Französisches Gymnasium Berlin

Gymnasium school in Germany

Französisches Gymnasium
Lycée français de Berlin

Entrance on Derfflingerstraße

Location

Derfflingerstr. 7, 10785 Berlin

Germany

Information
Type| Gymnasium
Established| 1689; 335 years ago (1689)
Grades| 5 to 12
Gender| All genders
Language| German and French
Website| fg-berlin.eu

The Französisches Gymnasium (French: Lycée français de Berlin) is a francophone gymnasium in Berlin, Germany. Traditionally, it is widely regarded as an elite high school. It is also the oldest public school in Berlin. Its creation was ordered by Frederick William of Brandenburg.[1][2][3]

It is directly operated by the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE), an agency of the French government.[4]

## History[edit]

It was founded in 1689 by Frederick William's son Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg for the children of the Huguenot families who had settled in Brandenburg-Prussia by his invitation, being persecuted for their Protestant beliefs in the Catholic Kingdom of France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV in October 1685. Its first headmaster was the French jurist Charles Ancillon from Metz.

Original site of the Französisches Gymnasium on Niederlagstraße, Berlin-Mitte

Since its foundation, the school has had an almost continuous history, occupying several buildings in Berlin. In the beginning, the faculty comprised Huguenot refugees only and the language of education was French. The school soon was attended also by numerous German children of school fee paying Prussian nobles and officials, and developed into an elite school.

In the course of the Prussian reforms, the Collège Français became a common public school in 1809. In view of the growing numbers of pupils, it moved into a larger building built on Reichstagsufer in the Dorotheenstadt quarter in 1873. The school was attended by an above-average number of Jewish pupils, who under the Nazi regime — like Jewish teachers — were harassed and finally excluded in 1938. However, despite all nationalist efforts, the French language remained the medium of teaching. After 1943 the school was evacuated from Berlin and the historic school building on Reichstagsufer was destroyed in 1945.[5]

After the war, the school moved to the Wedding district in the French sector of what was to become West Berlin. In 1952 the Französisches Gymnasium — Collège Français Berlin was re-established by merging the traditional Huguenot school with the Berlin collège of the French Armed Forces.

Several of its pupils (though not all graduated) became prominent in later life, among them the poet Adalbert von Chamisso, the authors Maximilian Harden and Kurt Tucholsky, the engineer Walter Dornberger and the resistance fighter Adam von Trott zu Solz, the songwriters Reinhard Mey and Ulrich Roski, as well as political scientist Gesine Schwan, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 2009.

## Today[edit]

The school moved to its current building, in Berlin-Tiergarten, on Derfflingerstraße, not far from Nollendorfplatz in 1972, after it had been located in Berlin-Reinickendorf. It educates both German\- and French-speaking pupils from francophone countries all over the world. Grades are from 5 to 12, with bilingual classes and teaching starting in grade 7. Other languages that are taught are English, Latin, Ancient Greek and Spanish. Pupils can graduate with either of two diplomas though many Germans pass both: the Abitur (German high school diploma) and the Baccalauréat (French high school diploma).

Memorial plaque at the former site on Reichstagsufer

## Notable people[edit]

### Faculty and staff[edit]

* Charles Ancillon (1659–1715), jurist and diplomat
* Paul Erman (1764–1851), physicist
* Georg Adolf Erman (1806–1877), physicist
* Ernst Curtius (1814–1896), archaeologist and historian
* Alfred Clebsch (1833–1872), mathematician
* Hermann Wilhelm Ebel (1820–1875), philologist
* Karl Ploetz (1819–1881), author

