The manipulation of education in Nazi Germany

The Manipulation of Education
"no boy or girl should leave school without
complete knowledge of the necessity and
meaning of blood purity."…read more

Indoctrinating the young...
· Textbooks were vetted to fit Nazi ideology by the Education Ministry.
· By 1936 around 97% of teachers had joined the Nationalist Socialist Teachers'
League (1927).
· The league was responsible for the indoctrination of teachers through sending
them to education courses.
· Those teachers who voiced any criticism of the regime could be reported to the
Gestapo by their pupils, parents or other members of staff.
· Under the Law for the Re-establishment of the Professional Civil Service all Jewish
teachers were dismissed.
· School children celebrated Hitler's birthday (20th April)
· Pictures of Hitler were a standard fixture in every classroom.…read more

How the curriculum changed...
· The Nazis aimed to promote `racial health' and put particular emphasis on physical education which
included military style drills.
· There were studies of Nordic sagas and other traditional stories to emphasise a `consciousness of German
being'.
· Essays were written with propaganda themes such as `The Reich Labour Service' and `The Jews are our
misfortune'.
· History was based on the glory of Germany and that Germany's defeats such as the Treaty of Versailles
were the Jews' fault.
· There was stress on race in Biology and pupils were taught to measure their skulls and decide upon each
others racial type. There was also an emphasis on `survival of the fittest'.
· The concepts of Lebensraum (blood and soil) were taught in Geography and how German land had been
taken away ion 1919.
· In Maths questions could be based upon the trajectories of artillery shells or pupils could have been asked
to calculate the relative costs of treating the mentally ill.
The construction of a lunatic asylum costs 6 million RM. How many houses at 15,000 RM each could have
been built for that amount?
· Girls had to study needlework, domestic science and eugenics (girls were taught the characteristics of a
good husband and father) to prepare them for their future as wives and mothers.
· Sex education was banned as it was stressed that couples should have as many children as they could.
· In 1937 pupils were given the choice of whether to study Religious Education or not.…read more

Effects of these manipulations...
Girls:
· Girls staying on at high school were put into domestic science classes or languages
streams.
· By 1931 girls made up 35% of students at grammar schools. This was reduced to
30% in 1940.
· In January 1934 a law was made which limited the number of female placements
at universities to just 10%. Competition was so intense that sixth formers began to
report their classmates to the Gestapo.
Boys:
· Along with attending additional organisations such as the Hitler Youth boys were
encouraged and prepared to join the army after finishing school.
· Through indoctrination boys were prepared for war.…read more