In fact, the first four foundations of free Protestant schools in the Federal Republic of Germany (Reutlingen, Bremen, Giessen, Frankfurt) were (and are) in no way Russian-German in character. They also did not and do not call themselves “evangelical” and three of the four foundations were certainly not located in the “Bible Belt”. (These four schools had an absolutely formative role in the loose umbrella organization AEBS (until 2006) with a respective right of veto.)
Similarly, subsequent foundations in the megacities of Berlin (1989, today more than 1,000 children and young people) and Hamburg (1992) had neither a Russian-German nor a Pietist background. Rather, in large cities it was possible to fulfill the requirement of Article 7 (5) of the Basic Law to find enough Christians to start a school for their daughters and sons with a common confession on the “common basis of faith” of the Evangelical Alliance.
The schools in Lörrach (1989, today 2,350 children and young people, currently the largest private school in Baden-Württemberg), Düsseldorf (1990, 1,450), Freiburg (1991, 730) and Munich (1998, 1,100), which were also founded soon afterwards by Protestant parents, were even founded in cities with a strong Catholic influence, far from the “Bible Belt”, none of them had or have a Russian-German character.
Although the academic literature repeatedly characterizes independent Protestant schools as “Russian-German”, there is not a single full-time employee in the umbrella associations AEBS and later VEBS who has a Russian-German background. On the board of the VEBS – even when generously categorized – representatives of schools with a “Russian-German” background make up at most a third of the members – which, measured by the number of pupils and daycare children, corresponds roughly to the numerical ratio in the association.
Behind the unity of the umbrella organization VEBS, which is essentially based on the common foundation of the Alliance’s faith, there is an enriching internal diversity of school and daycare provider types – very similar to the structure of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany.
