It was the first few days at the new school. Eleven children from my old class joined my new class. That was very unusual; usually only three or four children per class made it to Gymnasium (high school). But we were the Russian class and had always been the highest-performing class in our year. We felt like a unit and behaved that way. That was good because we always made sure to include everyone and help each other, for example, by sharing homework. But on the other hand, we always subordinated ourselves to the group. Discipline and the well-being of the group were paramount; individualism, on the other hand, was frowned upon. From the very beginning, we were taught that even a child had to perform. It never even occurred to us to make demands. First, we had to ask ourselves what we could personally do. We always behaved in an exemplary manner: For example, we made sure our classrooms stayed clean. We wore slippers, took turns sweeping, and mopped on Fridays. Every other month, we cleaned the classrooms during a subbotnik (a term originating in Soviet Russia for unpaid Saturday labor), including polishing the floors, cleaning the windows, and washing the curtains. All of this was self-organized, as a single janitor couple was responsible for our entire school. We felt responsible for our classroom. It even developed into a small competition about which class had the nicest classroom. I didn't question it, as I was used to it from home: On Thursdays after school, I vacuumed and mopped at home, went shopping with my mother, or cleaned the spokes of my bike with Magpie Shine. It didn't really matter whether it was the family or the school class; we always saw ourselves as the responsible part of the group. One day, we even decided to completely renovate our classroom. We went to the headmaster with our idea, and he was immediately enthusiastic. We received money for paint, wallpaper, and paste. Many of our parents had the necessary equipment at home anyway. The activity went really well: The painting was fun, and the brick wallpaper we stuck to the beams looked really chic. We had soda and bratwurst to keep us going. Activities like these always made us feel connected to our school, our classroom, and our class community. We felt responsible for what we had and for each other. Nowadays, many people, but especially students, feel a strong individual pressure to perform. Back then, this pressure was much more collective, so everyone was still responsible for themselves, but it was natural to do our best to help the group progress. We always had the feeling that nothing good can be done unless you do it.
