The history of our school
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Our school building was opened on 24 April 1935 as an elementary school for the southern part of Dessau which is characterized by the nearby presence of the Bauhaus and other buildings designed by Walter Gropius. It was the first school in Anhalt which had a paved school yard. From 1936 onwards a gymnasium, which belonged to the school, could be used by the students. After 1945 the school building was used by the fifth and eighth elementary schools of Dessau and later by the fifth Polytechnical Secondary School, which was the former name for schools in GDR times. In 1967 the astronomical station „Samuel Heinrich Schwabe“ was put into operation, which has become an attraction for many generations of students from Dessau and its surroundings since then.
Grammar school in the south of Dessau
To do justice to the need of secondary school education, which grew rapidly after 1990, many new grammar schools were created in Dessau. Our school also became a grammar school from 1991 onward. On the 9 July 1993 our school was named „Gymnasium Walter Gropius“ and one year later the modernization of the building started. In three building sections, with lessons being taught at the same time, our school building was completely renovated. The formal handing over of the keys to the school finally took place on 23 November 1998. A modern, optically eye-catching school building in a harmonious environment was created. In autumn 2000 the work on the design of the layout of our school yard surrounding our school was completed. That way our school yards and the small sports ground got a new face. On 30 April 2004 our school officially received the additional name „Europaschule“ because of its European orientation.
The reopening of the astronomical station
After many years of efforts the astronomical station including the planetarium as well as the observatory was finally completely renovated thanks to the support of the city of Dessau and donations by 2008/2009. Since its reopening it has provided the students of our school with lessons in Astronomy. Furthermore, other schools too have the opportunity of presentations. Besides the remodelling of some rooms and the renovation of the art-cabin outside the school building in the area surrounding the school the project TULA (abbreviation for the German words gym/ Turnhalle and hall / Aula) was started. This project contains the plan to create a new gymnasium for our school and to transform the former one into an assembly hall with the aim to improve the learning and working conditions at our school.
Selected texts are available in English