British Education Control Officer in Occupied Germany, 19451949 - The Letters of Edward Aitken-Davies

Edward Aitken-Davies (1899-1981) served as an Education Control Officer in the British Zone of occupied Germany from the early summer of 1945 until December 1949. He thus experienced the implementation of policy in the Zone from the very beginnings of the occupation until the founding of the Federal Republic of German y in 1949. During the period 1945 to 1947 he wrote weekly letters home to his mother. Those letters, together with the many speeches he gave in Germany during his time as a leading British officer in the Hanover region have not hitherto been available to researchers but can now be made accessible in edited form. The letters are placed in the context of developments in British policy and with explanatory notes on the detail.
Taken together, his letters and other documents provide insights into the day-to-day lives of the impressive group of individuals who oversaw the development of education in Germany from post-war chaos to the reform and stability which restored the education system of the country to a pre-eminent status in Europe.

List of contents

1. Introduction 2. Education in the British Zone of Germany, 1945-1949 3. Edward Aitken-Davies, 1899-1981 4. Edward Aitken-Davies's Letters to his Mother, May 1945-December 1947 5. Postscript, 1948-1949 and After

About the author

David Phillips is Emeritus Professor of Comparative Education, University of Oxford, UK, and an Emeritus Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford. Throughout a long career in Oxford a principal focus of his research has been the role of the British in the reconstruction of education in the British Zone of occupied Germany. His most recent book on the subject is Educating the Germans: People and Policy in the British Zone of Germany, 1945-1949 (2018).

Summary

Edward Aitken-Davies's letters and other documents provide insights into the day-to-day lives of the impressive group of individuals who oversaw the development of education in Germany from post-war chaos to the reform and stability which restored the education system of the country to a pre-eminent status in Europe.

Product details

• Authors: David Phillips, David (University of Oxford Phillips, David (University of Sheffield Phillips
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.2023
• EAN: 9781032214405
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3221440-5
• No. of pages: 156
• Series: Routledge Studies in Modern European History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; HISTORY / Europe / Germany, European History, Germany, PHILOSOPHY / Social, PHILOSOPHY / Political, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Geopolitics, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Democracy, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / European, Social & political philosophy, social and political philosophy, Fascism & Nazism, Political structures: democracy, Far-right political ideologies and movements, c 1940 to c 1949, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), The Cold War, Cold wars and proxy conflicts, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / General