Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium

History

Early history and predecessors

Originally a Latin School since the 14th century, it was later moved to a different area of the city. After a while, legal changes regarding schooling and the further development and popularisation of Humanism led to an extension into a 6-year “Pädagogium”, a change from a city to a state school and to the extension of the authority of the principal of this new ‘model school’ over the Latin schools in the state. The school was established in 1686 as Gymnasium Illustre (zu Stuttgart). Among the reasons for its creations were concerns about a lower standard of learning after the Thirty Years' War, but also a desire to create a school in Stuttgart which qualified its graduates to enter universities that could compete with the city and religious schools.

18th and 19th Century

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the fast growth and new organisation of the schools led to a desire for more space, which culminated in renovations and new construction between 1838 and 1840. A Realschule was added in 1794, simultaneously with an extension of the number of grades to 9. This school later became the Friedrich-Eugens-Gymnasium. A realist gymnasium was added in 1867, which became independent in 1871 and later turned into the Dillmann-Gymnasium. In 1881, during the reign of Charles I of Württemberg, because of overcrowding, the Karls-Gymnasium was established and took over 18 of its 39 classes. At this time, it changed its name to the current one after Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg, who had been under age and under guardianship at the time of the school's foundation.

20th Century

During the Second World War, the building was partially evacuated, moving some lessons to schools outside of the city center. The building of the ‘Ebelu’ was destroyed in 1944 by an allied bombing and only rebuild in 1957. Until they moved into the new building, the students were mostly fought in classrooms belonging to other schools. During and after the Protests of 1968, there was significant conflict between the teachers and student body, even leading to vandalism, such as the destruction of school property in 1972.

Causes included perceived mistreatment of students by teachers, but also a desire for general liberalisation. Haussmann, the principal at the time, was generally strict, but also protective of the students and specifically the student newspaper, despite it printing controversial editions including on human sexuality and an interview with Rudi Dutschke, am member of the 1968 student movement.

21st Century

Due to the creation of the pilot-project musical specialisation in 2013, the lack of space necessitates a renovation of the building, expected to extend the available space from 3,100 to 4,500 square meters. The additional space should house a new wing for the science class rooms, a space for events and concert, a new gym and an extended cafeteria. Additionally, the outside spaces are renovated as well. As of 2020, the project is expected to cost 67 million Euro.

In 2015, a temporary building was created around 200 Meters from the school, intended to house the upperclassmen during the renovation. While it was originally expected that students remain in parts of the building during the renovation, the plan was later altered. Around 500 students were temporarily moved to a building originally belonging to the Hedwig-Dohm-Schule at Ludwigstraße 111. The temporary transfer happened in 2019 and was generally successful, despite some minor issues.

Specialisations

Humanist specialisation

Most students are part of the general humanist Specialisation. In addition to generally mandated subject such as English, students are obligated to learn Latin from the 5th until the 10th grade. Starting from 8th grade, students are obligated to either choose a third language (French or Old Greek) or instead study Music as a main subject (separately from those with a full musical specialisation).

Musical specialisation

Since 2013, “Ebelu” has a separate music class for highly gifted students in addition to the language and regular music classes. This offers students who have musical talent lessons in cooperation with a local college im music-related subjects but meanwhile ensure that they can acquire the general university entrance qualification. To be admitted, a special exam must be taken.

Building

The first building in what is today, Gymnasiumstraße in Stuttgart, was built in 1686 and converted in 1840. A new building erected in 1903 in Holzgartenstraße was destroyed in 1944 during a nocturnal bomb attack on Stuttgart. The school was then accommodated in the buildings of the Zeppelin-Gymnasium until the new buildings on the site of the former villa of Ferdinand von Zeppelin at Herdweg 72 had been completed in 1957. The new building was developed by a team led by the architect Hans Bregler, a former pupil who had completed his abitur in 1941. This building became heritage protected because of its prize-winning architecture (Paul Bonatz Prize 1959). The renovation of the building began in 2019, which included the extension of the building and the modernisation of musical and scientific structure.

Student life and activities

The school has a long-standing cooperation with the St. Francis School in Mumbai, which includes two-week exchanges. There are regular events about political, artistic or historical topics, usually organised by or about current and former students and parents.

Since 2018, the Fritz-Bauer-Price, which is named after the former student Fritz Bauer, is given to students for outstanding social engagement. Fritz Bauer was a Jewish judge and prosecutor who assisted with in the capture of Adolf Eichmann and took part in the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials.

Musical events, often done by students from the musical specialisation, are organised regularly.

Since 1951, in addition to state funding, some events and some students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are receive money from the Ebelu-Verein e.V., a charitable organisation whose funders are mostly made up by former students and family members of current and former students.

Notable alumni

Authors, writers and poets

Berthold Auerbach, a 19th-century poet and author

Johann Friedrich Cotta, who was a publisher, politician and business

Georg Herwegh, a 19th-century poet

Eduard Mörike, a lutheran pastor, writer and poet

Gustav Schwab, who was a pastor and writer

Fred Uhlmann, a lawyer, writer and painter

Wilhelm Waiblinger, a romantic poet mostly known for his text on Hölderlin

Karl Mayer (poet), a lawyer and poet

Wilhelm Hertz, a Poet and Germanist most of whose work have been lost

Bruno Frank, a humanist writer and poet

Klaus Mehnert, a journalist, writer and academic

Curt Meyer-Clason, a writer and well-known translator

Individuals with political involvement

Christoph Blumhardt, a theologian and social-democratic politician

Eugen Gerstenmaier, a theologian, politician and resistance fighter

Conrad Haußmann, a lawyer and politician

Otto Hirsch, a Jewish jurist and politician killed by the Nazis

Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath, a Nazi war criminal imprisoned for his crime

Joseph von Linden, a 19th-century lawyer and politician

Anton Pfeifer, a politician and member of the Bundestag

Thomas Sattelberger, a manager and politician

Rolf Schlierer, a right-wing contemporary politician, lawyer and doctor

Resistance members and other opponents of the Nazi regime

Fritz Bauer, a Jewish judge and prosecutor who assisted with in the capture of Adolf Eichmann

Kurt Huber, a resistance fighter with White Rose

Rüdiger Schleicher, a legal scholar on international law and resistance fighter

Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, a senior army officer and resistance fighter who was executed by the Nazi regime

Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, who was an aristocrat, lawyer and resistance fighter who was executed by the Nazi regime

Theologians and religious figures

Johann Christoph Blumhardt, a theologian

Eduard Emil Koch, a hymnologist and pastor

Karl Gerok, a preacher and poet

Richard Wilhelm, a sinologist, missionary and well-known translator

Arts, Media and Culture

Vicco von Bülow alias Loriot, a well-known comedian, director and actor

Peter Lohmeyer, a contemporary actor

Gottlob Friedrich Steinkopf, a landscape painter

Wilhelm Ganzhorn, a judge and lyricist

Otto Reiniger, a impressionist

Johannes Klumpp, a conductor

Scientists, Researchers and Philosophers

Julius Euting, a librarian and Orientalist

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, a philosopher and influential figures of German idealism and 19th-century philosophy.

Werner Krauss, a professor of Romanticism and resistance fighter

Karl Schefold, an archaeologist with a speciality in the religious content of ancient art

Hans Spemann, an embryologist who ‘stole’ his female students research and received a Nobel Prize for it

Wilhelm Zimmermann, a theologian and historian described as the “founding father of German vegetarianism“

Robert von Mohl, a legal scholar and professor of administrative law and politician

Hermann von Nördlinger, a botanist and entomologist

Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel, a scholar and professor of Classics

Julius August Christoph Zech, a mathematician and astronomer

Viktor von Weizsäcker, a medical doctor, researcher and professor

Paul Schlack, a chemist and inventor of Nylon 6

Ludwig Raiser, a legal scholar

Ekkehard Kallee, who was a researcher and medical doctor

Karl Dietrich Bracher, a German political scientist and historian

People with significance in their respective fields

Reinhard Heinrich Ferdinand Fischer, an architect

Johann Heinrich Ferdinand von Autenrieth, who was a German physician

Carl Benjamin Klunzinger, a physician and zoologist

Gustav Adolf Kröner, a publicist and political activist

Robert Zahn, an industrialist and engineer

Hans Klumbach, an archaeologist

Oliver Günther, a computer scientist and university professor