The story
History
The FES was named after Friedrich Ebert (1871–1925), the Social Democratic President of Germany, 1919–1925. In his will, he specified that the proceeds from donations at his funeral should be used to create a foundation. The SPD chairman at the time, Konrad Ludwig, was given the responsibility of building this foundation, which he did a few days after Ebert's death in 1925. The main concern of the foundation was to work against discrimination of workers in the area of education: "The Friedrich Ebert Foundation pursues the goal of giving young, empowered proletarians government aid to fund an education at state-accredited institutions. As a basic principle, only those people who have a recommendation from the party organisation will receive funding." (SPD Yearbook 1926) By the end of 1931, 295 students had been funded with over 52,000 marks. At this point the funding of the foundation fell through, as a result of the Great Depression. The FES was a section of the Social Democratic Education and Culture Organisation, and was banned along with the party itself in 1933 by the Nazis.
In 1946, the FES was reinstituted at the founding assembly of the Socialist German Student Federation. In 1954, the FES was restructured into a charitable organisation "for the advancement of democratic education". This established the FES as an independent, self-contained institute. In addition to education programmes, the FES has also worked in the area of development aid since the 1960s. In this effort, it has supported democracy and freedom movements, for instance in the African National Congress (ANC), and played an important role in overcoming dictatorial regimes in Greece, Spain, and Portugal. As a case in point, the Socialist Party of Portugal was formed at an FES school in Bad Münstereifel, Germany.
The German state did subsidize the work of the foundation with 170 million Euros in 2018.
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Academic Foundation
The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Academic Foundation (FES) is one of thirteen state-funded organizations for the promotion of young talents (Begabtenförderwerke) in Germany. Less than 1% of German students achieve a scholarship at one of the thirteen organizations (i.e. FES, Studienstiftung, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Cusanuswerk, Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Scholarship Fund).
From Wikipedia’s article on Friedrich Ebert Foundation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5