Gustav Heinemann Bildungsstätte has been modernized

illThe Gustav Heinemann training center on the Kellersee near Malente shines in new splendour. The 52-year-old establishment was renovated for 850,000 euros. An equally modernized concept is also intended to attract young holidaymakers in training.

In a small ceremony on the occasion of the “reopening”, Regina Poersch and Jürgen Weber, as members of the board of directors of the SPD-affiliated Society for Schleswig-Holstein Politics and Education, takes stock of two difficult corona years. The Society is the supporting association of the educational establishment and has organized approximately 80 political, historical and cultural continuing education seminars each year since 1968.

200,000 euros deficit due to Corona

This number has been halved to 41 seminars in 2020. In 2021, despite seven months of closure, 52 classes took place, Poersch looked back. However, these seminaries were often much smaller. Instead of allowing 25 attendees, numbers were often limited to twelve to 15 people due to hygiene and distancing rules, Weber added. While 1,260 trainees were taken in in 2019, only 680 were registered in 2020 and 825 again in 2021. “A year of Corona costs us 100,000 euros,” Weber said. As a result, the deficit is around 200,000 euros.

The current situation is all the more gratifying. “As of today, we already have 1142 registrations for 2022,” reports Poersch. “These numbers make us very optimistic.” Poersch also sees a reason for the positive development in the change in supply. The time was taken advantage of to completely renovate the majority of the 45 rooms, including the bathrooms, some of which have already been renovated in recent years. The seminar rooms have also been equipped with new floors and new technologies. “Before there was an overhead projector here, today there are projectors and digital interfaces,” Poersch explained.

850,000 euros in public funds for modernization

However, the focus is not on pursuing online formats. “People need meetings,” Poersch stressed. The integration of digital media can only complement them, but not replace them. In connection with the improvements made to the accommodation and the already good gastronomy, we can celebrate the reopening of a modern seminar and conference hotel.

These future investments were made possible through grants. “We actually use 850,000 euros of public funds here,” Poersch said. The own share of the educational institution is about ten percent of this sum. The result is visible. “You can no longer offer hostel level adult education. We now have a higher hotel standard here,” Poersch said.

And some things will also change in the field of education, announced the leaders of the study and the event, Gesa Grube-Bente and Anastassia Brack. For the past year, special family seminars with childcare have been offered. With these courses, the objective is to enable young parents to take part in educational leave.

SPD State Chairman Serpil Midyatli praised the manner in which officials at the educational institution have faced the challenge of the pandemic. “After the first shock of confinement, they also saw the opportunities,” said the politician and welcomed the restart.

In a video message, Schleswig-Holstein’s State Commissioner for Political Education, Christian Meyer-Heidemann, described the Gustav Heinemann Training Center as a beacon of political education. He wants the installation to be recognized as such and used more by the inhabitants of the Ostholstein and Plön districts.