Seekamp near Kiel, annual summer camps for thousandsofworking-class chil-
dren modeled the organization of thesetent cities on the principles of parliamen-
tary democracy (seefigure15.1).⁸Under the motto“working-class children con-
quer the world!,”these children’srepublics createdautopian spaceinwhich
everything from dailyrituals, chores,and physical exercises to evening entertain-
ments and coed sleeping arrangementswasdesigned to instillastrongsense of
class pride in theiryoung citizens.⁹In the words of AntonTesarek, the influential
pedagogue active in the SPÖ(Social Democratic Party ofAustria), these socialist
summer camps and related children’sfestivals offered compellingproof, against
the miseries of working-classlife, of“the right to be joyful”–that is, asahuman
being.Ofcourse, he was wellaware that until therevolution,“every proletarian
festivity will suffer under the weightofoppression thatweighs down on the en-
tire proletarian class.”¹⁰
AntonTesarek,“Die Kinderrepublik Seekamp—Ihr Sinn undAuftrag,”Sozialistische Erziehung
(1927/28): 33–34.For acontemporary account,see Andreas Gayk,ed.,Die rote Kinderrepublik.
EinBuch von ArbeiterkindernfürArbeiterkinder(Berlin: Arbeiterjugend-Verlag, 1928); the book
was reprinted in 1976.
See Andreas Gayk,Arbeiterkinder erobern dieWelt!(Berlin: Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft der
Kinderfreunde, 1930).
AntonTesarek,Feste der Arbeiterkinder(Vienna:Jungbrunnen, 1927), 4.
Fig. 15.1Kinderrepublik Seekamp 1927,photograph. Withpermission of Schilksee-Archiv Pieper-
Wöhlk.
274 Chapter15