Wilhelmsgymnasium (Königsberg)

The Wilhelmsgymnasium, originally the Königliches Wilhelms-Gymnasium, was a gymnasium in the Tragheim quarter of Königsberg, Germany.

Postcard of the school

History

The state-founded school was named after William I, German Emperor and King of Prussia. It opened with five classes on 15 October 1874^[1] at its original location on Altroßgärter Predigerstraße in Hinter-Roßgarten. Its first director, Karl Urban of Roßlau,^[2] led the effort to move the school to a new building near the Schlossteich in Hintertragheim,^[3] which was dedicated in 1879.^[4] The main building cost 240,500 Mark, the gym cost 26,200 Mark, and the director's domicile cost 41,100 Mark.^[1]

The Wilhelmsgymnasium's auditorium was decorated with East Prussian-themed paintings by artists from Königsberg in 1889, including Carl Steffeck, Emil Neide, and Georg Knorr.^[2] Steffeck created a cycle of paintings depicting Prussian history, starting with the entrance of Grand Master Siegfried von Feuchtwangen into Marienburg Castle.^[4] The Wilhelmsgymnasium contained busts by Friedrich Reusch of William I and Emil Grosse, who was the director from 1882 to 1903. Grosse was succeeded by Ernst Wilhelm Wagner from 1903 to 1922.^{[citation needed]}

Notable teachers included Otto Portzehl, senior instructor from 1888 to 1905, and Hans Lullies, a geographer who also taught at the Handelshochschule. The school contained 22 teachers and 533 students in 1901 and 19 teachers and 352 students in 1936.^[4] Its most famous alumni were the mathematicians David Hilbert and Jürgen Moser, pianist Alfred Reisenauer, and politician Friedrich von Berg.^[2] The building was destroyed in 1944 during the bombing of Königsberg in World War II.^[4]

Notes

1. Wiese, p. 152
2. Gause, p. 717
3. Statistisches Jahrbuch, entry 15
4. Albinus, p. 339

References

• Albinus, Robert (1985). Lexikon der Stadt Königsberg Pr. und Umgebung (in German). Leer: Verlag Gerhard Rautenberg. p. 371. ISBN 3-7921-0320-6.
• Gause, Fritz (1968). Die Geschichte der Stadt Königsberg. Band II: Von der Königskrönung bis zum Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkriegs (in German). Köln: Böhlau Verlag. p. 761.
• Mühlpfordt, Herbert Meinhard (1970). Königsberger Skulptoren und ihre Meister 1255-1945 (in German). Würzburg: Holzner Verlag. p. 299.
• Statistisches Jahrbuch der höheren Schulen und heilpädagogischen Antstalten Deutschlands, Luxemburgs und der Schweiz (in German) (XXIX, I. Teil ed.). Leipzig: B. G. Teubner. 1908.
• Wiese, Ludwig (1902). Das höhere Schulwesen in Preussen (in German). Berlin: Verlag von Wiegandt & Grieben.