### Alumni[edit]

* Johann Heinrich Samuel Formey (1711–1797), essayist and philosopher
* Louis de Beausobre (1730–1783), philosopher and political economist
* Ludwig Robert (1778–1832), writer
* Adelbert von Chamisso (1781–1838), poet and botanist
* Franz von Gaudy (1800–1840), poet and novelist
* Karl Ludwig Michelet (1801–1893), philosopher
* Heinrich Girard (1814–1878), mineralist and geologist
* Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818–1896), physician and physiologist
* Carl Bolle (1821–1909), naturalist and collector
* Max von Brandt (1835–1920), diplomat, East Asia expert and publicist
* Petre P. Carp (1837–1919), politician and culture critic
* Gustav Mützel (1839–1893), artist
* Paul Güssfeldt (1840–1920), geologist, mountaineer and explorer
* Alfred Woltmann (1841–1880), art historian
* Ernst von Wildenbruch (1845–1909), poet and dramatist
* Albert Moritz Wolff (1854–1923), sculptor
* Adolf Erman (1854–1937), Egyptologist
* Richard Witting (1856–1923), politician and financier
* Maximilian Harden (1861–1927), journalist and editor
* Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870–1964), general
* Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus (1876–1959), chemist, Nobel laureate
* Edmund Landau (1877–1938), mathematician
* Victor Klemperer (1881–1960), journalist and literary scholar
* Walther von Brauchitsch (1881–1948), field marshal
* Leonard Nelson (1882–1927), mathematician and philosopher
* Kurt Tucholsky (1890–1935), journalist and writer
* Erich Auerbach (1892–1957), philologist and literary scholar
* Adam von Trott zu Solz (1909–1944), lawyer, diplomat and resistance fighter
* Joachim Werner (1909–1994), archaeologist
* Wernher von Braun (1912–1977), rocket scientist
* Gottfried Reinhardt (1913–1994), film producer and director
* Albert O. Hirschman (1915-2012), economist
* Klemens von Klemperer (1916-2012), historian
* Ken Adam (born 1921), film designer
* John Leonard Clive (1924–1990), historian
* Wolfgang Gewalt (1928–2007), zoologist
* Reinhard Mey (born 1942), singer-songwriter
* Gesine Schwan (born 1943), political science professor
* Ulrich Roski (1944–2003), singer-songwriter
* Dominique Horwitz (born 1957), actor and singer
* Christian Berkel (born 1957), actor
* Peter Fox (born 1971), musician
* Alexander Schnell (born 1971), philosopher
* Alexandra Maria Lara (born 1978), actress

## See also[edit]

* Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster
* Canisius-Kolleg Berlin
* Education in Germany
* La Gazette de Berlin

German international schools in France:

* Internationale Deutsche Schule Paris
* DFG / LFA Buc
* Deutsche Schule Toulouse

## References[edit]

1. ^ Erich Auerbach, Edward W. Said, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Thought, Princeton University Press, 1953/2003, Introduction, p.X.
2. ^ Klemens von Klemperer, Voyage Through the Twentieth Century: A Historian's Recollections and Reflections, Berghahn Books, 2009, p. 12.
3. ^ Robert Doran, The Ethics of Theory: Philosophy, History, Literature, Bloomsbury, 2017, p. 216, note 31.
4. ^ "Rechercher un établissement" (in French). Agency for French Education Abroad. Retrieved 2024-03-15. \- Purple means "Gestion directe" (directly operated), and this school is in the color code for purple.
5. ^ History Archived June 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine (in German)

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Französisches Gymnasium (Berlin).

* (in French and German) Französisches Gymnasium Berlin

* v
* t
* e

International schools in Germany

International schools in Germany by state and metropolitan region

Baden-
Württemberg|

| Stuttgart Region|

* SIS Swiss International School Stuttgart-Fellbach
* Stuttgart High School
* Alexander M. Patch American High School†
* Stuttgart American High School†

|

Mannheim Region|

* Heidelberg High School†
* Heidelberg Middle School†

Elsewhere|

* Bad Saulgau: Toin Gakuen Schule Deutschland†
* Freiburg im Breisgau: DFG / LFA Freiburg
* Friedrichshafen: SIS Swiss International School Friedrichshafen
* Karlsruhe:
* European School, Karlsruhe
* Karlsruhe American High School†

Bavaria|

| Munich Region|

* European School, Munich
* Lycée Jean Renoir
* Japanische Internationale Schule München
* SIS Swiss International School Ingolstadt
* Bavarian International School
* Munich International School
* Munich American High School†

|

Nuremberg Region|

* Franconian International School
* Nurnberg American High School†

Elsewhere|

* Augsburg: International School Augsburg
* Regensburg: SIS Swiss International School Regensburg

Berlin|

| Berlin Region|

* Französisches Gymnasium Berlin
* Japanische Internationale Schule zu Berlin
* Russian Embassy School in Berlin
* Berlin British School
* Berlin Cosmopolitan School
* Berlin Metropolitan School
* Berlin Brandenburg International School
* John F. Kennedy School, Berlin

|

Hamburg|

| Hamburg Region|

* Lycée Français de Hambourg
* Japanische Schule in Hamburg
* International School of Hamburg

|

Hesse|

| Frankfurt Region|

* European School, Frankfurt am Main
* Lycée français Victor Hugo (Frankfurt am Main)
* Japanische Internationale Schule Frankfurt
* Frankfurt International School
* Metropolitan School Frankfurt
* ISF International School Frankfurt Rhein-Main
* Frankfurt American High School†
* Wiesbaden High School

