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Playing and Learning in a "Children's Collective" (1970)

To facilitate women’s entry into the workforce and ease the burdens of child-rearing, day-care centers and “children’s collectives” (the latter taking its inspiration from the socialist model) were built throughout the Federal Republic in the 1970s. Children’s collectives were especially common in the GDR, finding a natural place within its culture of collective education and child-rearing. GDR children’s collectives nurtured children’s sense of community, thereby fulfilling one of the goals of socialist education. At the same time, however, they were also a means for advancing socialist instruction. Nevertheless, the ideas behind the children’s collective also found substantial resonance in the Federal Republic. The photograph below shows children playing with their caregiver in a children’s collective in Frankfurt am Main. Photo by Abisag Tüllmann.

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Playing and Learning in a

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz