Hauptschule Helmbrechts

View onto our school from the south.

View onto our school from the east.

The Hauptschule Helmbrechts staff in 2009/2010 with some new colleagues. Also new the deputy principal of our school Susanne von Holt-Abt, middle row, 3rd from right.

One of our school workshops is drumming. West African rhythms echo through our school house, demanding high concentration, good coordination and a feeling for the beat from the students.

One of our school workshops is drumming. West African rhythms echo through our school house, demanding high concentration, good coordination and a feeling for the beat from the students.

Another project offered by a Jiu-Jitsu master teaches self-defence. How do I behave in a case of emergency. This must be discussed and practiced.

Here the elderly “green classroom” of our ecostation in Helmbrechts is renewed and enlarged.

Stock-taking at the fish ponds of the ecostation: The ponds are emptied, the residents (fish, crayfish, mussels) are counted and finally put back again.

A snapshot of our school firm (= a snack kitchen) “La Fit”. Healthy simple meals, fruit and drinks are made and sold by students for students.

Members of the computer school firm “SchuelerExe” … and working in their workshop.

The many and diverse offers for free time activities: games, sport gadgets, books, table tennis and here to be seen one of our table football boxes.

Here our hungry allday school classes during their lunch break. For little money they can eat and drink as much as they can and so they do.

Our new mayor (since 2008), Stefan Pöhlmann: cool and nice – especially for us he put on his chain of office.

The townhall of Helmbrechts and next to it the Protestant church. (Protestants here are about 90% and the catholics about 10%)

Our nice and unique indoor pool called “Aquawell” where you can have lot of fun, because the pool is with artificial waves. You can use the outdoor pool in summer and of course in winter, too.

Alena weaving at a hand loom in our textile museum in Helmbrechts. A lot of people, guests and tourists in our town weave a little bit on and on with the longest scarf of the world (to find in the Guiness book of records).

Here we are with the firm V. Fraas, founded in 1880. It’s the biggest producer of scarves in the world and their products are woven on topmodern looms.

The weaver’s house a typical regional thatched roofed house which was to be found here very often. The hand loom stood in the mainroom of the house and was the centre of the family life. Still in the 1980s there existed home weavers here.

Every second year we celebrate the “Helmbrechtser Wiesenfest”. A great feast in summer for the school kids and the local people here. On Sunday there is a big parade on a certain topic (this year was “Musicals”) and on Monday evening always ends with balloon-flying competition.

In our county there is a village called “Mödlareuth”, which was better known as “Little Berlin” during the times of the Cold War. The “Iron Curtain”, the border line between the former GDR and West-Germany went right through this poor village (like in Berlin). A part of this border line with it’s defence devices has been maintained as a memorial of this inhuman times.

Here is a rather queer spot, it’s called “Park of Wanderlust” – a place with lots of signs brought by people from all over the worls. A lot of celebrities like politicians, musician, actors or sportsmen support this park with souvenir signs. It’s a bit like the “Walk of fame” because many famous stars put their autographs on them.

In our local dialect this is a “Wärschtlamoo” – this character is typical and unique in Hof, the main town in our county. This man and his hot kettle is probably the smallest snack stall you can imagine – he only sells hot sausages.

A view from the highest point of our “Frankenwald” (794m). You can see then highest mountains of our neighbour mountain range called “Fichtelgebirge” (both more than 1000m high).

This statue is called “Hirschsprung” (stags leap) and the following legend is told about this place: Once there was a stag chased by hounds and hunters and in its desperate situation it dared an almost impossible jump across the narrow valley below it and really escaped alive from its persecutors. And that’s why a wooden statue of this stag was erected at the place, where this event should have taken place.