Civil defence pedagogies and narratives of democracy: disaster education in Germany

‘Disaster education’ is a fledgling area of study in lifelong education. Many countries educate
their populations for disasters, to mitigate potential damage and loss of life, as well as
contribute to national security. In this paper, which draws on interview data from the German
Federal Office for Civil Defence and Disaster Assistance and the Federal Agency for
Technical Relief, archival research, analysis of websites and promotional materials as well as
relevant academic literature, I examine disaster education and preparedness for national
emergencies in Germany. I argue that it is not generally extended to the general public,
rather confined to trained experts, decentralised, localised and exclusive. Theorising disaster
education as a ‘civil defence pedagogy’ (Preston, 2008), a type of public pedagogy, which
contributes to shaping narratives of national identity, I argue that it is unlikely that Germany
will develop a more inclusive, universal, formalised, nor high-profile campaign in disaster
education in the foreseeable future. This, I suggest, is due to narratives of the German
democratic nation state as secure, federal, peaceful and unified, which originated at the
founding of West Germany in 1949, and continue to shape contemporary political narratives.