g., of teachers, lawyers, clergy, gay fathers, and gay, gaylesbian, and queer university student groups, many in cooperation with Trans*Aktiv and Intersexuelle Menschen e.V.). The history of the German gay movement is unimaginable without the Waldschlösschen. Ralf König has mentioned it several times in his books, for example, as the setting of Beach Boys (Rowohlt 1989, ).
The queer self-concept of the Akademie Waldschlösschen, developed from a critique of heteronormativity, is informed by the idea "that identities, norms, and values are not self-evident or natural, but are based on social factors and must be seen as constructed, in need of reconsideration and renegotiation." The work of the academy “is based on:
the conviction that all humans are equal and can participate in the shared process of influencing and shaping society, respect for the diversity and variability of lifestyles and sexualities, solidarity with those who experience ostracism and discrimination, challenging the predominance of heteronormativity, a firm belief in the importance of self-organizing and taking personal responsibility."
The Academy is of similar significance for AIDS work in Germany. Facing the many challenges of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, the Waldschlösschen undertook a nationwide linking of the different AIDS support initiatives. This led to the founding of the national Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe, which has been a frequent collaborator ever since.
The Waldschlösschen is also significant in that it has developed advanced training courses for both professional and volunteer staff members of the Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe in addition to providing education and supporting the networking and self-management of people with HIV and AIDS from all communities. Rita Süssmuth, a former president of the German Federal Parliament and former Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Women, Youth, and Health, has been quoted as saying, "To me the Waldschlösschen is important because individuals affected by AIDS receive vital support. People can network, which makes a decisive contribution to a positive way of life." A visible expression of grief for the victims of AIDS and a further sign of solidarity is the artwork Names and Stones, a "thinking space" installation in the outdoor area of the Academy that displays the names of those who have died. It is updated yearly.
Educational program
"The Akademie Waldschlösschen stands for the acceptance of sexual and gender diversity and supports the visibility and participation of such groups in society through education and networking. Working with an intersectional approach serves to strengthen the self-confidence, gender self-determination, and identities of those involved, and provides an open space for reflecting on its historical and social conditionality. This leads to an inevitable, broader opportunity to scrutinize the prevailing heteronormativity and its resulting inequalities in our society."