16 - Social Policies

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  • Social Policies
    • Nazi Policies towards Young People
      • Schools
        • Control over the teachers
          • 1933 Law for the Re-establishment of a Professional Civil Service
            • Many teachers were fired for political unreliability or bing Jewish
          • Teachers pressured into joining the 'National Socialist Teachers' League' - most complied
          • From 1933 textbooks were monitored
            • From 1935 Ministry of Education decided what would be taught
              • By 1938 these rules covered nearly all subjects
        • Control over the curriculum
          • Promotion of racial health in PE - military style drills
          • Study of Nordic traditional stories to instill a 'consciousness of being German'
          • Biological stress on evolution + survival of the fittest
          • Geography - awareness of Lebensraum (living space); 'blood and soil'; German racial superiority
      • Universities
        • Downgraded importance of higher education
          • Number of uni students dropped from 1933-39
            • Very little resistance from Unis, as they had always been nationalist dominated
              • Students knew prospects after Uni were greater if they supported the regime
        • Women had 10% of uni places, Jews had only 1.5%
        • 1933 Civil Service Law 1200 uni staff were dismissed
        • Nov 1933 teachers had to sign a 'Declaration of support for Hitler and the National Socialist State
          • Very little resistance from Unis, as they had always been nationalist dominated
            • Students knew prospects after Uni were greater if they supported the regime
        • Students had to join the German Students' league (DS)
          • 25% managed to avoid it
          • Students were forced to do 4 months labour service + 2 months in an SA camp
        • The Hitler Youth
          • Created in 1926
            • In 1933 all other youth organisations were banned, HY began to flourish
              • By 1936 Hy had a monopoly over  all sports facilities + competitions for under 14s
                • 1939 HY membership was compulsory
          • 1936 Law for the Incorporation of the German Youth
            • Made HY an official education movement - equal to schools
          • Emphasis on competition, heroism + leadership
            • Prepared to be warriors
              • Taught Nazi songs + read Nazi pamphlets
                • Went on hikes, campping trips
                  • Many didn't have these opportunities otherwise; so joined against the wishes of their parents
                • Indoctrination into Nazi regime
                  • Went on hikes, campping trips
                    • Many didn't have these opportunities otherwise; so joined against the wishes of their parents
          • By the late 1930s enthusiasm began to drop as the organisation had become more rigid
            • Poor attendance at weekly parades
        • The League of German Girls (BDM)
          • 'Be faithful, be pure, be German'
          • 1939 membership became compulsory
          • Instructed in hygiene, healthy eating to be fit as child-bearers
          • Weekly 'home evenings' taught sewing + cooking
            • Formation dancing + gymnastics were for fitness
              • Political education sessions for racial awareness
            • 'Faith and beauty groups' - taught baby care + social skills
          • Annual summer camps of sports, flag-waving etc for indoctrination
          • For many BDM was liberating - doing things their mothers hadn't been able to
          • Comradeship - bringing girls of different classes together
          • Instructed on future marriage partners (only the best soldier
          • 1934 girls were expected to do a years work on land/domestic service
            • Very unpopular - many tried to avoid it
              • 1939 scheme was made compulsory
                • All young women had to do 1 years unpaid service before they could get employment
            • Serving community; got in touch with peasant roots; practical experience
      • Nazi Policies towards Women
        • Main priority was to raise the birth rate + restrict female employment
        • Marriage loans for women who left work
          • For each child born the amount which had to be paid back was reduced by 1/4
        • Medals for how many babies born
        • Birth control was discouraged + abortion banned
        • Encouragement of healthy lifestyle
        • German Women's League (DFW) created in 1933
          • Domestic Science department
          • By 1939 it had over 6 million members, 70% of whom weren't Nazi party members
        • National Socialist Women's Organisation (NS-F)
          • Elite organisation which promoted women as child-bearers
        • Reich's Mother's Service (RMD) was a branch of the DFW
          • Training in domestic + motherhood skills
      • Nazi policies towards Workers
        • Industrial workers had ties to trade unions workers presented the greatest challenge
          • May 1933 trade unions were banned
        • The German Labour Front (DAF)
          • Established in May 1933 by Robert Ley to coordinate workers under the regime
            • Membership wasn't compulsory but it was the only organisation representing workers so it's membership grew rapidly
          • 2 aims - encourage production + encourage volksgemeinschaft
          • DAF replaced trade unions but had no role in bargaining wages
            • But it had a propaganda department to encourage Nazi ideology amongst the working class
          • 1936 it created vocational courses to improve skills
          • DAF also owned many companies - by 1939 it had 44,500 paid employees
          • DAF propaganda encouraged working not for material gain but for helping your community
        • Strength Through Joy (KDF)
          • Created to organise workers' leisure time
            • Workers who had had holidays would work harder
              • Membership of the KDF came with DAF membership (35 million by 1936)
          • KDF aimed to
            • Submerge mass workers in Volksgemeinschaft
              • No time for anything other than work or Naiz leisure
            • Encourage social equality, activities organised without class distinction
              • Bring Germans from different regions together
            • Every employed youth had to do 2 hours of PE at their workplace each week
            • Encourage competition + ambition
          • Workers were offered subsidised holidays; sport activities; theatre + cinema visits
            • Classical music concerts were put on in lunch breaks
          • KDF wardens in factories
          • One of the regimes most popular organisations

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