|

Elsewhere|

* Kassel: SIS Swiss International School Kassel

Lower Saxony|

| Hannover Region|

* International School Hannover Region

|

Elsewhere|

* Gloucester School, Hohne†
* Prince Rupert School, Rinteln†

North Rhine-
Westphalia|

| Cologne Bonn Region|

* École de Gaulle-Adenauer
* Liceo Italo Svevo
* King Fahd Academy†
* Bonn International School
* Independent Bonn International School
* St. George's School, Cologne
* Russian Consulate School in Bonn
* Bonn American High School†

|

Düsseldorf Region|

* Lycée français de Düsseldorf
* Japanische Internationale Schule in Düsseldorf
* Kent School, Hostert†
* International School of Düsseldorf
* ISR International School on the Rhine
* Queens School, Rheindahlen†
* Windsor School, Rheindahlen†

Elsewhere|

* King's School (Gütersloh)†

Rhineland-Palatinate|

* Kaiserslautern High School
* Ramstein High School

Saarland|

| Saarbrücken|

* DFG LFA Saarbrücken

|

Saxony|

| Leipzig Region|

* Leipzig International School

|

Schleswig-Holstein|

* King Alfred School, Plön†

† closed; Note: This list may be incomplete.

* v
* t
* e

French international schools in Central Europe and Eastern Europe

Armenia|

* Lycée Français Anatole France

Austria|

* Lycée Français de Vienne

Azerbaijan|

* Lycée français de Bakou

Czech Republic|

* Lycée français de Prague

Germany|

* Französisches Gymnasium Berlin
* École de Gaulle-Adenauer
* Lycée français de Düsseldorf
* Lycée français Victor Hugo
* DFG / LFA Freiburg
* Lycée Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry de Hambourg
* Lycée Jean Renoir
* DFG LFA Saarbrücken

Hungary|

* Gustave Eiffel French School of Budapest

Lithuania|

* Vilnius International French Lyceum

Poland|

* Lycée René-Goscinny

Russia|

* Lycée français Alexandre Dumas de Moscou

Slovakia|

* École française de Bratislava

Switzerland|

* Lycée français Marie Curie de Zurich
* École française de Lausanne-Valmont

Ukraine|

* Lycée Anne de Kiev
* French International School of Odesa

* v
* t
* e

Agency for French Education Abroad
Directly operated schools

Africa|

* Lycée International Alexandre-Dumas (Algiers, Algeria)
* Lycée Français de Tananarive (Antananarivo, Madagascar)
* Lycée Français du Caire (Cairo, Egypt)
* Lycée Jean Mermoz (Dakar, Senegal)
* Lycée Victor Hugo (Marrakesh, Morocco)
* Lycée Paul Valéry (Meknès, Morocco)
* Lycée La Fontaine (Niamey, Niger)
* Lycée Français Théodore Monod (Nouakchott, Mauritania)
* Lycée Descartes (Rabat, Morocco)
* Lycée Regnault (Tangier, Morocco)
* Lycée Gustave Flaubert (Tunis, Tunisia area)

Asia|

* Lycée Louis-Massignon (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
* Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, Ankara (Turkey)
* Lycée Français International Charles de Gaulle de Pékin (Beijing, China)
* Lycée français Alexandre Yersin (Hanoi, Vietnam)
* Lycée Français International Marguerite Duras (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
* Lycée français de Pondichéry (Puducherry, India)

Europe|

* Lycée Français de Barcelone (Spain)
* Französisches Gymnasium Berlin (Germany)
* French Lycée in Brussels (Belgium)
* Lycée français Victor Hugo (Frankfurt, Germany)
* Lycée Vincent van Gogh La Haye-Amsterdam (Netherlands)
* Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium Hamburg (Germany)
* Lycée français Charles Lepierre (Lisbon, Portugal)
* Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle (London, UK)
* Lycée Français de Madrid (Spain)
* Lycée Stendhal de Milan (Italy)
* Lycée français Alexandre Dumas de Moscou (Moscow, Russia)
* Lycée Jean Renoir (Munich, Germany)
* Lycée français de Prague (Czech Republic)
* Lycée français Chateaubriand (Rome, Italy)
* Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium Saarbrücken (Germany)
* Lycée Français de Valence (Spain)
* Lycée Français de Vienne (Austria)
* René Goscinny High School (Warsaw, Poland)

South America|

* Lycée Franco-Argentin Jean Mermoz (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

This list does not include schools that are only contracted (conventionné) or accredited (homologué); this list includes only schools directly operated (gestion directe) by the AEFE.

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* Israel
* United States

52°30′12″N 13°21′20″E﻿ / ﻿52.50333°N 13.35556°E﻿ / 52.50333; 13.35556
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template